Former Nuclear Weapons Site Opens To Recreation

BOULDER, CO - Until the early 2000s, Rocky Flats was the site of a contaminated nuclear weapons facility. This weekend, 11 miles of its hiking and biking trails will be open to the public for the first time. Rocky Flats is now a 5,237 acre wildlife refuge, after a 7.7 billion dollar superfund cleanup left just a 1,300 acre fenced core where the Department of Energy oversees buried plutonium waste, reported the Denver Post. Some remain wary that the nuclear clean-up is not complete and advocate for the area to remain closed to humans.

Local conservationists see Rocky Flats as an opportunity to protect one of the last large, complete tracts of wildlife habitat along the rapidly sprawling Front Range. The cities the border the refuge have shown strong support for the project and even sought to expand it - Boulder and Jefferson Counties recently bought an additional 440 acre ranch adjacent to the reserve with the intent of maintaining it as open space.

Jefferson County planner Andrew Valdez explained the challenge of accommodating Colorado's rapidly growing population with limited outdoor recreation area to the Denver Post, saying, "Our open space system is under immense pressure from the population growth...we hear from the public two things more than anything else: ‘Buy more land to keep open’ and ‘Build more trails.'” Planners like Valdez face a challenge, because recently arrived Coloradans also demand housing - and there simply isn't that much land left to be bought.

The decision to welcome recreationalists to the area is still riddled with controversy, as the opening still faces a legal challenge brought by a group of activists who believe the once-radioactive area is still unsafe for humans - especially those with children. They demand an independent scientific analysis of the area's contamination before it is opened to the public.

Get the full story from the Denver Post.

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