Thomas Jefferson and Stream Restoration
Three important policy questions about the idea of restoring portions of Montclair Creek from 13th Avenue to Jasmine Street are:
Who pays for the restoration?
Why do they pay?
How do they pay?
These questions clearly beg a pair of underlying questions: 1) How did we get in the position of streams needing restoration? 2) Who got us there?
Let’s start with Thomas Jefferson, the son of a land surveyor.
After the Revolutionary War, Jefferson proposed a national survey, whereby the federal government would survey large areas of land quickly and inexpensively. Through the Land Ordinance of 1785, the entire country west of the original colonies was surveyed and laid out in a series of large grids. The Township and Range system exemplified the values of the European Enlightenment, imposing an orderly, systematic frame of meaning to the largely unknown wilderness west of Jefferson’s Virginia.
In 1861, the Surveyor-General of the United States prepared a map tying the Denver area into that grid system. A portion of that map, below, shows Townships, 6 miles square, which are divided into 36 Sections, each one-mile square. These Sections could, in turn, be subdivided into smaller plots, more easily sold to people of limited means. Jefferson foresaw that once the land was subdivided, citizens could buy it at “affordable” prices. Americans of modest means could become independent landowners, a prerequisite in his mind for a true democracy.
Flash forward 17 years.
In 1878, Major John Wesley Powell, first Director of the United States Geological Survey, prepared for the U.S. Congress his Report on the lands in the Arid Region of the United States. Recognizing that water would be the limiting resource in future development of the arid west, Powell proposed that drainage divides be the organizing land use principle in the west instead of Cartesian (or Jeffersonian) boundaries drawn along arbitrary lines. Rectilinear surveys used to divide properties and political entities in the rainy east would not work in the drier west.
Congress ignored Powell’s recommendation. Since 1878 – for more than 125 years – elected officials and much of the public and private land use planning and engineering community have largely continued the practice of dividing properties and political entities along arbitrary lines.
MAPS
1st Map (the big-picture view)
The east-west (Township) line in the center of the map is the alignment for Colfax Avenue. The north-south (Range) line in the middle is the alignment for Colorado Boulevard. One mile north of Colfax is 26th Avenue and one mile south is 6th Avenue. One mile east of Colorado Boulevard is Holly Street, and two miles east is Quebec Street. The map also shows the South Platte River, Cherry Creek, and other smaller streams in the Denver area in 1861 (including Montclair Creek), and the boundaries of present-day City Park.
2nd Map (Zooming into Greater Park Hill)
Now, take a look at the second map. It is simply a zoomed-in version of the first, but focusing on the Greater Park Hill portion of Montclair Creek. In both maps, the green rectangle is City Park, including the zoo area and the golf course. Street alignments on a ½ mile grid (Montview Boulevard and 11th Avenue; Steele Street, Dahlia Street and Monaco Street Parkway) have been added.
Next month – Where does the discussion above lead us in terms of stream restoration?
Brian Hyde is an expert on floodplain management and stream restoration. He wants your feedback at westerly_connect_brian@comcast.net or 720-939-6039.