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THe Greenway Foundation Blog

EVENT RECAP: CH2M SPRING RIVERSWEEP PRESENTED BY MILLERCOORS AND THE NATURE CONSERVANCY

4/25/2015

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Over 600 adults and children came out to The Greenway Foundation's river clean-up day! this equals over 1,200 hours dedicated to Denver Parks and Recreation and our local parks! These amazing volunteers improved nearly three miles of the South Platte River and helped maintain eight different parks! Volunteers:
  • Painted to cover graffiti
  • Spread 48 yards of mulch to protect existing vegetation
  • laid 44 yards of Crusher fine trails
  • over 20 yards of plant debris was cleared
  • 136 trees and plants were added
Another partner, Originateve, brought volunteers to separate 1,200 pounds of trash collected during the event. Thanks to their effort, a total of 381 pounds of debris were diverted from our landfills!
  • Plastic bottles: 115 pounds
  • Paper: 70 pounds
  • Glass: 58 pounds
  • Aluminum and other metals: 45 pounds
  • Clothing: 62 pounds
  • Miscellaneous: 31 pounds
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A big thank you to John Blackshire and Camille Swan for putting together this RiverSweep Video!

For more photos of the event, please  check out our 
Facebook Album.
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OVERLAND POND PARK

4/16/2015

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GET TO KNOW YOUR GREENWAY: OVERLAND POND PARK​

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By: JJ Clark
SPREE Staff Writer

Take a fishing pole and a picnic to enjoy a day out at Overland Pond Park this month.  Overland Pond Park offers an escape from the city without ever leaving it. 

Along with the pond itself, the banks are lush with native plants and signs of animal life.  Blue Grama (Colorado’s state grass) is abundant and evidence of recent beaver activity marks many of the cottonwood trees around the pond.  The pond is home to rainbow trout, carp, blue gill, and other species of fish.  Cormorants, herons, and egrets often feed at the pond and turtles and frogs have been spotted here as well.

Overland Pond is a reclaimed gravel mining pit that was redesigned as a learning park along the banks of the South Platte River.  The native plantings are a reminder of what the Colorado prairie might have looked like before human activity.  Serving as a habitat sanctuary for migratory birds and other South Platte River fauna, trees that fall are left down to provide homes for small animals and nutrients for future pond life. ​

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In addition to being the home for the 5th grade excursion program, Overland Pond is also the host to the Family Fishing Day Water Festival programs each year.  Fishing for Kids programming is provided for SPREE Schools through a partnership with the Colorado Division of Wildlife and ELK (Environmental Learning for Kids). For this free educational fishing event, the pond is stocked with rainbow trout, and the students are taught basic casting, fish anatomy, pond ecology, and fish identification and handling lessons.  Students enjoy a day of catch and release fishing and get to keep their fishing pole at the end of the day.
Park Information:
Activities: Picnic tables, riverside and pond exploration, fishing (stocked pond)
Sights: Fishing dock, Cormorants and various other birds
Bathrooms: Seasonal
Drinking Fountain: No
Access to River: There is access to the both South Platte River and Overland Pond
Events at Park: Family Fishing Day Water Festival, Greenway Foundation's 5th grade excursion program
SPREE Squad Checklist: 
  • Flip over a rock and look for a crawdad (it is ok if you don't see one, but give it a shot!)
  • Walk across the bike path and go see the South Platte River
  • Optional: Go fishing! (Don't forget, if there is an adult with you they need a fishing license, get one HERE!


​​
Map:
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APRIL 13, 2015 HOLIDAY CAMP: REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS OF THE RIVER

4/15/2015

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We had a blast becoming herpetologists and studying reptiles and amphibians!

​Reptiles:

First we learned about some of the cool adaptations that reptiles have by dressing up as one! We dressed up some campers as rattlesnakes and learned that they have some very cool features such as scaly skin, forked tongues, jaws that can unhinge, and heat-sensing vision! Next we acted out shedding our reptilian skin by putting glue on our hand and peeling it off after it dried! Did you know that many reptiles eat their skin after they shed it? It's full of nutrients! Then, we made two reptilian crafts- a turtle and a snake!
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Amphibians:
We got to dress up as a frog and learned about lots of amazing adaptations and facts! Then, we played a game as salamanders. We had to try and steal each other's tails! Did you know if a salamander loses its tail that it can grow it back? Next, we imagined our lives as amphibians and drew landscapes from an animal's perspective. Little things look a lot bigger when you are a tiny critter!
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Comparisons:
We were able to take a closer look at these two similar creatures groups by making a big venn diagram and sorting out features and animal pictures into the two groups. The main differences between them are that amphibians usually have wet and smooth skin and they go through metamorphosis in their life cycle. Reptiles have scaled skin, and they usually just start small and grow bigger and bigger through their lives without much change. Both types of animals are cold blooded, usually come from eggs, and often share similar habitats.
Once we were experts, we made some acrostic poems about some of the animals we learned about!
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And of course we spent some time exploring the Cherry Creek!
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GET TO KNOW YOUR GREENWAY: CITY OF CUERNAVACA PARK

4/8/2015

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By: J.J. Clark
SPREE Staff Writer

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Just downstream of the Downtown Denver Skate Park sits City of Cuernavaca Park.  The Flour Mill Lofts stand between one of the park’s many open spaces and the railroad line that follows the Platte Valley for much of downtown.  The South Platte River trail connects this renewed industrial residence to campgrounds in the foothills and hundreds of miles of urban recreation and adventure.

Several pedestrian bridges that resemble the iron train tresses over the Cherry Creek cross the South Platte River while rolling Kentucky Blue Grass hills and public stone sculptures offer themselves to picnickers.  On the north side of the river there is an expansive field that can host soccer, frisbee, or a weekend get together.  This field is adjacent to a substantial picnicking shade structure with views of downtown.

