Coming Soon: Master Plan Review

In early summer, a draft of the Denver Mountain Parks Master Plan will be posted on the website at DenverMountainParks.org for public review and comment. Check back here for further updates.

Conversations of civic leaders from the turn of the 19th-20th century led to a vision and, in 1914, a plan for Denver's mountain parks. Changes of the last 90 years—in funding mechanisms, recreational uses, urban growth, new open space systems, and access—call for a new look at the Denver Mountain Parks. How are they used and valued by Denver residents? How can they best serve Denver residents as a recreational, cultural, and natural resource? How can Denver residents and newer partners fund this legacy for its survival into the future? This Master Plan will chart the way for the Denver Mountain Parks for their centennial and beyond.

The Master Plan has two primary sections. The first provides historical background and research on the economic, environmental, and recreational benefits of the mountain parks to Denver citizens, to the City as a whole, and to the region. These chapters identify the gaps between perception and reality; the political and funding realities; and the communication/marketing problems the Mountain Parks system faces as it approaches its second century. The second part of the Master Plan will set out a plan of action for the next ten years and specific recommendations for the system as a whole as well as individual parks and parcels.

Open House at CCC Camp April 12th

Join us in April as the Denver Mountain Parks system celebrates Denver's 150th Anniversary and the 75th Anniversary of the New Deal with Doors Open Denver tours of special examples of early parks architecture.

A self-guided auto tour highlights two great periods in park history: the City Beautiful Era (1912-1924) as the park system was built and promoted, and the New Deal Era (1933-1941) influenced by the National Park Service and the Civilian Conservation Corps. On Saturday April 12, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., two buildings at the Civilian Conservation Corps camp in Morrison and the Chief Hosa Lodge in Genesee Park will be open to the public by special arrangement.

Go to our Special Event pages to download maps and detailed tour information. Except for the CCC Camp at Morrison and Chief Hosa Lodge, which are only open April 12th, you can do the tour anytime you like.

Visit the Doors Open Denver pages at City of Denver website for more event information.

Visit New Deal 75 for more information on the national celebration.

New Book Features Mountain Parks

The new coffee table book, Portraits of Preservation, tells the stories of lands protected by Denver Mountain Parks and other land preservation organizations in the Jefferson County area. Written and photographed by Mike Strunk, the book is available at many area bookstores.

A book-signing event will be held at the Tattered Cover (LoDo, at 16th & Wynkoop) on December 7th.

More details at: New Book features Mountain Parks
or at Sagebrush Photography

Plans for Summit Lake Park

This fall, Denver Parks & Recreation plans to submit a State Trails Grant request for improvements at Summit Lake Park. The project proposes to

• restore and rebuild the trailhead area


• improve the parking lot


• close and restore several existing social trails


• improve accessibility of the Chicago Lakes Overlook Trail


• add interpretive signs

Summit Lake Park, a 162-acre park at 12,840 ft, has been part of the City and County of Denver Mountain Parks System since 1924. The park is designated as a National Natural Landmark by the National Park Service because of its significant alpine plant communities. Approximately 100,000 local, national, or international visitors stop at Summit Lake Park each summer.

As shown in this view of the project area, the existing, inadequate parking lot is an eroded, informal area. The existing park trail to the overlook site is on an unstable slope, and erosion is damaging adjacent tundra vegetation and soils. Social trails have heavily impacted the sensitive tundra plants between the parking area and lake.

The USDA Forest Service, whose staff manages visitor services and daily maintenance at Summit Lake Park, is a key partner in this project. They will provide funds for new restroom facilities at the Park as their contribution to this project.

This long overdue project will create more sustainable visitor access and protect alpine tundra environments at the park by improving the parking area and associated trailhead amenities and trails, while educating and managing visitors. Parking and trailhead improvements are scheduled for construction during the summer season of 2008 and overlook trail improvements are planned for the 2009 season.

We would appreciate any comments you have on these plans. Please mention your county of residence or provide a zip code when you comment.


View of Summit Lake Park, with Chicago Lakes Overlook Trail at left. Showing social trails from shelter house down to the lake. Click on photo to enlarge.

