Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge551

Recipe for turning a lemon into lemonade: Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. Located just eight miles northeast of downtown Denver, the refuge is the largest contiguous open space in the Denver metropolitan area and recently became one of the largest urban national wildlife refuges in the United States.

Where once chemical weapons were produced and soil extremely contaminated now is an amazing collection of deer, prairie dogs, bison, coyotes, bald eagles, and many species of hawks, owls, and other birds that thrived in the abandoned fields, grasslands, and wood lots that had been protected from forty years of urban sprawl and development.

Since 1992, the US Fish and Wildlife Service has managed the site and monitored wildlife health, restoring native prairie habitats, and providing opportunities for wildlife-dependent recreation.

The refuge has an indoor Visitor Center, which hosts extensive programming for all ages, including family workshops, seasonal fishing programs, kids' ecology classes, and the Tuesday Tots program, offered the first Tuesday of each month from 10am-11am for young naturalists ages two to five years old.