Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge
{{Short description|Nature reserve in Colorado, United States}}
{{For|the nuclear weapons facility|Rocky Flats Plant}}
{{Distinguish|Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}{{Infobox protected area
| name = Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge
| photo = Rocky Flats NWR.JPG
| iucn_category = IV
| map = USA
| relief = 1
| map_caption =
| location = Jefferson County, Colorado, United States
| nearest_city = Arvada
| coordinates = {{coord|39|53|24|N|105|13|13|W|region:US|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| coords_ref =
| area = {{convert|5237|acre}}
| visitation_num =
| visitation_year =
| governing_body = U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
| website = [http://www.fws.gov/refuge/rocky_flats/ Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge]
}}
The Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge is a {{convert|5237|acres|km2|adj=on}} National Wildlife Refuge in the United States, located approximately {{convert|16|mi|km}} northwest of Denver, Colorado. The refuge is situated west of the cities of Broomfield and Westminster and north of the city of Arvada. The refuge is home to various animals, including a herd of 150 elk, occasional black bear, mountain lions, and moose; as well as badgers, bats, coyote, two species of owl, mule deer, northern flicker, white pelican, black-tailed prairie dog, and porcupine. The site also contains an estimated 630 plant species.{{Cite news |last=Finley |first=Bruce |date=2018-09-12 |title=Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge opens this weekend, completing 17-year shift from nuclear triggers to hiking and biking |url=https://www.denverpost.com/2018/09/12/rocky-flats-wildlife-refuge-opens-saturday/ |access-date=2018-09-15 |work=The Denver Post |language=en-US |ref=2018-09-12 nuke triggers > bike/hike DenPo}} Prior to its establishment in 2007, the area housed a large manufacturing complex that produced nuclear weapons parts from the 1950s through the 1990s, until shutting down in 1992.
History
File:Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge.jpg
The Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge is one of over 560 refuges in the National Wildlife Refuge System – a network of lands set aside and managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service specifically for wildlife. The Refuge is located along the Front Range of Colorado at the intersection of Jefferson, Boulder, and Broomfield counties. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manages the Refuge.{{cite web |title=Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge Colorado: About the Refuge |url=https://www.fws.gov/refuge/Rocky_Flats/about.html |website=U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service |access-date=20 June 2018}}
Native Americans occupied the land intermittently prior to the 1800s and limited artifacts have been located from this era. Starting in 1868, the Scott family established a homestead here and the land was used to raise cattle. Later, the Lindsay family raised cattle and built a house and barn in the 1940s.
In 1951, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission acquired 2,519 acres, which included the Lindsay property, for the Rocky Flats Plant to produce nuclear and nonnuclear weapons including plutonium fission primaries for nuclear weapons. An additional 4,027 acres were acquired in 1974 for plant expansion.
This 6,500-acre Rocky Flats Site was one of 13 nuclear weapons production facilities in the United States during the Cold War and was managed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The plant operated from 1952 to 1994 with manufacturing activities taking place in the center portion of the site with a large buffer zone around the area.
Nuclear production work stopped briefly to address environmental and safety concerns, and was resumed in 1990. In 1992, the Rocky Flats mission was terminated when President George H. W. Bush canceled the W-88 Trident Warhead program. Nuclear and nonnuclear production stopped in 1993,{{cite news |last1=Draper |first1=Electa |title=Feds raided Rocky Flats 25 years ago, signaling the end of an era |url=https://www.denverpost.com/2014/05/31/feds-raided-rocky-flats-25-years-ago-signaling-the-end-of-an-era/ |access-date=20 June 2018 |work=The Denver Post |date=May 31, 2014}} and in 1994 the last shipment of defense-related materials was sent off-site.{{cite web |title=Modified Level III Preacquisition Environmental Contaminants Survey for Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site, Jefferson and Boulder Counties, Colorado Metadata |url=https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/modified-level-iii-preacquisition-environmental-contaminants-survey-for-rocky-flats-enviro |website=U.S. Government, Department of the Interior |access-date=20 June 2018|date=May 11, 2018}}
The plant was subject to a $7 billion Superfund investigation and environmental cleanup effort. The site was added to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) National Priorities List (Superfund List) in 1989.
