Letters To The Editor October ’23
Stuff Of Nightmares
No One Stood Up For The Trees, The Wildlife, Or Us
By Jenna Hawkins
For the GPHN
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First, I want to thank the Greater Park Hill News for highlighting the immense devastation that is taking place in Green Valley Ranch (Parts 1 and 2 of A Sewer Runs Through It, in the August and September issues). Mark Silverstein’s commitment to shining a light on this outrage has been so appreciated.
The destruction of our green spaces has been nothing short of a nightmare. When my family moved here almost six years ago, we chose to build our first home here because of the trees.
We were told by Oakwood Homes that the space behind our home was slated for a Denver park and would never be developed. We paid a handsome premium for a lot right along the green space.
First Creek Park and Exploration Zone opened in 2019 with a bike path, creek access, natural play features, and paths throughout the trees. At the ribbon cutting, Denver Councilwoman Stacie Gilmore proudly proclaimed the space was preserved for our children. My backyard has been my happy place and my refuge. The green space has provided adventure and escape for my kids in the midst of the city. Families of deer would often walk past us. A red fox had become a regular visitor along our fence. Owls and hawks have nested back there. A bald eagle was regularly spotted last winter. Simple and spectacular moments with the natural world. A true gift.
In the past months, it all has become unrecognizable.
The trees came down in February. It was absolutely traumatic. Several century-old cottonwoods, a mature olive, right behind our home. They had provided shade and privacy and beauty. They belonged to the animals and the earth. They were not ours to take. The day I heard the chainsaws, I ran back there in disbelief. “This isn’t a park, it’s an easement,” I was told by the foreman. “The Metro District owns this and can do whatever they want.”
Why didn’t they put the pipeline under city streets, and protect the trees and open space and wildlife habitat? Why didn’t they let the residents who would be so profoundly impacted know the scope of the devastation? “Because we knew they would get upset.” Upset is the understatement of all understatements. I pointed out the enormous cottonwood behind my home, on the very edge of their path of destruction. Surely we could spare that one? “They’ve all been approved [for removal].”
As the trees began to fall, I desperately called every entity I could think of. Councilwoman Gilmore’s office, Denver’s Parks and Recreation department, Aurora Water, Denver Forestry. It became clear I could do nothing to stop this evil plan.
For those who live here, the cost has been immeasurable.
Since late spring, we’ve had construction vehicles behind us almost daily. Our backyard has not been usable all summer because of the dust and noise. Remember the monsoons? Because Aurora Water had decimated the 100 feet behind our homes, not a single prairie grass or shrub or tree was there to hold that water in the ground.
We literally had a river running behind our home, threatening our properties. Not to mention the destruction to the Exploration Zone. All the dirt they moved in washed into the park, and the washout contributed to a complete flooding of the zone. This happened three times over the summer, causing obvious setbacks and sending more dirt into the park.
It’s still a huge mess. Aurora Water has promised they will return the park to the condition they found it. We will see.
To add insult to heartbreak, the construction project shut down all access from our neighborhood into the green space. We haven’t been able to enjoy any part of the park all summer. Metal fences and concrete barriers were put up to ensure this.
We should have been informed that this would also be a condition of the project. We should have known all of this. We should have had a voice.
It’s disheartening that no one involved in the planning and passing through cared about the earth and the animals and the people more than the bottom line. That’s the sad, hard truth. No one stood up and said, “This is wrong.” Not the Denver City Council, not Parks and Rec, certainly not the Metro District. And the people of Green Valley Ranch, the ones who would have stood up, had no say, because we had so little information.
Someone needs to be held accountable. Our trees can’t be replaced, the wildlife may not return, but these spaces need to be as healed as much as possible. A light needs to continue to shine bright on this atrocity until that happens, and so no other community experiences this kind of careless carnage.
Jenna Hawkins is a resident of Green Valley Ranch.
Editor’s note: Mark Silverstein’s series, A Sewer Runs Through It, appeared in the August and September issues. The stories, detailing Aurora’s sewer project through Denver’s First Creek Open Space, can be read at these links:
Part 1: tinyurl.com/ASewer1
Part 2: tinyurl.com/ASewer2
Journalism At Its Best
Thank you so much for running the excellent (and horrifying) series in the August and September issues about the devastation of the First Creek Trail and its trees and wildlife.
I look forward to additional installments, in which I hope to continue to learn how this injustice was planned and approved without public input.
This is independent journalism at its best. Great photos, too. And congrats to Mark Silverstein for getting his vireo pic!
By the way, as far as local news goes, don’t overlook the online news sources: The Colorado Sun, CPR News and Denverite. They do some great investigative work.
Leslie Chomic, Park Hill
Fill ’Er Up
I’ve appreciated the series by Mark Silverstein about the Aurora sewer project.
If he still has gas in the tank, I wonder if he could do a Part 3 that addresses “lessons learned” and policy recommendations for city council and issues of intergovernmental coordination and relations?
Thanks for all you do.
Christine Martell, Park Hill
We love your letters, and give preference to those that address an issue that has been covered in the newspaper, or a topic that is Park Hill or Denver-specific. Send letters to editor@greaterparkhill.org, and include your full name, and the neighborhood in which you live. Deadlines are the 15th of each month, for the following month’s issue.