By Tom Schweich
Did you know we had an Open Space in Grampsas Park? No!? Well, neither did I. I knew there is a gym, some baseball fields, pickleball courts, an archery range, a dog park, and a mountain bike park (not to mention New Terrain Brewery), but … I did not know there was some open space in Grampsas Park.
As I have written before Golden is working on an Open Space Master Plan. It is a combined effort of city Parks & Recreation staff with consultants Berry, Dunn, McNeil & Parker, LLC, and ERO Resources. They are aided by the Open Space Working Group composed of eight Golden citizens who expressed interest in the Open Space Master Plan. The group's purpose is to provide citizen input on the development and implementation of the plan.
The Open Space Working Group met with city staff and consultants about a week ago. Included on the agenda was a list of open spaces for our review. One open space on the list, Grampsas North, was new to me and the others on the working group.
The City of Golden acquired the land now known as Tony Grampsas Memorial Sports Complex from Jefferson County Open Space in 1999. Coors Brewing Company originally developed the park for company softball tournaments, and, in 2000, the 63-acre park was named after Tomy Grampsas, a former Coors employee and strong advocate for parks and recreation in the State Legislature. Today, the park provides a location for several unique City of Golden amenities including softball fields, a gymnasium, a dog park, archery range, a mountain bike park, and, most recently, four new pickleball courts.
A week ago, Saturday, I went out to look at the Grampsas North Open Space. The first thing I noticed, being a beautiful fall Saturday, was that the parking lot at Grampsas Park was completely full. I found a narrow slot to squeeze my car into and set off to find the open space. Past the pickleball courts, off to the right of the archery range, through the dog park, and up the hill from the New Terrain Brewery (not actually on city property), I found the bike park across the Church Ditch. From the bike park, Grampsas North stretches out to the north. See photos, above.
It is basically a rectangular field about 6½ acres in size, perhaps depending on where the lines are drawn. It is fenced on three sides. The west side is bounded by rural housing and several neighbors who came out for a friendly conversation. The north side has a recent housing development. The east side is bounded by the Church Ditch and the Tony Grampsas Trail, which lines both sides of the ditch. There are cottonwood trees along the ditch. . There might some opportunity for enhancement (I really don’t want to say “development”) of the trail along the Church Ditch, somewhat like the work of the High Line Canal Conservancy.
The vegetation of Grampsas North is western great plains grassland. The plants present are about 2/3 common Golden natives and about 1/3 weeds, a proportion typically seen around Golden. There are a few noxious weeds. I found a few of the uncommon “Dwarf Rabbitbrush” — Ericameria nauseosa var. nauseosa. It is not really a dwarf, just a naturally small plant. It’s big brother that I like to call “Goldy-Locks,” variety graveolens, is also common in Grampsas North. Both of these prairie plants were first scientifically described from collections by the Lewis & Clark Corps of Discovery in 1804-1806. A small thicket in the center of Grampsas North has hackberry, chokecherry, and American plum, though none of them are large enough to make shade.
There are the usual deer and elk signs (i.e., poop), and I scared up a few rabbits. The neighbors told me they frequently see hawks in the cottonwood trees, probably eyeing the rabbits and squirrels for dinner.
The view from Grampsas North is the east side of North Table Mountain with numerous mountain bikes and parties of hikers on a pretty fall afternoon
Grampsas North is not the perfect little open space we typically think of when we talk about open space, but perhaps it presents an opportunity to set aside some of our land for the animals and some quiet contemplation. How it develops through the master plan process will be interesting. The weather forecast for the next few days is warm and dry. Go have a look at Grampsas North and prepare your thoughts for the master plan team.