It was renamed the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site as of 1994.{{cite web |last1=Buffer |first1=Pat |title=Rocky Flats Site History |url=https://www.lm.doe.gov/land/sites/co/rocky_flats/closure/references/199-Rocky%20Flats%20History%20Thru%201-2002.pdf |website=Office of Legacy Management, U.S. Department of Energy |access-date=20 June 2018}}
Through the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge Act of 2001, the site was established as a national wildlife refuge while cleanup of the site was underway. With oversight from the EPA and Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment (CDPHE), the DOE completed the $7 billion cleanup in 2005. The DOE still maintains 1,300 acres as part of their legacy management for long-term care and maintenance, and to ensure the cleanup is functioning as designed. These lands are not part of the Refuge.
The Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge consists of lands that were the former Rocky Flats Plant security buffer zone. The Superfund investigation and cleanup effort found that Refuge lands (then-called the Peripheral Operable Unit) would be suitable for unlimited use and unrestricted exposure - that is, any use. Under the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge Act of 2001 ({{USStatute|107|107|115|1379|2001|12|28}}), most of the {{convert|6240|acre|km2|adj=on}} Rocky Flats site became a refuge, provided that certification from the EPA is obtained and which asserts that the cleanup and closure have been completed.
The refuge does not include the 600 acres that contain the former weapons site and monitoring areas. These remain under the jurisdiction of the DOE and will not be opened to the public.{{cite news |last1=Ishikawa |first1=Tanya |title=Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge Despite its heritage, the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge is a diverse treasure of wildlife and plants |url=http://boulderhg.com/11768-2/ |access-date=20 June 2018 |work=Boulder County Home + Garden |issue=Fall |date=2015}}
While some greet the new park with enthusiasm, others question assessments of its safety.{{cite news |last1=Grenoble |first1=Ryan |title=Rocky Flats Made Nukes. Then It Made A Mess. Now It's About To Become A Public Park. How clean is "clean enough" when your park is an old radioactive Superfund site? |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/rocky-flats-colorado_us_591c81c5e4b034684b08bc13 |access-date=20 June 2018 |work=Huffington Post |date=June 21, 2017}}{{Cite web|url=https://e360.yale.edu/features/rocky_flats_wildlife_refuge_confronts_radioactive_past|title=Rocky Flats: A Wildlife Refuge Confronts Its Radioactive Past - Yale E360|last=Pearce|first=Fred|website=e360.yale.edu|language=en-US|access-date=2018-09-15|ref=Aug. 2016 safety concerns - Yale article}} Federal lawsuits have been filed against the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and others in an attempt to block opening of the park.{{cite news|url=http://www.dailycamera.com/top-stories/ci_31943089/rocky-flats-national-wildlife-refuge-open-september|title=Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge won't open until at least September|last1=Bear|first1=John|date=June 13, 2018|work=Daily Camera|access-date=20 June 2018}}{{cite news |last1=Bear |first1=John |title=Groups file new suit to block opening of Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge |url=http://www.dailycamera.com/boulder-county-news/ci_31846731/groups-file-new-suit-block-opening-rocky-flats |access-date=20 June 2018 |work=Daily Camera |date=May 1, 2018}} The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service opened the refuge's trails on September 15, 2018.{{Cite news|url=https://www.denverpost.com/2018/09/14/rocky-flats-wildlife-refuge-opening-delayed/|title=Nuclear whiplash: Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge opening delayed, then reversed. Opens Saturday as planned|date=2018-09-14|work=The Denver Post|access-date=2018-09-15|language=en-US|ref=2018-09-14 RFNWR opens tomorrow DenPo}}
Status
The Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP) emphasizes wildlife and habitat conservation, and a moderate level of wildlife-dependent public use.
