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Fountain Creek, looking south from downtown. Many hope it will become a draw for recreation in the region. The Gazette file
BY R. SCOTT RAPPOLD
THE GAZETTE
Few in Colorado Springs think of Fountain Creek as a particularly scenic river with much in the way of recreation, but a consortium of local governments wants to change that.
Local officials will apply for $8 million in grants from state lottery funds, to be matched by $7 million in local money, for trails, open space, bridges, tubing and other amenities along the creek between Colorado Springs and Pueblo.
“What we want to do is get people to the creek,” said Larry Small, executive director of the Fountain Creek Watershed District, formed in 2009 to address environmental issues. “We decided it’s important to get people to the creek so they can get an appreciation for it and an understanding of what we’re trying to do and get an attachment to the creek.”
(Take a look at the Fountain Creek Watershed Master Plan.)
Long regarded as an urban drainage channel, unnaturally straightened and eroded by runoff from development in Colorado Springs, Fountain Creek received renewed attention when Colorado Springs Utilities sought approval to build the Southern Delivery System pipeline from Pueblo Reservoir. The city-owned utility agreed to pay for a host of measures to restore the creek’s natural state, to ease concerns in Pueblo about downstream flooding and water quality.
Some of these, such as $3 million for wetland and wildlife habitat in southern El Paso County, are incorporated into the grant proposal.
Among the many other projects in the grant application are:
• Completing the Shook’s Run Trail downtown to connect with the Pikes Peak Greenway — the paved trail along Fountain Creek — to create a 10K loop to be called the Emerald Loop Trail, $2.5 million
• A bike and foot bridge over Monument Creek at Bijou Street, $1 million
• Extending the bike and foot path along Fountain Creek for nearly 9 miles south from Fountain, $1.9 million
• A bike and foot bridge connecting Security/Widefield with the trail, near the Venetucci Farm, $500,000
• Purchasing a 60-acre parcel of land in southern El Paso County, possibly to be used for camping, a tubing destination and other recreation
• A creekside access and activity area in Pueblo, $1.8 million
• Deer and elk fencing along 6 miles of Interstate 25 in southern El Paso County, $1.2 million
Great Outdoors Colorado, which issues grants from lottery revenue, will award $18 million for river corridor projects this year. The Fountain Creek proposal is one of 20 selected for further consideration out of 63 concept papers submitted.
Partnering on the proposal are the cities of Colorado Springs, Pueblo and Fountain and El Paso County. Many of the projects have already been in the works by the municipalities and money has already been set aside, Small said.
If approved, it will only be the beginning of recreation and environmental improvements to the creek. Under Pueblo County’s terms to approve SDS, Utilities will give the watershed district $50 million. Plus, the district has the authority to ask voters for a tax of up to 5 mils, which Small said may be put on the ballot in 2013.
For outdoor enthusiasts, the tubing and camping along the creek would be new experiences. Campsite development is not part of this grant request, but officials hope to have a 4.5-mile stretch of creek, ending at Utilities’ Clear Springs Ranch, where people could float on inner tubes.
“Nobody’s going to get their bottom hurt because there aren’t big boulders,” said Carol Baker, Fountain Creek watershed project manager for Utilities. “But they might get sandpapered.”
GOCO is expected to decide on the grant requests this summer.
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Contact R. Scott Rappold: 476-1605
Twitter @scottrappold
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