‘New phase’ of reclamation celebrated at Colorado Springs’ Pikeview Quarry — but challenges remain

In the foothills of northwest Colorado Springs, along the Pikeview Quarry scar seen from afar over the past century, two men knelt down to plant a young pine.

They were David Isbell and Gary Bradley, two among a small crowd that gathered Thursday morning to celebrate what the quarry's owning company called a "new phase" in reclamation that started two years ago. Two years after excavation began and machines started sculpting a new, gentler slope along the mountainside, Thursday marked early attempts to reforest parts of the old mine's 100 acres.

Isbell and Bradley planted one of 31,445 native trees and shrubs Castle Aggregates reportedly plans to plant.

"It feels great," Isbell said, filling dirt around the pine. "It's been a long time coming."

It's been a long-held dream for him and Bradley.

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The two go back to the 1980s and '90s, to a period recalled as the "scar wars" between environmentalists and mining interests. Bradley joined a statewide effort to scrutinize scars across the mountains that had spread since the state's early days, including in his hometown Springs.

Locally, the focus centered on the quarry looming over Garden of the Gods: Queens Canyon. In 2004, hundreds of volunteers celebrated that reclamation complete. Then the focus turned to the larger scar farther north.

On Thursday at Pikeview Quarry, Bradley looked to the swath of an early restoration effort. "It's green now," he said.

The hope is for much more green in the not-so-distant future.

"From (Interstate 25), you won't see that pink scar," said Jerald Schnabel, president and general manager of Castle Aggregates. "By next spring, you should see a big green surface up here."

It was one bold claim voiced to a touring group of officials that included Mayor Yemi Mobolade. This was Mobolade getting eyes on the place central to a controversial land deal the city's previous administration agreed to with the quarry's owning company.

Schnabel turned to the mayor at one point. "I'm assuring you that you're not buying a potential slide," Schnabel said.

In 2020, following a state board's approval of the plan to reclaim Pikeview Quarry, City Council agreed to a nearly $9 million package deal with the company.

Parks department leadership worked the deal: 193 acres including Snyder Quarry and surrounding land above Manitou Springs, to be the potential launch point for recreation around Waldo and Williams canyons, and 148 acres below Pikeview Quarry that expanded Blodgett Open Space. Should the quarry's reclamation be successful — deemed so by Colorado's Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety — the city painted the picture of a "world-class" mountain bike park taking over the space.

The idea was met by skeptics well aware of the quarry's long history of sliding.

Since more than 2 million tons of limestone came crashing down in 2008, followed months later by millions more tons, safety concerns have plagued the mining operation that began in 1903. It was a major source of concrete for the developing city as regulators flagged safety concerns over the decades. The operation officially stopped in 2018.

The bike park vision — the kind of venue detailed in a 2014 park system master plan — had been discussed years before mining ended. To potentially achieve it, the city agreed to pay for lands 5% above appraised value, plus take on the state-mandated responsibility for reclaiming Snyder Quarry, also known as Black Canyon. (That reclamation could start later this year, officials have said, with $450,000 budgeted out of the city's Trails, Open Space and Parks program.)

"We probably paid a little too much per acre," recalled Richard Skorman, who sat on City Council at the time of the package deal in 2020.

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However much smaller the scale of reclamation on the smaller, flatter Black Canyon, "it's not our expertise," Skorman said. "But if we had required (the company) to do Black Canyon, they probably would've backed out of the whole thing. ... It wasn't either/or."

A longtime outdoor advocate also involved in the volunteer effort that reclaimed Queens Canyon, Skorman considered the opportunity to preserve and re-imagine recreation at Black Canyon and Pikeview "really important."

He's been pleased by what he's seen driving north on I-25.

Castle Aggregates "didn't duck out of it in terms of what they had promised to do," he said.

What he sees from afar is no longer the rough, cobbled face of the quarry but a sheer wall rising up its lower and mid parts, no longer red but the darker color of mulch laid down. That's the sculpted, backfilled "buttress," said to be filled with 3.5 million cubic yards of material intended to ensure "there isn't any chance of that rock sliding again," said Ronald Gidwitz, executive chairman of Riverbed Industries, the parent company of Castle Aggregates.

The upper, most rugged and steepest part of the quarry is still to be tended to.

"It's the most difficult part of the project," Schnabel said.

And there's the part counting on Mother Nature: enough rain for vegetation to grow, but not so much that could possibly wash away seeds. Munching from the area's bighorn sheep poses another challenge.

A critic to the reclamation proposal who has watched progress up to this point sees the upper terrain posing the greatest challenge. "They've got a long way to go," Warren Dean said. "I mean a really long way to go."

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Dean has also questioned the sufficiency of the bond amount posted to the state, as required in case the government decides to take over reclamation. That stands at about $13.4 million — "more than sufficient given the stage of the project," Department of Natural Resources spokesman Chris Arend said in an email.

He added that regular inspections have yielded "challenges, but nothing unexpected with a project of this magnitude. The operator has done an excellent job in adjusting plans as it has gone forward."

Schnabel said he anticipates the bond being released in 2026, marking the end of the company's obligations. With complete revegetation, the Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety "will monitor the site for several years for vegetation success and stability," Arend said.

Time will tell if the bike park is feasible, city officials have said.

"There's a lot of work ahead of us and a lot of conversation that would need to happen," said David Deitemeyer, senior administrator for the city's Trails, Open Space and Parks program.

In recent planning for the expanded Blodgett Open Space, the conversation underscored excitement and animosity over the concept. While enthusiasts see a local destination and major economic driver, many people living below have spoken against a "theme park" posing wildfire, traffic and security risks.

Said Hank Scarangella, one longtime parks advocate living in the Peregrine neighborhood: "It'll be very, very controversial."

For now, he's been impressed by the new view above the neighborhood. The quarry "is dramatically different than it used to look," he said.

Thursday's tree planting took Bradley back to those days at Queens Canyon — as if another "scar wars" victory was in sight.

"It's more than I expected," he said. "This is significant."

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