The State Land Board has a visionary plan to transform an old bombing range for new uses to meet the Front Range’s future needs. Now private enterprise, local government and conservation groups must find ways to make the plan a reality.
The U.S. Army and Navy used the Lowry Bombing Range during World War II, but after the property fell into state ownership, some unexploded shells and other debris have remained scattered across the land.
Today, as urban development creeps nearer, competing interest groups are eyeing the range’s 23,000 undeveloped acres immediately east of Aurora Reservoir. (The bombing range shouldn’t be confused with other metro sites named after Denver-born World War I flyer Francis Brown Lowry: the former Lowry Air Force Base on the Aurora-Denver line and Lowry Landfill in Arapahoe County.)
Originally, the land board wanted to sell the range for commercial and residential development, but lawyers worried about liability if parcels that had been intensively bombed were ever used for houses or playgrounds. Moreover, the old military site preserved native prairie and streamside ecosystems at the edge of the fast-growing metro area.
Largely at Gov. Bill Owens’ request, the board withdrew its original plan and this week unveiled a better concept.
In the northwestern corner, 3,800 acres that weren’t direct bomb targets and have been declared clean will be offered for sale to developers for mixed use.
South of that area, some 20,000 acres would remain as open space or even become lakes. The eastern side of that large area harbors undisturbed ecosystems and rare wildlife, so the board believes it might be used for open space and wants local governments and conservation groups to submit ideas.
The central and western parts of the property include former military target areas – and several natural depressions. The board thinks that area may be ideal for water storage. Nearby Aurora Reservoir sits atop such an old military range. The board wants to hear from local governments and water districts interested in creating new reservoirs.
The land board believes that at the Lowry range it can perform both of its state constitutional duties: raising money for Colorado public schools and preserving land in a conservation trust.
The board’s call for new uses for the old military reserve should be met with enthusiasm.
