Rocky Mountain Arsenal restoration

Solicitation for project proposals

Background

The State of Colorado settled a lawsuit for natural resource damages resulting from past activities at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal with Shell Oil Company and the United States Army for $27.4 million to restore natural resources in the South Platte River area.

• The Rocky Mountain Arsenal Foundation Fund and Recovery Fund

The Natural Resource Damage Assessment Plan enabled the trustees to ensure that the assessment would be completed in a planned and systematic manner and described the proposed assessment methods so that stakeholders could participate in the assessment process.

Restoration 

Over $20 million has been spent on restoration activities consistent with the Natural Resource Damage Assessment Plan. The Natural Resource Trustees worked with local governments, non-profits, the Northeast Greenway Corridor and others to implement restoration in Denver, Adams County, and Commerce City.  An integrated Restoration Plan was developed in 2014 with the goal of preserving and maintaining an integrated network of ecologically meaningful projects along the South Platte River to maintain the watershed’s natural system’s health into the future as the area continues to develop.

Completed restoration projects from the 2014 Plan include but are not limited to:

• 88th Avenue Open Space.
• Grant Frontier Park.
• Heron Pond/Carpio Sanguinette Restoration.
• Montbello Natural Area Conversion/Environmental Learning for Kids.
• Sand Creek Bird Habitat Restoration.
• Triple Creek Open Space Acquisition. 
• Bluff Lake Habitat.
• Platte Farm Open Space Natural Area.
• Westerly Creek Riparian and Uplands Restoration.

Funds remain available for new restoration projects and a new Solicitation for Project Proposals will be released in the latter half of 2023.