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To celebrate Black History Month, TGF is highlighting some of the inspiring black leaders in the Denver community, striving to make lasting change within environmental education, conservation, and beyond. When researching for this project, I came across Sandra Douglas, referenced by many who have worked with her as Miss Sandy. As the Community Connector for the Cole Neighborhood, SPREE has worked with her in the past to make outdoor education accessible to this community. When I had the pleasure of speaking with Miss Sandy about her work, I could hear the sounds of a busy kitchen in the background. Sure enough, she told me “Sorry honey, I’m busy cooking up a hundred pounds of potatoes”. At that point, I knew I was talking to someone who cared deeply about this community and that I could not tell her story better than she could. Keep reading to learn more of Miss Sandy’s story, in her words.
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Campers delved into early Colorado’s past as we reenacted the lives of settlers, pioneers, and prospectors. Monday: Mountain Men and Women Campers kicked off the week learning about Colorado before it became a state, and, about some of the people who came West to explore it in the early 1800s. These mountain men and women were typically fur trappers and explorers. Many have Colorado landmarks named after them, like Pike's Peak for Zebulon Pike! After learning some facts and history of some of these historic figures, campers then reenacted some of their lives through making journals to record notes and discoveries in, as well as making some explorer vests! Then, we made a DIY compass to help us explore, and went on a scavenger hunt to learn about some of the important things that these explorers used day to day, or were looking for in their travels- like a beaver pelt and feather pens. We wrapped up the day "fishing" in the creek as some of these mountain mountain men and women would have, too!
Campers delved into early Colorado’s past as we reenacted the lives of settlers, pioneers, and prospectors. Monday: Mountain Men and Women Campers kicked off the week learning about Colorado before it became a state, and, about some of the people who came West to explore it in the early 1800s. These mountain men and women were typically fur trappers and explorers. Many have Colorado landmarks named after them, like Pike's Peak for Zebulon Pike! After learning some facts and history of some of these historic figures, campers then reenacted some of their lives through making journals to record notes and discoveries in, as well as making some explorer vests! Then, we made a DIY compass to help us explore, and went on a scavenger hunt to learn about some of the important things that these explorers used day to day, or were looking for in their travels- like a beaver pelt and feather pens. We wrapped up the day "fishing" in the river as some of these mountain mountain men and women would have, too!
Wednesday had us move to a little more recent time, around the 1700s, where we learned about Native American tribes that lived in our area then, and still today! Campers had a fantastic time practicing "hunting" skills through making animal disguises and playing games- such as practicing aim through a hoop and dart game that kids of these tribes used to play. Another way we learned about Arapahoe and Cheyenne traditions was through art. We made some of our own sand art inspired by sand paintings that were designed to help heal sick tribespeople. We also got to hear traditional fables, and write and, act out some of our own stories!
On Thursday campers were introduced to the Europeans that started coming West to explore and start fur trading. We acted out some aspects of the daily lives that these "mountain men" (and women!) would have faced. We made our own version of a journal. These journals were imperative for explorers and trappers who needed to make important notes that helped them survive, and, help with their business records. These journals are one of the ways that we know so much about some of the people that came out West to explore. For more fun, we did a scavenger hunt through the park to find some traditional items that could have been seen here a few hundred years ago! We wrapped up our day with some "fishing" by the river- as many people have done for hundreds (and thousands!) of years.
Friday's focus was on pioneers and prospectors of the 1800s. Campers had a blast playing pioneer games like a 3-legged racing, potato sack races, and kick the can! We also made some pioneer-inspired art by making aluminum-punch pictures. Our whirlwind travels through time wrapped up with gold panning in the river- where many campers found magnatite, garnet, quartz, and even a few flakes of gold. After a great week, we also had a graduation ceremorny for our new Colorado history experts!   Denver was not always the city we know today - in fact, it wasn't even called Denver at first! Around 160 years ago, pioneers headed west looking for gold, and many of them stopped at the confluence of the South Platte River and the Cherry Creek. They established the first settlements that ultimately lead to Denver. But first we had Montana City, Auraria, and St. Charles.
A RIVER ONCE DESCRIBED AS “A MILE WIDE AND AN INCH DEEP, TOO THIN TO PLOUGH, TOO THICK TO DRINK,” CAUSED DENVER’S LARGEST NATURAL DISASTER. The week leading up to the Flood had extreme spring weather - hail, funnel clouds, severe thunderstorms and even a few tornadoes. However, at 1:30 pm, the metro area received 14 inches of rain in just 3 hours. 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. A wall of water 20 feet high was described. The flood claimed 21 lives. 1,720 buildings in the city were destroyed or damaged.It caused $543 million in damages in Denver and $3 billion in the state of Colorado. “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. 
 GET TO KNOW YOUR GREENWAY: OVERLAND POND PARK 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.  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.
 By: J.J. Clark SPREE Staff Writer More Photos 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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