GREENWOOD VILLAGE —The seemed especially isolated when Joan Slaughter and Tammy Krause walked through the area along the High Line Canal Trail on a recent cool, foggy morning.
If not for some barely visible office buildings in the distance, one could be forgiven for forgetting they were in , a city of more than 14,000 people.
“We love the fact that no one can find it,” Slaughter, of Denver, said of the Marjorie Perry Preserve’s 59 lush, green acres. “It’s very quiet.”
Roughly located between Colorado Boulevard and Holly Street, south of Belleview Avenue, and only accessible via trail, the preserve is named for Marjorie Perry, who kept a farm there until her death in 1969, according to Greenwood Village officials.
Perry was committed to natural preservation and her family partnered with , developers of the neighborhood, to give 55 acres of her farm to the city as open space in 1988.
Since then, and with help from Arapahoe County, Great Outdoors Colorado and others, Greenwood Village has gone about adding to, protecting and gently improving a parcel that many consider a hidden gem among parks and open space areas across Arapahoe County.
“It is our open space gem, absolutely,” said Suzanne Moore, Greenwood Village’s Parks, Trails and Recreation director. “There are a wide variety of birds there at any given time. It is within a horseshoe of the High Line Canal Trail. I think it’s kind of a nice oasis.”
Greenwood Village firmed up public ownership of the preserve in 2007 when, with the help of a by the national Trust for Public Land and other outside funding, it obtained from Koelbel an abutting 4-acre parcel and later placed a conservation easement on it.
Since then, Moore said, the city has cleared weeds, planted native grasses and worked to eliminate many unofficial trails, consolidating them into one trail that rims the preserve’s three ponds. A series of informational markers was installed in 2012 as part of an improvement project funded in part by Arapahoe County.
There are no plans for additional improvements at the site that, aside from the remnants of Perry’s barn, features practically nothing human made, Moore said.
Greenwood Village Councilwoman Bette Todd, a resident for nearly 30 years, said the community values its rural roots, and the preserve is a perfect embodiment of that.
“We budget money every year for land acquisition in case we come across a parcel we feel is important,” Todd said. “We firmly believe that in an area that is right along the I-25 corridor, preserving quality open space is one of the most important services that we can provide for our residents other than public health and safety.”
Arapahoe County, which has an open space tax, gave $777,000 in grant funding to the preserve between 2006 and 2008, according to officials. With the High Line Canal access, Arapahoe County Open Space director Shannon Carter called it a key piece of the county-wide open space and trails network.
Rhonda Buder of Cherry Hills Village recently walked her German shepherds through the preserve. Over the last 17 years, Buder said she has seen lots of progress at the Marjorie Perry property.
“I think it’s worth paying extra taxes to have open space like this,” she said. “It gives people an appreciation of nature they might not otherwise have.”
Joe Rubino: 303-954-2953, jrubino@denverpost.com or twitter.com/RubinoJC
Marjorie perry nature preserve access
Castlewood Park, 5601 E. Orchard Drive, has a parking lot. Visitors can then cross Holly Street and walk northwest on the Greenwood Gulch Trail to the High Line Canal Trail and into the preserve.
A trailhead for the High Line Canal Trail is located on the north side of Orchard Road between South Colorado Boulevard and South Jackson Street. Follow the trail north until it swings east to reach the preserve.
To view a Greenwood Village trails map, visit