Summit Lake Park

Several people have commented on the fees for accessing Mt. Evans recreational areas. It’s true that one can drive on state highway 5 for free, but those who use the amenities—including Mountain Park facilities at Summit Lake—need to pay a recreation use fee.

Denver’s share of the fee that's collected supports maintenance, operations, and capital improvement at Summit Lake Park. We now have enough funding from our fee share to use as match for a large construction grant application through the State Trails program. We are intending to apply for a grant that is due November 1, 2007, which, if successful, will greatly enhance trail and trailhead amenities at Summit Lake Park.

More on Summit Lake Park.

Parks Forum at Red Rocks October 13th!

Denver Mountain Parks and Jefferson County Open Space will jointly host a Parks Forum at the Upper Terrace at the Red Rocks Visitor Center, October 13th from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.

There'll be free music and refreshments-- come learn more about the Master Plans currently under development.

Additional information is available at the Denver Mountain Parks Foundation website under Master Plan. This will be a great chance to provide input on the development of these park and open space Master Plans.

Welcome Fall in the Mountain Parks

Today's Denver Post has an article reviewing several Mountain Parks to visit this fall and find fall color close to home.

Responses on Daniels Park Survey

At last week's Daniels Park meeting, 21 of the attendees (30%) filled out a quick informal survey. Results are below.

Daniels Park adds to the quality of life in Douglas Co.
All but one of the respondents strongly agreed, for an average rank of 4.8 for this statement. The other strongly disagreed (rank of 1).

It makes sense for Douglas Co. and its residents to help Denver maintain and improve Daniels Park:
Respondents generally agreed with this statement. With an average rank of 4.2 out of 5, agreement was not as strong as the first, and some thought the level of expense the county was recommending was too high.

Daniels Park would add more to the quality of life in Douglas Co. if only: (respondents most often expressed the following comments)

• Do the basics (more grading, dust control): 20%
  


• Leave as is, don’t pave: 33%
  


• Maintain the serenity; keep rustic/rural character: 25%
  


• Keep speed limits down (no speeding trucks, etc): 25%
  


• Reduce traffic, introduce traffic calming: 15%
  


• Expand interpretation: 15%
  

Other suggestions included: Adding a bike path, pedestrian access, or play areas for children; Improving park upkeep; Protecting wildlife, plants, ecology; Making the park available to all.

General Comments:

“I like the rustic nature of the park as it is.”

“Do not want to see Daniels Park Rd. as a thoroughfare; love the current state and bucolic nature.”

“It is a natural beauty that should not look or feel commercial.”

“very misdirected effort destroys rural, rustic park, makes it more urban.”

“Plan looks nice—we love to walk and bike, this would make it safer.”

“Very impressed with the concepts presented in this meeting.”

What's Next for Mountain Parks?

An editorial in the Denver Post reviews the issues Denver Parks & Recreation is exploring for the Mountain Parks system in the Master Plan currently under development.

Daniels Park Public Meeting and Survey

More than 70 people attended an open house jointly hosted by Douglas County and Denver Parks & Recreation Dept. Wednesday night. Participants registered comments on a quick survey with these questions:

1. Denver Mountain Parks contribute to the quality of life in my county.   Agree     disagree    scale
   
   
2. The Denver Mountain Parks system would contribute more to the quality of life in my county if only:
   
   
3. I think that it makes sense for my county and/or park neighbors to help Denver fund improvements (trails, picnic areas, etc.) that are important to me at Denver Mountain Parks.     Agree    disagree    scale
   
   
4. I think that it makes sense for my county and/or park neighbors to help Denver fund on-going maintenance and security at Denver Mountain Parks.   Agree     disagree    scale
   
   
5. How much would you be willing to contribute for improvements that were important to you?     $2/month    to $10/month    scale
   


6. I am from ________ County. (Please tell us which in your comments.)
   

Take the survey-- add your responses by clicking on "comments" below.

Before this meeting, the Denver Post reviewed the plans: Douglas aims to spruce up Denver Park. The Douglas Co. News-Press also ran an article, Daniels Park slated to get improvements.

