Roxborough is an area next to the Colorado foothills, 25 miles south of Denver.  It is known for its slanted 200-foot-tall red rocks, which rose up about 68 million years ago to form a natural barrier between grassy plains to the east and the Rocky Mountains to the west.  These red sandstone rocks are in the Fountain geologic formation which also are on display at Red Rocks amphitheater and are similar to those at the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs.

Within the Roxborough area, residential neighborhoods include Roxborough Park, Roxborough Village, Chatfield Farms and Ravenna, with a total of about 9,400 residents.  Being built nearby is Sterling Ranch, which is a master planned community which will eventually have 30,000 residents on its 3,400 acres.

One of the draws of this area is the wonderful outdoor recreation, including two state parks: Roxborough State Park, which is 3,413 acres and has 15 miles of hiking trails  and Chatfield State Park with its large reservoir for boating and camping.  Other areas include the start of Highline Canal trail, the 6.5-mile trail along the Platte River up Waterton Canyon and the Denver Audubon Kingery Nature Center.

Roxborough Park is a naturalist’s delight! Due to the dramatic rise from the flat high plains to the foothills and then on to the mountains, there are several ecological zones within just 30 miles or less, all of which can be found in the Roxborough Park area. These provide a wide variety of habitats for plants and animals: the Plains Grassland Habitat, the Montane Shrubland Habitat, the Montane Forest Habitat and Riparian Habitats.

The photo below is of the Front Range, just west of Denver, looking southwest. The relatively flat plains are to the left, with the Dakota Hogback showing as a ridge of sharp-edged hills before getting to the rise of the foothills into the mountains. The large body of water on the left edge is Chatfield Reservoir, and Roxborough Park is just south of there, though not clearly visible. In the distance, Pikes Peak rises majestically over the mountain ranges.

Despite its well-known high elevation of 5,280 feet, the city of Denver is on the plains, surrounded by grasslands.   These plains grassland habitats are too dry for trees to survive.  They are hot, sunny and dry in the summer and cold, windy and dry in the winter. 

Native grasses and shrubs have evolved to take advantage of the sunny conditions and thrive in this climate.  The primary plants are short grasses, with other plants such as yucca, prickly pear cactus and hardy native flowers growing among them. This grassland habitat can also be found in parks in the Denver area that have been allowed to retain a more natural state, such as Willow Spring Open Space, (which is covered extensively in this website).  The land leading up to and around the entrance road to Roxborough State Park is a plains grassland habitat.  This habitat generally goes up to about 5,600 feet elevation, though different soil conditions and topography can allow it to go a bit higher.

Once the foothills start to rise above the plains, there is a transitional habitat described as a Montane (mountain) Shrubland habitat.  On the eastern range of the Rocky Mountains, near Roxborough, this generally starts just west of the Dakota hogback, which is a rocky ridge formed from erosion-resistant Dakota sandstone.  The Montane Shrubland habitat is characterized by coarse soils and rocky terrains.  Usually there is not enough moisture to allow full-sized trees to grow, so it is dominated by common shrubs including scrub oak, sumac, service berry and mountain-mahogany.  These shrubs provide seeds, fruit and nuts for mammals including skunks, foxes, coyotes and bears, and nesting and den sites for chipmunks, deer mice, rabbits, bobcats and mountain lions.  Mule deer are also plentiful.  Birds plentiful in these shrublands include scrub jays, towhees and wild turkeys.  This habitat goes from about 5,500 to 9,000 feet.  The weather in this area is cooler than the Plains due to the increase in altitude, and it experiences heavy winds as the cooler mountain air sinks down the slopes in the morning. This is the most common environment for the Roxborough area.

Above the Montane Shrubland habitat there are cool, shaded conifer forests, with Ponderosa Pines on the lower and south-facing slopes and Douglas firs on cooler, wetter, north-facing slopes.  Lodgepole pines can also be found there, along with stands of Aspen trees.  This habitat is on the west side of the Roxborough area and can be found on the trail up Carpenter Peak in Roxborough State Park.  Many of the animals and birds found in the Montane Shrubland habitat stay in the Montane forest at night and come down to the Montane Shrubland habitat during the day.

Different animals and plants need to be near water to thrive in this dry region. Within Roxborough State Park is the Willow Creek trail, which has a lovely moist feeling, especially compared to other trails that go through dryer parts of the park. Close by is the South Platte river, coming through Waterton Canyon and filling Chatfield reservoir, along with smaller ponds within the Roxborough Village area.

Although this is a winter scene of the South Platte River through the narrow Waterton Canyon, it is easy to spot Sandbar Willows along the edge of the river, showing the red of the new growth from the prior summer, and a Cottonwood tree, which needs to be near water to survive. Rocky Mountain Big Horn sheep, the Colorado state mammal, can be found there as well!

Pick one type of environment to explore, or pick them all – Roxborough Park has a wide variety of fascinating nature everywhere you look!

• From Grassland to Glacier: The Natural History of Colorado and the Surrounding Region, by Cornelia Fleischer Mutel and John C. Emerick, 1992
• Explore Colorado: A Naturalist’s Notebook, by Frances Alley Kruger and Carron A. Meaney with Photography by John Fielder, 1995
• Denver Museum of Nature and Science has a permanent exhibit called Explore Colorado on the 3rd level, which contains wonderful dioramas and information about the Ecosystems found in Colorado
• Roadside Geology of Colorado, Third Edition, by Felicie Williams and Halka Chronic, 2014