“This is my second backyard,” longtime volunteer, birder and retired physician Dr. George Ho said of Denver’s Bluff Lake Nature Center
NEED TO KNOW
- Denver International Airport replaced Stapleton Airport in 1995, leading to the site’s transformation into a nature preserve
- Bluff Lake Nature Center now serves as a wildlife refuge and outdoor classroom managed by a local nonprofit organization
- In February, the property unveiled its campus improvement projects including a new parking lot, entrance and refreshed visitor center lobby
The Stapleton International Airport in Denver served as a major transportation hub for Coloradans for over six decades. But as officials looked to expand the facility in the 1990s, they were quickly running out of space. Eventually, an entirely new location was chosen and the Denver International Airport opened in 1995.
Denver’s Department of Aviation demolished the existing buildings at the roughly 7-square-mile airport. It left the “crash zone” at the end of a runway, adjacent to Denver’s Bluff Lake, susceptible to ethylene glycol runoff that lowered the dissolved oxygen levels and killed fish.
Colorado’s Sierra Club, a nonprofit environmental advocacy organization, went on to sue the city and county of Denver over the chemicals. In the end, a settlement was reached and the 123-acre Bluff Lake Natural Area was established, with Denver agreeing to preserve the area and invest over $3 million to enhance wildlife habitats, restore the banks of Sand Creek, build an interpretive trail system and construct open-air shelters.
A number of locals and representatives from various organizations — like schools, the Colorado Division of Wildlife, and Denver Parks and Recreation — formed an organization to represent the land in 1994. It later became known as Friends of Bluff Creek. In May 2000, the group officially changed the name to Bluff Lake Nature Center (BLNC), which it still uses today.
In 2008, the Denver’s Department of Aviation officially transferred ownership of BLNC to the Friends of Bluff Creek, who continue to manage the property…