We'll update links to add any articles published after this event as soon as we hear of them.

Kids in the Woods

What is the Mountain Parks system's role in getting kids into the woods? This topic generated lively discussion at the Advisory Group's first meeting and at the Recreation Roundtable in July.

Denver already supports active efforts to give Denver's children a mountain experience through Parks & Recreation Department special programming at Genesee Park. We'll have more up on that soon.

The Balarat Outdoor Education Center offers excursions to mountain parks for 3rd grade classes and longer overnight programs (to state parks) for 5th graders. Their programs are closely tied to the curriculum at Denver Public Schools. Learn more about Balarat's programs at the Balarat website.

Our Master Plan Advisory Group will be reading The Last Child in the Woods, by Richard Louv. This important book is generating lots of buzz—even a new bill in Congress. Have you read it yet?

Some Advisory Group members felt that Denver's young people had little or no opportunity to visit the mountains. Tell us what you think: Should Denver do more to bring children to the Mountain Parks?

Share specific thoughts on this issue by clicking on "comments" below this post.

Upcoming Public Meetings

• August 22: Douglas Co., preliminary Master Plan for Daniels Park; 7 p.m. at Timbertrail Elementary School Details
  
  
• September 12: Advisory Group meeting
  
  
• October 13: at Red Rocks, joint meeting with Jefferson Co. Open Space (details coming soon)

The Master Plan will be asking about what we should be doing (if money were no object), and what we can actually accomplish. These meetings are a chance for you to make your opinion known.

Events—and minutes of Advisory Group meetings--are also posted on the Master Plan website Meetings page.

Introductions and Commenting

To create a dialogue here, we’re hoping you’ll use the comments feature below each post whenever you’re inspired. For those who haven’t been tracking blogs before, it needn’t be intimidating! To prevent spam comments, we’ve activated “word verification.” (At the end of your comment, just type the letters you see in the image Blogger displays.) Comments will be checked by a blog administrator to ensure basic standards of language before they’re posted.

Be assured comments won’t be screened just because they’re negative or critical, but we do ask that you keep the discussion reasonable and respectful, even if (when!) differences of opinion occur. We’ll try to respond to your comments whenever possible.

We ask that you “sign” your comments with a name—doesn’t even have to be a real name—so that we can generate a continuous dialogue here at the DMP blog. That is, if you comment more than once, we’d like to have your comments connected to one identity, so please keep track of “who” you are. If you’re not already a blogger, use “Other” to sign in with any identity you like. If you want to be on our mailing list for future information, you’re welcome to use a real name and provide an email address.

In fairness, then, we thought we’d best introduce your Blog Team. I’m Sally, signed in as SLW, and working with Susan (SB) and A.J. (aj). All three of us are employees of the City &County of Denver Parks and Recreation Dept. working on developing a new Master Plan. Joining us will be Bart (WBB), who is director and founder of the Denver Mountain Parks Foundation. We hope other team members and our Advisory Group will also become regular contributors.

Another way to comment, if you prefer, is to email Susan directly. She’s the leader of the Master Plan effort, and looks forward to hearing from you.

That takes care of housekeeping—let’s get on with the discussion!

The Conversation Begins...

Yesterday's article about the Mountain Parks in the Denver Post is already stimulating a lot of comment. Check it out, then join the discussion-- here or there!

Note: Link above is correct, but only seems to work about half the time. Please try it again if it doesn't work at first!

Two Steps Forward

Two key steps in the Master Planning process are conducting a recreation survey (completed summer 2007) and creating an Advisory Committee to start a dialogue on issues and ideas for the new Master Plan.

Results of the recreation survey were provided to the project team in July 2007. More than 800 park visitors answered an extensive questionnaire about their park use. Selected findings--where they're from, where they like to go, and what they like to do there-- are now available on the Master Plan Opinion Page. Check it out, and come back here to tell us what you think.

The Advisory Committee, with representatives from across the metro area, has had two meetings, participated in a Recreation Roundtable, and visited some of the Mountain Parks with staff or on their own. They will soon meet to address funding issues and help set goals for the Master Plan. In future posts, we'll share some of their comments so you can join the discussions.