OMAHA, NE – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in partnership with the City and County of Denver, will hold an open house on Wednesday, November 1, to gather public input on preliminary alternatives currently being evaluated to restore degraded habitat along portions of the South Platte River in Denver, Colorado. The proposed project area includes approximately 2.4 miles of the South Platte River from West Yale Avenue downstream (north) to West Mississippi Avenue.
The meeting will take place from 6 to 7:30 p.m., with a formal presentation at 6:30 p.m., at the Harvard Gulch Recreation Center, 550 E. Iliff Avenue in Denver. Residents and others interested in the project will have the opportunity to learn more about how the ecosystem restoration study has progressed since the February 2017 public scoping meeting, and to provide input on each of the preliminary alternatives. Information on the study may be viewed at http://www.nwo.usace.army.mil/Missions/Civil-Works/Planning/Planning-Projects/SPlatteValleyCO/.
BACKGROUND: The urbanization of the City and County of Denver over the past 150 years has resulted in infrastructure and development encroaching into historic stream and floodplain habitats along the South Platte River and its tributaries. In addition, the construction of the Corps’ Chatfield and Bear Creek Dams, upstream from the project reach, have altered the natural flows by greatly reducing flood flows and increasing late summer and fall base flows. In the Southern Platte Valley project reach, the combined effect of these changes has negatively impacted the South Platte River’s natural flows and native aquatic and riparian habitat systems.
Release no. 17-097