Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge Trails

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service This blue goose, designed Rocky Flats by J.N. “Ding” Darling, is the symbol of the National Wildlife Refuge System. National Wildlife Refuge Trails Welcome Exploring the Refuge Accessibility Information Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge We invite you to enjoy the sights and Equal opportunity to participate in and offers expansive views of the Front Range sounds of the Refuge. To help protect benefit from programs and activities of the Rocky Mountains and rolling prairie wildlife and habitats, please keep the of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is grasslands, woodlands, and wetlands. This following rules in mind: available to all individuals regardless of 5,237-acre Refuge has been managed by ■ Visitor access is limited to designated physical or mental ability. Dial 711 for a the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service since trails and roads as shown on the map. All free connection to and from people with 2007 to restore and preserve the native other areas are closed to visitor access. hearing and speech disabilities. For more prairie ecosystems, provide habitat for information or to address accessibility ■ Observe all posted signs and regulations. migratory and resident wildlife, conserve needs, please contact Rocky Mountain and protect habitat for Preble’s meadow ■ Park only in the designated areas Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge staff at jumping mouse, and provide research and shown on the map. 303 / 289 0930 or the U.S. Department of education opportunities. ■ Assistance dogs are welcome and must the Interior, Office of Equal Opportunity, be under leash control at all times. All 1849 C Street NW, Washington, DC 20240. The Refuge is home to 239 migratory other pets are prohibited. and resident wildlife species, including Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge the prairie falcons, deer, elk, coyotes, Mailing address: songbirds, and the federally threatened Trails 6550 Gateway Road There are 11 miles of trails open Preble’s meadow jumping mouse. Over Commerce City, CO 80022-1748 year-round for hiking, bicycling, cross 630 species of plants and a variety Street address: country skiing, snowshoeing, and wildflowers bloom here from spring 10801 Highway 93 horseback riding. Refuge trails meander through fall. Xeric tallgrass prairie habitat Golden, CO 80402 through mixed and tallgrass prairie is found on the Refuge, one of the largest 303 / 289 0930 grasses. Trail surfaces are crushed gravel areas of this globally rare ecosystem. 303 / 289 0579 fax or dirt. [email protected] Site History ■ Lindsay Ranch Trail (1.4 mi) http://www.fws.gov/refuge/rocky_flats Native Americans intermittently occupied ■ Walnut Creek Trail (1.0 mi) these lands prior to the 1800s. In 1868, ■ Woman Creek Trail (3.0 mi) For State Relay Service: the Scott family established a homestead TTY / Voice: 711 here to raise cattle. Lindsay Ranch was ■ Rocky Mountain Greenway (4.9 mi) built in the 1940s and today the barn and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at remnants of the house can be seen along Wildlife Viewing http://www.fws.gov the Lindsay Ranch trail. In 1951, the U.S. ■ Best viewing times are at sunrise Atomic Energy Commission acquired the and sunset. For Refuge Information: site to develop the Rocky Flats Plant to ■ Practice good wildlife viewing ethics by 1 800 / 344 WILD produce plutonium triggers for nuclear observing wildlife from a safe distance. weapons. The Plant was one of 13 nuclear August 2018 weapon production sites to support ■ Quietly observe wildlife. national defense. Operated from 1952 to ■ Use binoculars or a camera for close 1989, most of the site was undisturbed, up viewing. preserving the different habitats now ■ Avoid standing under perched birds and protected by the Refuge. bird nests – this is stressful to hawks, owls, and young or nesting birds. When the site was closed, the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy, and Colorado Wildlife to Watch for Along the Way Department of Public Health and ■ Resident Wildlife – Mule and Environment oversaw the $7 billion white-tailed deer, red-tailed hawks, cleanup of the site that was completed in prairie dogs, elk, coyotes, black-tailed 2005. Today, the Department of Energy jackrabbit, and porcupines. maintains 1,300 acres as a Legacy Site ■ Migratory Wildlife – Songbirds, to monitor for any outflow from the site. shorebirds, and Swainson’s hawks. Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge N 0 .5 1 Miles Refuge boundary Sensitive wildlife habitat area (closed 200 Highway / street to visitor access) 0 .5 1 Kilometers 128 Trail Department of Energy Refuge Legacy Site (closed Entrance Staff road to visitor access) (No visitor access) Walnut Creek Parking Loop (1.0 mi) Lake / creek Restroom Rock Creek Walnut Creek Lindsay Ranch Lindsay Ranch Loop (1.4 mi) Rocky Flats Superior NWR Broomeld 128 Great Western Reservoir Great 93 Western Reservoir Westminster Rocky Flats Lake Department of Energy Legacy Site 72 Standley Welton Lake Reservoir Not to Scale (dry) Indiana Street 93 South Woman Creek Rocky Mountain Greenway (4.9 mi) Upper Church Lake Rocky Flats Lake Woman Creek Trail (3.0 mi) Lower Church Lake 72 To Arvada.

Load more