CROWN HILL OPEN SPACE PARK – A BRIEF HISTORY
What we know today as Crown Hill Open Space Park wasn’t always a public venue. One year before the end of the American Civil War, in 1864, a young man named Henry Lee sojourned west from Iowa to join his brother, William, who had a farm east of Golden, on the south side of Clear Creek.
The land was rich, fertile enough to support wheat fields (Wheat Ridge), fruit orchards (Fruitdale) and further to the north, the farms that would one day become the city of Arvada.
While William worked the farm, Henry traveled on the narrow gauge railroad up Clear Creek Canyon to the mining camps in Gilpin, Clear Creek, and Park counties, selling vegetables to the residents.
In less than 10 years from the time of his arrival, Henry had met and married Jennie Paul, another Iowa ex-pat, and settled down to a married and family life on land that Henry was now farming. Read more
Jeffco Open Space 2022 Preservation Progress Annual Report
We have a new addition to our Library, the Open Space 2022 Preservation Progress. It’s an update updates on how Open Space is doing with the Conservation Greenprint 2020-2025.
Apologies for not getting this added before now, it’s been available on the Jeffco Open Space website since sometime this spring. Our Librarian has been remiss.
Happy reading!
The Open Space Foundation is Back!
Twenty-five years ago, a group of volunteers formed an organization called the Jeffco Open Space Foundation, whose purpose was (and is) to raise funds for programs and initiatives that align with its vision, mission, beliefs and its focus areas.
From the beginning, the Foundation has been busy. They have provided partial funding for acquisition of Hildebrand Ranch, South Table, Alderfer/Three Sisters, and Elk Meadow Open Space Parks.
They funded improvements at Evergreen Lake, the Pioneer Trail in Evergreen, and Lair o’the Bear Open Space Park, as well as providing matching funds for the Open Space Grant program. Read more
Alderfer/Three Sisters Forest Health 2023-2024
If you’ve recently been out to Alderfer/Three Sisters Park recently, you’ll notice that there’s a lot of forestry activity happening, especially in the eastern one-third of the park.
Managing and maintaining forest health is incredibly important to the safety of everyone and everything, and so, after 100+ years of the forest overgrowth, JCOS is able to start work on this park.
Starting in August 2023, the JCOS Forest Management Team will remove seedlings, saplings, and even some larger trees – mostly Ponderosa pine and Douglas fir – so that the density of the forest will be reduced. Eventually some 240 acres throughout the entire park will be mitigated. This will result in a healthier ecosystem that will be far more resilient to wildfire than what is currently in place. Read more
Presidents Report 7/31/2023
It’s the merry month of August and President’s Report time, time to catch up with what’s happening in the local land conservation community and spot-checks from around the world. New this month is a section on Signs of Hope. We hope you enjoy the read, and in so doing, we hope this may broaden perspectives in some small way.
– the Fine Folks at PLAN Jeffco
NOTE: in this Presidents Report you’ll read about lands that have been “Permanently Protected” by land organizations. Most of these protected lands have conservation easements on them and have very limited public availability, unlike our Jeffco Open Space Parks.
What is a conservation easement? It’s a promise to the land, a promise that encumbers the land, that protects the land from ever being developed into something other than what it already is. The land is still privately owned, so no — you cannot go trekking across the property without the owners’ permission, but you can rest assured that the land will not sprout condominiums or shopping centers. Read more
Seen Any Moose Around Here Lately?
Have you seen a moose in our Open Space parks yet? If you haven’t, you may soon. Moose, which was a rarity in Colorado only 50 years ago, are now routinely sighted in Clear Creek and Jefferson Counties since their introduction in 1978 — transplants from Utah and Wyoming. The transplants have delighted in their new home state. According to biologists from Colorado Parks & Wildlife, there are an estimated 3500 moose roaming the Rockies between Red Feather Lakes and Pagosa Springs. Read more
Presidents Report 6/15/2023
Towards the end of every PLAN Jeffco Board meeting, there is a Presidents Report. This is our opportunity to bring awareness to issues that transcend our local Jefferson County Open Space Parks. The Presidents Report lists activities and events from local and regional organizations, both land conservancy and otherwise, with reports from national and global news agencies. We hope you enjoy the read, and in so doing, we hope this may broaden perspectives in some small way.
– the Fine Folks at PLAN Jeffco
NOTE: in this Presidents Report you’ll read about lands that have been “Permanently Protected” by land organizations. Most of these protected lands have conservation easements on them, unlike our Jeffco Open Space Parks.
What is a conservation easement? It’s a promise to the land, a promise that encumbers the land, that protects the land from ever being developed into something other than what it already is. The land is still privately owned, so no — you cannot go trekking across the property without the owners’ permission, but you can rest assured that the land will not sprout condominiums or shopping centers. Read more
March 2023 Newsletter
Inside this issue: Stewardship Academy; Conservation Awards; Peaks to Plains; Acquisitions; Lubahn Trail; Hall of Fame; OSAC Notes
Is Mud Season Really Over?
If you’re a regular — or even an occasional — visitor to our Jeffco Open Space Parks, you’ll know about the mud season routine. Walk through, not around the mud.
We’ve had a fabulous spring this year, the mud was intense for a while, but now that the daily rains have slackened off, is mud season really over?
I doubt it. Read more
