From war to bison

The Rocky Mountain Arnsenal National Wildlife Refuge is only 10 minutes from downtown Denver but at 17,000 acres it is one of the largest urban wildlife refuges in the country. With wetlands, open lakes, prairie grasslands and woodlands, visiors come to fish, view wildlife, take photographs, learn and just to plain enjoy the outdoors. The refuge contains a wide variety of birds and 330 species of wildlife including a herd of wild bison.

In 1942, at the beginning of World War II, the Army bought 17,000 acres of farmland near Denver. For 50 years the plant produced chemical munitions, including mustard gas, napalm, whie phosphorous, and even held a stockpile of Sarin gas (aka nerve agent GB.)In 1969 it changed purpose and became a demilitarization site to destroy munitons and chemically related items. In 1984, the Army began an investigation into contamination of the area and a Superfund clean-up followed.

The Rocky Mountain Arsenal Wildlife Refuge is a sucees story showing that contaminated land can be reclaimed and put to new use. We need more of these success stories. Go visit the refuge and enjoy the wildlife. There is new, and very nice, Visitors Center that explains the history of the site and what it took to change it into a great wildlife area.
Janet