Rocky Flats Refuge Opening Nears, Former Workers Harbor Doubts

By Xandra McMahon
Colorado Public Radio

At first glance, a portion of the open grassland that lines Highway 93 between Golden and Boulder, Colorado seems perfectly untouched — there’s nothing about it that alludes to its long, controversial history. There’s also nothing about the land that would reveal why it’s the source of an environmental lawsuit or why school districts have banned field trips from going there.

The contested land is the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge, the former home of the plutonium trigger manufacturing plant that lends it its name. The area, set to open to the public this summer, is one of the few nature spaces within 30 miles of Denver and is home to a special ecosystem.

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