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FrontRangeLiving.com -> Outdoors -> Arsenal
 Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge
By Niki Hayden
A short distance from downtown Denver, in the heart of Commerce City, you’ll
find the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. At first glance, it’s
an unlikely site for wildlife. But this refuge reveals a story unlike any other.
On nearly 17,000 acres, a 27-square-mile site, officials plan a theme park
designed around short-grass prairie. Since 1992, when Congress passed an act
designating the Arsenal as a refuge, a chapter of history closed. The Arsenal
once was the manufacturing site of chemical weapons. Then it became an
industrial site for pesticide production. Both endeavors marked the Arsenal land
as unsafe for housing or business. Only one possibility remained: set the land
aside for wildlife, where a new chapter of history could unfold.
Now the Arsenal hosts nature programs for schoolchildren, bird watchers,
hikers, fishermen, photographers and those who want to get away from the jangle
of city noises. For harried urbanites, it’s 11 miles from downtown Denver and
open year around. Still, on a late winter’s day, only a handful of people show
up. The guide on a shuttle bus tour points to a Swainson’s
hawk, magpie nests and tree swallows as a large coyote lopes by. The coyote paws
at a prairie dog home, unconcerned about our presence. Not far away, a pair of
burrowing owls rock back and forth, oblivious to passersby in what may be the
largest group of burrowing owls on the Front Range. They’ll feast on baby
prairie dogs and take over the prairie dogs’ underground homes. The prairie
dogs squeak a protest nearby.
Animals at the Arsenal include the usual suburban creatures: deer, geese,
raccoons and rabbits. But in mid-March of 2007, 16 bison arrived. These were not
the usual bison that farmers raise for meat. They were culled from a federal
bison reserve in Montana that held a small number of bison known to be
genetically distinct. These represent the last remnants of original North American bison. They
are distantly related to small herds of Wood Bison in Canada and Wisent Bison in
Eastern Europe.
Although the reserve cannot promise that every bison in their reserve has no
cattle genes, DNA tests prove that the small group may be the only bison left of that
unique species.
Nearly 200,000 bison are raised on ranches, mostly for meat consumption. But
ranchers who introduced bison intermingled them with beef cattle. The
flavor of genetically pure bison was too strong, too lean, consumers told them.
Interbreeding the bison with cattle improved the taste, and, in return, bequeathed some
hardy bison genes to the less robust cattle. Bison required little care, rarely
sickened and managed fierce storms far better than our European-introduced
cattle. Today cow and bison graze alongside each other on ranches and the bison
looks exactly like a bison. But cattle genes are not detected easily, except by
experts.
The Sulleys Hill National Game Preserve opened in 1904 under President
Theodore Roosevelt with the mandate to protect the last of our bison. Now the
preserve has sprinkled a few grassland refuges in the Midwest with small numbers
of this legacy. Thirteen females, some pregnant, and three bulls were driven
down to the Arsenal and released into a fenced pen. They will have two calves
every three years if all goes well. Although single births are most common,
occasionally twins are born.
Fifty and more years ago, Commerce City appeared far away from population
centers but close enough to ship lethal cargo for the military. Nearly 5,000
workers built a chemical arsenal for wartime. But when peace arrived and
treaties forbade the manufacturing of chemical weapons, the site was leased for
pesticide production. Eventually, the miseries of a toxic dump shut down the
chemical city, resulting in a problem for both military ownership and civilian
surroundings.
The arrival of bald eagles changed everything. In 1987, a biologist met a
U.S. Army general at the airport, shuttled him around the Arsenal site and
pointed out a number of bald eagles nesting. Bald eagles were endangered and
many despaired over the demise of our national symbol. The sight of several pairs of
eagles nesting was dramatic enough to convince the general that the Arsenal
could only be a wildlife refuge.
Since then, the Arsenal has changed dramatically. First there were efforts to
contain toxic soil. A mountain of rubble gathered from torn up defunct airport
runways lies in a heap. It’s to staunch toxic chemicals by slowing down their
seepage. Wild animals arrived, mostly suburban wildlife fleeing housing
developments. Mule and white-tailed deer, raccoons, coyotes and prairie dogs
were followed by falcons and waterfowl. The prairie dogs and stocked fish in a
small pond feed the birds of prey. Burrowing owls arrived to take over some of
the prairie dog homes. Finally the arrival of the bison signaled a new chapter:
the introduction of a unique creature not seen around Denver in a hundred years.
Bison once grazed on the short-grass prairie of the Arsenal land. Long before
farmers plowed and planted, blue grama and buffalo grasses fed herds of these
giant herbivores. Nutritious grasses supplied enough for a bull to weigh 2,000
pounds. At the Arsenal they will have 1440 acres of replanted prairie to satisfy
them. For the Arsenal, having such a small remnant of
the true bison is a spectacular addition in a wildlife refuge completely
surrounded by city life.
"There are two other animals we’d like to have," the guide suggests while showing off the bison, "pronghorn and prairie
chickens." The lesser and greater prairie chickens are endangered birds
that flock to the eastern edges of Colorado, the lesser in the southeast near
Campo and the greater in the northeast near Nebraska.
Pronghorn don’t fall into the endangered category but they are skittish and
look for a contiguous piece of land where they can run the length of the state
and more. Enclosing them into a wildlife refuge cut off from the wide-open
spaces won’t be easy. For now, managing the bison is a thrill. The staff takes
their responsibility seriously. The shuttle out to the bison stops far enough away to allow
privacy for the herd. A bull straggles back from the rest of the
tiny herd, a point of concern for the staff. The bull kicked inside the large
truck that transported him. In doing so, he injured himself and now stays away
from his companions. "The doc says he’s okay," the volunteer offers,
but casts an anxious eye out to the pasture where the bull lies.
Look to the future of the Arsenal and plans are vast. A café, theater and
bookstore are just a start. Take a shuttle to the prairie dog home, the water
fowl lake, rattlesnake hill, views of Denver, prairie dog colonies, historic
places of ancient tepee rings, an eagle watch viewing, an old homestead of
settlers and the military locations.
But with all the history of prairie and homesteads, the Arsenal would not
exist without a legacy of war and pesticide manufacturing. Soil, water and
buildings remain contaminated. And there’s another related refuge slated to
open with a history of nuclear plutonium toxicity: the Rocky Flats National
Wildlife Refuge. In both refuges, we hope nature can heal what appears sickened
forever. Whether or not that is possible, only time will tell.
Rocky Mountain Arsenal NWR, Building 111, Commerce City, Colorado,
80022-1748; 303-2889-0232; http://rockymountainarsenal.fws.gov;
Enter the Refuge at 56th Avenue and Havana Street. Continue 1.5 miles
to the Visitor Center and check in.
National Bison Range Website: http://www.fws.gov/bisonrange/facts.htm
Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge is not yet open to the public: http://rockyflats.fws.gov
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