Formation of Bluff Lake
The Bluff Lake area
supports native short-grass prairie bluffs surrounding
a 9-acre lake adjacent to a stream corridor. Time
and geologic processes formed the bluffs long ago
when streams flowed from the mountains towards the
plains and deposited layers of soil. Prior to pioneer
settlement of the area, Native Americans lived on
the plains, hunting bison and deer on the bluffs.
They depended upon the land for survival
and the resources the Bluff Lake area provided sustained
them for many years.
Sand Creek Lateral
The history of Bluff Lake can be drawn
from an 1899 Willits farm map which shows an outline
of Bluff Lake on property owned by the Cyrus G. Richardson
Estate. In this map, the lake is fed by the combined
flows of West Toll Gate Creek and Coal Creek. Today
these tributaries make up the Sand Creek flow as it
passes by Bluff Lake Nature Center.
Carl Vincent McFadden describes in his
book, Early Aurora, that by 1891, Aurora (or Fletcher
as it was known in its earlier years) was cut by irrigation
laterals (canals) which would make a garden spot out
of the “gateway to the Rockies.” The Sand
Creek lateral, an extension of the High Line Canal
fed Guthiel Park Nurseries (the current location of
Fitzsimons) before going into Bluff Lake. Cyrus Richardson
was a well known lawyer, rancher and educator, originally
from Maine, who owned 7,500 acres along its course.
Richardson might be called the “Father of Bluff
Lake”.
Richardson’s obituary described
him as the owner of the Richardson and Greenwood farms.
He operated the Greenwood ranch where he constructed
eight reservoirs along the High Line canal. His influence
continues today because the name “Greenwood
Ranch” was the inspiration for the name “Greenwood
Village.”
Following her husband’s death,
Mrs. Richardson managed the property with Cyrus’s
nephew, Albert Packard. Packard graduated from the
Harvard School of Law and specialized in tax title
property. Julia made a specialty of the raising of
horses, mules and cattle and in 1918 she had over
1,000 acres planted to wheat. She also raised a large
amount of alfalfa. The greater part of her land was
“under ditch, a most excellent irrigation system
keeping it in fine condition.” Mrs. Richardson
died in 1923 at the age of 91 years. She died on her
ranch a mile north of Fitzsimmons hospital and is
buried in the Riverside cemetery. Among her vast holdings
were 1,100 acres of irrigated land adjoining Aurora
and Fitzsimons hospital, the Wheeler ranch and four
sections north of Sable. In all she owned about 6,000
acres.
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Stapleton Airport
Plans for building an airport
at the Stapleton site began as early as 1929. The
123-acre Bluff Lake area was purchased by the Aviation
Department from the Clayton Institute in 1970 and
became part of the airport. The land became a “crash
zone”, required at the end of all runways to
shield the surrounding community from airplane activities.
For the next fifty years, Bluff Lake remained undisturbed,
surrounded by barbed wire fence and virtually ignored
by Stapleton. During those fifty years, wildlife such
as deer, red foxes, badgers, snakes, turtles, coyotes,
owls, hawks, rabbits and a variety of waterfowl found
their homes at Bluff Lake.
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A New Era
After Stapleton Airport
closed on February 28, 1995, Bluff Lake Natural Area
was established and protected under the terms of a
settlement agreement between the City and County of
Denver and the Sierra Club. The Sierra Club’s
successful lawsuit against Denver's Department of Aviation
was due to the inadequate retention ponds for ethanol
glycol (the de-icing chemical for airplanes). During
heavy rains, ethanol glycol would spill into Sand
Creek and dramatically lower the dissolved oxygen
levels, leading to fish kills. As part of the settlement,
Denver agreed to preserve the Bluff Lake area and
invest over three million dollars to enhance wildlife
habitat, restore the banks of Sand Creek, build an
interpretive trail system and construct open-air shelters.
The Bluff Lake area is the cornerstone
of the Sand Creek Regional Greenway trail corridor
along Sand Creek. The trail, which runs adjacent to
Bluff Lake, will connect the Highline Canal in Aurora
with the South Platte River in Denver.
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Friends of Bluff Lake
While the Sierra Club
legal settlement provided the Bluff Lake area with
dollars for physical improvements, it lacked provisions
for the development of environmental education and
public programming. To fill this void, a number of
citizens and representatives from various agencies
and organizations, including the Denver and Aurora
Public Schools, Colorado Division of Wildlife, USDA
Forest Service, USDI Bureau of Reclamation, Stapleton
Development Corporation and Denver Parks and Recreation.,
joined together to create Friends of Sand Creek in
1994. Kent Messer became the organization’s
first Executive Director in 1994 and served in that
capacity for three years. As the organization focused
on developing educational programs for the Bluff Lake
area, it changed it’s name to the “Friends
of Bluff Lake”.
Immediately after its creation, Friends
of Bluff Lake worked in partnership with many agencies
to develop quality environmental education and to
ensure the ongoing stewardship of Bluff Lake. The
first education programs were offered on the site
in 1995, with the aid of a team of enthusiastic young
AmeriCorps NCCC members. One obstacle to getting educational
programs started was an operational open-air firing
range at the neighboring prison facility. Stray bullets
were often found at Bluff Lake. After much negotiation,
the firing range was closed one day before the educational
programs began. The current bluff where the parking
lot now sits was being redeveloped, and visitors would
enter through maintenance gates on the east side of
the property.
The year 2000 brought
many changes. In January of 2000, Friends of Bluff
Lake entered into a management contract with the Denver's Department
of Aviation (still the land owner) and now had full management authority
of Bluff Lake Natural Area. The contract included
all site maintenance, natural resource management,
security and interpretation. In May of 2000, Friends
of Bluff Lake changed its name to Bluff Lake Nature
Center.
Visitor amenities include a
paved parking lot, restrooms, a trellised overlook
with benches, interpretive signage, handicapped accessible
trails, a xeriscape garden and an interpretive amphitheater.
In addition, the eastern bluffs have undergone extensive
restoration after serving as a dumping area for excess
airport concrete.
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BLNC
~ Today
The history is obviously rich, but 2008 brought one of the most significant developments: Denver's Department of Aviation transferred ownership of the property to Bluff Lake Nature Center. This means that BLNC will be able to continue stewardship of and education at the site for generations to come.
Partnerships continue to drive the work
at Bluff Lake Nature Center. Science education programs
improve academics with more than 5,000 schoolchildren
from Denver, Aurora, and Adams County Public Schools
visiting Bluff Lake annually. A partnership with the
Denver Botanic Gardens has driven restoration efforts
through the property, and a newer partnership with The
Nature Conservancy of Colorado will benefit the organization
for years to come.
As the Stapleton Redevelopment continues to approach Bluff Lake's boundaries,
visitor numbers continue to rise. Bluff Lake will offer Fireside Chats throughout the summer,
and anticipates 400 people will attend these
events. More than 120 children will participate in
one of six weekly Junior Naturalist camps, and two
projects will bring 50 volunteers out at a time to
focus on restoring the land. An increase in visitors
precipitates more of a staff and volunteer presence
at the site. Plans are in the works for Bluff Lake
Nature Center to construct a 5,000 square-foot Environmental
Education Center. The Center will sit on top of the
bluff, facing west, and overlooking the lake and wetlands.
When complete, Bluff Lake Nature Center’s offices
will be housed in the facility, and a new era at Bluff
Lake will take flight.
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