The city is omnipresent at the top of the steep riverbanks, but a short descent quiets the hum.  Small dirt and stone trails lead off the concrete bike path and down to the water.  This time of year the banks are full of sticks and debris left from the recent spring runoff.  There is a meadow blooming with prairie grasses and shaded by newly leaved Cottonwood trees.  The dirt paths by the river tuck beneath the pedestrian bridges and give a sense of solitude in the midst of coal trains, interstates, and condos.

On these dirt trails there is a sense of exploring something secret.  Just a few steps off the trail, through the green seeds and stems of the native grasses, are signs of urban wilderness and undisturbed nature.  Numerous trees have been reduced to stumps by beaver and huge logs appear to be aged by time and the weather.

The seeds of the Cottonwoods summon spring on the banks of the South Platte.  Denver’s buildings pierce the blue sky as interstate commuters pass.  At City of Cuernavaca Park, you can see Denver’s industrial rail lines, urban renewal, water recreation, urban wilderness and solitude, all in the shade of a Cottonwood tree and Denver’s unmistakable skyline.

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50TH ANNIVERSARY OF DENVER’S LARGEST NATURAL DISASTER

4/8/2015

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On June 16th, 1965 a storm gathered over Denver and an intense rain began to fall. The River water began to swell and break forth from its banks. “Instead of the normal 300 cubic feet of water per second, or the 3,000 that we called exceptionally high…, the raging South Platte hit us with the astonishing flow of 150,000 cubic feet per second” (Shoemaker, 1981). The River swept out into the city creating the largest natural disaster in Denver’s history. The flood inundated 250,000 acres of land and caused $540 million in damages. 

“By the time the flood was in the center of the city it had damaged every bridge in its path from the south, and the tide was gathering an increasing load of debris- trees, sides of buildings, entire mobile homes, telephone poles trailing wires, an armada of old and new automobile tires, operable and junked cars, entire lumber yards, fences, tanks loaded with the Lord knew what.” (Shoemaker, 1981)

For nine years the South Platte River continued to lay in waste. The River was ecologically dead, and it was said that you could hear the flow but not see the water through all of the trash. In 1974 Mayor Bill McNichols and State Senator Joe Shoemaker co-founded the Platte River Development Committee (PRDC) with Senator Shoemaker as the Chair. Charged with initializing the revitalization of the South Platte, the PRDC, which two years later became The Greenway Foundation, took on the monumental task of breathing life into a dead urban waterway. 

Since then, over $130 million has been invested into the River, its parks and trails, taking the River from a virtually abandoned and forgotten open sewer to the vibrant, healthy, enhanced and engaged urban waterway that it is today. Over 100,000 linear feet of water quality, recreational and flood control improvements, over 100 acres of parks and natural area, and over 100 miles of multi-use recreation trails have been added to the South Platte River Greenway. This investment has created over $13 billion in related economic benefits to the people of Denver. 

Today, the River is a destination spot. On any warm day of the summer you will find people cooling their feet in the water, bicyclists zooming along the trail, or fishermen waist deep in water. On June 27th and 28th 2015, over 15,000 people will convene at the Confluence Park, the birthplace of Denver, for the third annual Coors Light South Platte RiverFest. With free paddleboard lessons, kayaking, and live music, this festival is the epitome of the South Platte’s restoration.

The flood of 1965 was Denver’s largest natural disaster; however, from this turmoil blossomed Denver’s greatest natural resource, the South Platte River. The South Platte River trail connects this renewed industrial residence to campgrounds in the foothills and hundreds of miles of urban recreation and adventure.
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  • About Us
    • About Us >
      • Greenway Current (Annual Report)
      • Flood of 1965
      • Greenway Videos
    • River & Trail Info
    • Blog
    • Success Stories >
      • 1970s
      • 1980s
      • 1990s
      • 2000s
      • 2010-2014
      • 2015-Future
    • Volunteer
    • Employment
    • Staff
    • Contact Us
    • Search
  • Education
    • SPREE >
      • SPREE Home Page
      • Just for Kids!
      • Support SPREE
    • Virtual Field Trips
    • Field Trips >
      • Excursions By Grade >
        • ECE
        • Kindergarten
        • 1st Grade
        • 2nd Grade
        • 3rd Grade
        • 4th Grade
        • 5th Grade
      • Excursion Signup
      • Feedback
      • Excursion FAQ
    • Camp >
      • Summer Camp
      • School Break Camps
      • Leaders in Training
      • FAQ
    • Learning SPREE
    • After School
    • High School >
      • River Rangers >
        • School Internships
        • Summer Employment
        • Why Environmental Education?
      • Greenway Leadership Corps >
        • The Water Connection >
          • About The Water Connection
          • Nautilus Installed in Cherry Creek
          • TAP-IN Colorado
          • Gutter Bin Pilot
          • Clean River Design Challenge
          • Minimum Stream Flow
  • Water Resources
  • Projects
    • River Vision Implementation Plan (RVIP) >
      • Johnson Habitat Park
      • Weir Gulch
    • Chatfield Storage Reallocation Project
    • USACE Feasibility Study
    • Clear Creek Greenway Design Effort
    • Cherry Creek Stewardship Partners
  • Events
    • Spring South Platte Stewardship Day >
      • Family Spring Stewardship Day
    • Art on the River
    • Citizens for the River
    • Reception on the River
    • Rock the River >
      • Rock the River Catering
      • Rock the River Viewing Instructions
    • Gala on the Bridge
    • Bridge Party
    • Fall South Platte Stewardship Day >
      • Family Fall Stewardship Day
    • Family Fishing Day
  • Donate
    • Colorado Gives Day
  • Email Sign Up