Douglas County announced recently the addition of 474 acres to
its open space property in the form of two highly different pieces
of land.
The 166-acre Hungry Horse property consists of plains riparian
and short grass prairie ecosystems, said Douglas County Open Space
Specialist Toby Sprunk.
It is a rectangular piece of land south of Parker, straddling
Cherry Creek between Scott Gulch and McMurdo Gulch.
The 308-acre Pike Hill open-space property is a Rocky Mountain
foothills ecosystem, Sprunk said.
It is sandwiched between the Pike National Forest to the west,
the county’s Nelson Ranch open space to the east and Roxborough
State Park to the north.
The county paid $920,000 for the Pike Hill property and $525,000
for the Hungry Horse land, Sprunk said. The money was raised via a
one-sixth-cent open space sales tax.
The Cherry Creek Regional Trail already travels through Hungry
Horse, so the public can access that property now, he
said.
But because of the remoteness of Pike Hill, it will be a while
before the public will have access to trails that will be built
there, Sprunk said. The trails will allow nonintensive recreation
such as hiking, horseback riding and mountain biking.
Douglas County Open Space and Natural Resources Director Cheryl
Matthews said the county plans to open trails on the property in
spring 2004.
Trail construction will begin soon, Sprunk said.
And the county is considering a road from Colorado 67 to the
Pike Hill property, but that has not been decided yet, he
said.
If one goes to the Hungry Horse property, he might see
pronghorn, deer, hawks, prairie dogs, coyotes, foxes and a huge
variety of birds, Sprunk said.
The county’s main goals for this property are to provide
recreational activities and wildlife habitat protection, he
said.
Open space employees will work to eradicate noxious weeds such
as leafy spurge from the property, and will clean up trash,
stabilize streambanks and restore wildlife habitat, Sprunk
said.
Once the Pike Hill property is open, hikers, bikers and
horseback riders might see bears, mountain lions, elk, deer, and
coyotes dodging through the ponderosa pine, Douglas fir and aspen
forests, he said.
The main goal for this property is to maintain and protect the
pristine foothills ecosystems, Sprunk said.
The county has been negotiating to obtain the Pike Hill property
as open space for a number of years, he said.
The opportunity to acquire the Hungry Horse land opened up only
last year, Sprunk said.
This underlines how different each open space situation is, he
said.