COMMERCE CITY —Visitors to the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge in Commerce City could soon see more of the site’s 15,000 acres, and maybe drive themselves on a tour to view the roaming bison.
“People can take supervised, scheduled tours of the closed areas on the weekends, but it’s not open to the public at all right now,” said Cindy Sounders, refuge visitor services manager. That’s something we’re working to address now.”
A new master plan for the refuge is in the works.
Officials at the refuge and dozens of partner entities including the state of Colorado, Commerce City, Denver, Denver International Airport and Adams County are working to draft a plan for the next 15 years.
In 2012, the refuge received about 23,000 visitors. That number increased to 300,000 in 2013. Lucas said current attendance projections indicated that the refuge will eventually see more than one million people a year over the next 15 years, making it the most popular urban refuge in the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service’s entire system.
“The main purpose for the plan is how on earth will the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge need to look to support that kind of visitation,” said refuge manager David Lucas.
The wildlife refuge was authorized by Congress in 1992. The first and only master plan for the refuge was created in 1996 and was largely based around remediation and clean up efforts for the 15,000 acres of land, which was historically used by the Army to produce chemical weapons.
“The main reason we’re doing this now is that clean up is over, it ended at the end of 2012,” said Lucas. “We want to open up more of the refuge for public use, to make (that genral public use space) less like a national wildlife refuge.”
Of those 15,000 acres, only about 2,800 acres are open to the public now. One of the things being proposed is to open the bison tour route for vehicles.
“That’s a huge difference, because right now the public can only see a couple thousand acres and maybe one full habitat by the woodlands,” Lucas said. “We still have 14,000 acres to the north.”
Lucas said the plan, which has been in the works for nearly eight months, will aim to strike a balance between supporting a higher number of annual visitors and maintaining the quality of the natural habitats where more than 330 different species of wildlife live.
The master plan is also looking at a potential second entrance for pedestrians only, on the southwest portion of the refuge, near a future commuter rail station and DIA. The plan will be finalized next spring.
Planners hope to prioritize trail connections in and around the refuge, which Sounders said will help bolster visitation and simultaneously temper the impact of tourists on the grasslands.
“We are part of an urban refuge initiative to connect people with nature and connect with our communities,” she said.
More than 90 miles of trails will eventually connect the refuge with Two Ponds National Wildlife Refuge and Rocky Flats in Arvada.
“We want to continue to enhance the experience of visitors to the wildlife refuge,” said Chris Cramer, Commerce City community development director. “It is one of the biggest amenities that our residents have, and it’s such a big influence on the overall character of our community.”
Cramer said in addition to trail connections, the city is interested in a revitalized visitor’s center, which is currently the only entrance to the refuge, through Commerce City.
“You have to go through Commerce City to get there,” Cramer said “The entrance is a key issue for us.”
Megan Mitchell: 303-954-2650, or mmitchell@denverpost.com
