COMMERCE CITY — Driving onto the grounds of the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, you can expect to pass deer lounging in the shade, or gophers, prairie dogs and owls peeking up from burrows.
With the abundance of accessible prairie life here, it’s easy to forget that downtown Denver is about 10 miles away — much less that just two decades ago, this was the toxic site of a U.S. Army-run chemical-weapons plant.
The newly completed, green-constructed visitor center here aims to celebrate the wildlife that inhabits this 5,000-acre refuge, which is now operated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. At the same time, the new facility educates the public about the history and cleanup of this formerly controversial site.
“We wanted to give people an idea of what happened through time here,” says Sherry James, the park’s visitor- services manager. Interactive exhibits inside the visitor center “really take you on a prairie-to-prairie walk through time,” with era-specific windows onto homesteading, wartime production and the subsequent cleanup efforts.
The message: “This is your National Wildlife Refuge,” says manager Steve Berendzen. “We really want people to come hike the trails here and view the wildlife.”
The grand opening of the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife visitor center starts today with first- come, first-served wildlife viewing tours at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., and the Rocky Mountain Wildlife Conservation Film Festival running this weekend and next weekend. The graceful building is landscaped with native plants and filled with recycled and reclaimed building materials.
“It’s meant to fit in with the landscape,” Berendzen says.
For more about the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge history and events: fws.gov/rockymountainarsenal
Roaring cinema
The Rocky Mountain Wildlife Film Festival helps mark the completion of the new, $7.6 million visitor center at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal. The building includes a lecture hall, children’s classroom, gift shop and exhibits detailing the site’s transformation from weapons plant to prairie nature preserve.What: More than 40 short and feature-length wildlife films will be shown.
When: Today and Sunday, and May 27-29
Where: Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge visitor center, 6550 Gateway Road, Commerce City
Tickets and details: ffrwr.org/ nature-shop/film-festival
