When It Comes To Greenways, Let’s Back Up For A Minute

Last month I wrote a column about Goldsmith Gulch, a stream in southeast Denver, and about Mark Kelley, who is spearheading efforts to protect and enhance Goldsmith Gulch. I finally met Mark in-person in March. We got together to take a look at the gulch near Hampden Avenue, near Tiffany Plaza. That same afternoon, I walked 5-miles – 2.5 miles upstream & 2.5 miles downstream – to get to know the creek better. I came up with a big picture view of the possibilities for greenway linkages between Goldsmith Gulch and Westerly Creek. Briefly – The Highline Canal Trail could connect Goldsmith Gulch to its neighbor to the west, Harvard Gulch, and to its neighbor to the northeast, Westerly Creek.
My intention this month had been to write about Harvard Gulch. As it turns out, after I write this column, but before it reaches you, I will be attending a meeting to discuss possibilities to improve the Harvard Gulch trail between University Boulevard and Colorado Boulevard. Major landmarks are the University of Denver, immediately north of Harvard Gulch, just west of University Boulevard, and the Schlessman YMCA, a little south of the gulch, just west of Colorado Boulevard. Rather than dig into Harvard Gulch now, I will write about it after that watershed meeting, in fairness to residents of the University Park neighborhood who are organizing it.
I am calling your attention to a map you will find at the greaterparkhill.org website. The map is entitled “Connecting Watersheds in East Denver.” I expect that most of you are familiar with the South Platte River Greenway, the Cherry Creek Trail, and the Sand Creek Greenway. The three streams that serve as the spines for each of those greenways are shown as solid thick blue lines. Black dotted lines indicate the watershed boundaries for:
3 stream systems that are tributary to the South Platte River (Harvard Gulch, Montclair Creek, and Park Hill Drainage),
1 stream system that is tributary to Cherry Creek (Goldsmith Gulch), and
1 stream system that is tributary to Sand Creek (Westerly Creek).
The map, with the three existing greenways and the five tributary watersheds, illustrates, in skeletal form, the notion of copying a wonderful idea from Boston. Frederick Law Olmsted, designer of New York’s Central Park, conceived for Boston an 1,100-acre chain of nine parks linked by parkways and waterway, known as the Emerald Necklace. This linear system of parks and parkways was designed by Olmsted to connect the Boston Common, which dates from the colonial period, to eight other parks, ending at Franklin Park. (Interestingly, Olmsted’s son, Frederick Law Olmsted Jr., was retained by Mayor Robert Speer to design Denver’s Mountain Parks system.) The idea is for Denver to have an “Emerald Spider’s Web,” with riparian and/or green interconnections between the nine watersheds. In locations where necessary, the Highline Canal Trail or another trail can provide non-riparian “glue.”
More details next month!

An expert in floodplain management, Brian Hyde can be reached at westerly_connect_brian@comcast.net or 720-939-6039.