Dispatches from the People's River

By Timothy Beatley

The South Platte River is not very impressive as it passes through Denver. Its meager flow fits the semiarid environment, but understates the growing value this waterway has to the city and its citizens' quality of life. The South Platte's story offers huge lessons to other cities grappling with how to restore and increase appreciation for — and connections with — their rivers.

When settlers first arrived in the region, the river was wide and shallow. As Denver grew, the river was largely channelized, constrained to fit into steep, narrow banks — an altered river circumstance found in many cities. An 11-mile stretch of the South Platte runs through the city, but before a devastating flood in 1965, most Denverites failed to realize there was even a river there. That flood set into motion a 50-year process of repairing and restoring connections to the river, and reimagining it as an amenity and asset.

This month marks the 50th anniversary of that flood, and there is much cause for pride and celebration. I recently had the opportunity to visit some of the new parks planned along the river, and saw and heard firsthand how this important urban river work is transforming Denver for the better.

It is hard to believe, but before the 1970s there were no parks along the Platte. It had been a dumping ground, the site of a number of city-sanctioned landfills. In 1974, William McNichols, then the mayor of Denver, appointed a special Platte River Development Committee chaired by former state legislator Joe Shoemaker, who became a passionate advocate for the river. A number of remarkable river parks and improvements followed, including Confluence Park and the extensive and popular riverfront trail network.

That committee later became The Greenway Foundation, an influential 501(c)(3) nonprofit, which Shoemaker headed for many years. The foundation has been a major voice for repairing and reconnecting to the river, and an important player along with the city and county of Denver and the Urban Drainage and Flood Control District. Shoemaker is quick to acknowledge the role of the foundation as a catalyst, as well as the critical need to engage a diverse set of community partners on behalf of the river.

The story of the South Platte, then, is partly a lesson in the power of passionate advocacy, political leadership, and collaboration. It is also a story of the value of taking the long view and recognizing that urban river conservation and restoration represent ongoing and long-term commitments. Cities need to be in it for the long haul.

New river visions

Today, the South Platte is seeing the fruits of this long-term commitment. A new set of aspirations, contained in a River Vision Implementation Master Plan, came in 2007. Some eight major river parks are now under development, totaling around $30 million (to be completed by 2017).

I recently visited two with Mike Bouchard, a senior landscape architect with the Denver Parks and Recreation Department and the River Vision project manager. While they are quite different, both suggest important elements of a new river agenda for cities.

Johnson Habitat Park, currently under construction, contains some unusual elements. A nature play area where segments of large trees have been stacked and layered (and inconspicuously tethered together and to the ground) will allow kids to climb, jump, balance, and create their own play habitats with smaller stacks of branches and sticks. An ADA-accessible pier will allow visitors physical access to the river. Another area will accommodate overnight camping, with space for as many as 30 tents against a simulated boulder wall. This will be the first place in the heart of the city where camping is permitted.

Another approach can be seen in the new park known as Overland Reach. Here the emphasis is on ecological restoration: taking out an eight-foot dam, incorporating new wetland benches and aquatic habitat, and building a boat chute and standing wave.

"It will be better aquatic habitat, both for micro and macro invertebrates and fish, much more boatable and fishable, and much more ecologically diverse," Bouchard says. He thinks perhaps as much as 60 percent of the 11-mile urban stretch of the river might be suitable for this kind of renaturization. But there are considerable physical constraints, and for the most part the river still looks like the narrow, flood-engineered water system it became after the city was settled.

Overland Reach and Johnson Habitat Park encapsulate new ideas about urban rivers and demonstrate the value of a creative, diverse set of funding sources. Much of the money for these projects is coming from the city and county, but a big chunk is also coming from GoCo, the Great Outdoors Colorado. Created by voters in 1992, these state lottery funds, to the tune of $825 million so far, have been invested throughout the state (see goco.org).

The new parks also highlight the challenges faced in reclaiming and reconnecting to urban rivers. Johnson Habitat Park is expected to be well used, with lots of creative programming and new ways to experience the river, but there are few pedestrian connections between the river and surrounding neighborhoods (this is a goal for the city down the road). Likewise, much of the land adjoining the river is low density and light industrial, and the park is flanked by major highways.

In the end, the story of the Platte is also a story of the unassailable logic of long-term investment in an important ecological and community asset. Early investments have paid off and have set the stage for a longer arc of investment and appreciation.

And the marketplace is responding. Joe Shoemaker tells me that the most expensive real estate, next to Aspen, can be found in the Riverfront neighborhood, adjacent to the river. Another positive sign: Mayor Michael Hancock has declared the river one of the city's greatest opportunities for future economic growth and development. This is further evidence of the changing views of the river that Shoemaker and others helped set in motion a half-century ago.

Timothy Beatley is the Teresa Heinz Professor of Sustainable Communities at the University of Virginia, where he directs the Biophilic Cities Project.

Resources

Image: Overland Reach is one of eight major river parks being developed along the South Platte River in Denver. Improvements focused on ecological restoration have resulted in a more naturally functioning river with better aquatic habitat and recreational opportunities. Photo by Michael Bouchard.