On April 17, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals terminated objections against a 2011 land exchange affecting the refuge. This exchange added over 600 acres of land to refuge and acquired over 1,200 acres of subsurface mineral rights beneath the refuge in exchange for a 300-foot transportation corridor along the refuge's eastern boundary.{{cite web |title="Jefferson Parkway gets legal victory in 10th Circuit Court of Appeals"|publisher=Denver Post |date=April 17, 2015|url=http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_27937614/jefferson-parkway-gets-legal-victory-10th-circuit-court|access-date=April 21, 2015}}
In September 2015, the wildlife refuge opened for two guided hikes.{{cite news |last1=Brennan |first1=Charlie |title='Soft opening' of Rocky Flats wildlife refuge stirs safety concerns But officials insist there are no health hazards for visitors to onetime weapons site |url=http://www.dailycamera.com/boulder-county-news/ci_28798109/soft-opening-rocky-flats-wildlife-refuge-stirs-safety |access-date=20 June 2018 |work=Boulder County News |date=September 12, 2015}} It officially opened to the public Sep. 15, 2018.
Controversy
{{main|Radioactive contamination from the Rocky Flats Plant}}
During a $7 billion Superfund cleanup, millions of environmental data points (soil, air, surface water, ground water, sediment) were collected from thousands of sampling locations. The results of this environmental investigation are presented in a CERCLA report.RI/FS Report, https://www.lm.doe.gov/Rocky_Flats/Regulations.aspx {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180724032224/https://www.lm.doe.gov/Rocky_Flats/Regulations.aspx |date=2018-07-24 }} Because the environmental investigation found levels of contamination in the Peripheral Operable Unit (now Refuge lands) were below levels of regulatory concern, the Refuge did not require remedial action. In May 2007, the POU was deleted from the Superfund National Priorities List. The lands comprising the POU were transferred to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for establishment as the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge, pursuant to an Act of Congress.{{Citation needed|date=January 2025}}
Despite the investigation and cleanup efforts, some question the adequacy of cleanup efforts and agency studies. In 2017, local activists sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. On September 29, 2017, the U.S. District Court dismissed this lawsuit. The Court explained the activist groups "merely rehashed old arguments," and did not provide new evidence or legal authority as support for the lawsuit.See Order Denying Plaintiffs' Motions for Reconsideration and Leave to Amend And Granting Defendants Motion to Dismiss, Rocky Mtn. Peace and Justice Ctr. v U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (D. Colo. 2017). The Court awarded costs to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
In 2018, several Colorado school districts voted to ban students from attending school-sanctioned trips to the former Rocky Flats plant, citing concerns about the area's previous designation as a Superfund site.{{cite web|url=https://www.denverpost.com/2018/04/29/rocky-flats-school-field-trips-ban/|publisher=The Denver Post|title=Nearly 300,000 Colorado Public School Students Now Barred From Making Field Trips to Rocky Flats|author=John Aguilar|date=April 29, 2018|access-date=May 6, 2018}} In mid-November, after the elections, Democratic majority leaders of both the State House and Senate (both representing nearby Boulder) joined the renewed call to close the refuge to the public.{{Cite news|url=https://www.westword.com/news/colorado-statehouse-leaders-join-push-to-close-rocky-flats-nuclear-weapons-plant-turned-rfuge-11008786|title=New Statehouse Leaders Join Push to Close Rocky Flats|last=Calhoun|first=Patricia|date=2018-11-15|work=Westword|access-date=2018-11-16}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.fws.gov/refuge/rocky_flats/ U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service- Rocky Flats ]
- [https://highways.dot.gov/federal-lands/projects/co USDOT FHA Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge Trails] project dates: spring-fall 2020
{{Protected areas of Colorado}}
{{National Wildlife Refuges of the United States}}
{{authority control}}
Category:Protected areas of Jefferson County, Colorado
Category:National Wildlife Refuges in Colorado
Category:Protected areas established in 2007
Category:Landforms of Jefferson County, Colorado