A Call For More Watershed Heroes
Looking To The Past For Inspiration To The Future
By Brian Hyde
Wanted: Small and large acts of courage on behalf of the Montclair Creek and Park Hill Creek watersheds.
Let me shine a light on three Westerly Creek watershed heroes for inspiration:
1. Bill Wenk, a landscape architect, helped conceive and implement the idea of a Westerly Creek greenway at Lowry.
2. Robert Krehbiel, a water resources engineer, helped design and construct the Westerly Creek greenway at Stapleton.
3. Marcia Johnson, a former Denver city councilmember, imagined the Westerly Creek Greenway Master Plan and guided it through Denver City Council.
Look at the accompanying photo showing conditions along Westerly Creek, circa 1995. Stapleton was an international airport, not a neighborhood. Today, it is a gem, in fact, a gem that is expanding.
Conditions at nearby Lowry Air Force Base 20 years ago were just as bad, if not worse. In 2016, it’s another also-growing gem.
The story of Westerly Creek has guided me for years, during which, in the pages of this newspaper, I have been talking about the need to treat Montclair Creek and Park Hill Creek with the same planning care.
A bit of history
My wife and I, along with our first child, moved to Park Hill from Fort Collins in 1981. We flew out of Stapleton Airport, during the time planes flew over Park Hill regularly. We did not go to Stapleton for creekside walks.
My wife went through a military checkpoint to attend her graduate classes at the University of Northern Colorado extension facility at Lowry. I couldn’t go through that checkpoint. And the creek was unwelcome at both facilities.
Since then, Westerly Creek has been restored at Stapleton and Lowry. Collectively, we’re still actively working on the stretch between the two neighborhoods. We’ve made progress. To wit:
• Northeast Denver and Northwest Aurora are about to get more of the Westerly Creek Greenway. By Sept. 1, the greenway will have extended north (downstream) from 33rd Avenue (opposite the Rec. Center at Stapleton) to the confluence with Sand Creek.
• Stanley Marketplace, along Westerly Creek from 23rd Avenue to 26th Avenue, will open sometime in September.
• Meanwhile, at Montview Boulevard, Aurora has built the bridge over Westerly Creek on Montview Boulevard. Aurora is currently completing improvements in Montview Park. Pedestrians and cyclists will be able to travel, by this Halloween or so, between 17th Avenue and 33rd Avenue, and Sand Creek – without worrying about motor vehicles.
• This fall, or perhaps in early winter, on the Lowry side of Colfax Avenue, Denver Parks will start work on stream restoration for Westerly Creek from 11th Avenue to New Freedom Park at 13th Avenue. The restoration work only affects the stream corridor. Greenway crossings of 11th Avenue, Richthofen Place, 12th Avenue, and 13th Avenue to improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists are not included in the project.
We should be proud that so much progress has already been made and is currently being made in implementing corridor envisioned in the Greenway Master Plan.
From the present to the future
I know what Montclair Creek and Park Hill Creek look like today and I know how they function. I walk each of them more than once a week.
I have a pretty good idea of what they looked like in 1861. I know how they got the way they are today. Much of the damage to these watersheds was done in the 19th century, after 1861 – mostly from 1865 to 1893. I know because I did a good bit of research on that subject.
Based on that research and on my ongoing walks, and based on having watched Westerly Creek closely for more than 20 years, I am quite comfortable with this hope:
Someday, as happened on Westerly Creek, portions of Montclair Creek and portions of Park Hill Creek can become, once again, “real creeks” and can function like “real creeks.”
We just need a few watershed heroes.
Brian Hyde is an expert in floodplain management and stream restoration. He wants your feedback at westerly_connect_brian@comcast.net or 720-939-6039