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Chatfield Environmental Education Resource System (CHEERS) ^ ^,? o August, 1994 Setting and scope The CHEERS project encompasses Chatfield Lake and the surrounding basin area in southwest Denver. The initial concept of a cooperative approach to developing and providing environmental education opportunities surfaced in January 1992, when Chatfield State Park employees suggested renovating several old structures at Chatfield Lake into an environmental education/trails center. Resources currently available include personnel and data from the partners; six urban, rural, and mountain trails (including the Colorado Trail & possibly the American Discovery Trail); Denver Water Board structures at the Kassler Water Treatment Plant; the Corps of Engineers visitor center and dam; the South Suburban Park and Recreation District's Carson Nature Center; facilities at the Chatfield Arboretum/Hildebrand Farm; and natural and cultural resources within the basin. These natural resources include riparian, grassland, and montane habitats, constructed and natural wetlands, a National Natural Landmark, a Colorado Natural Area, the Waterton Canyon bighorn sheep herd, several National Register of Historic Places listed properties and cultural sites, and a National Waterworks Landmark. Issues/problems being The central theme of the CHEERS project is to establish a cooperative system for addressed environmental education and trails access for area school children and residents. To accomplish this, interagency competitiveness and public/private barriers to effective interaction must be resolved. In addition, internal agency policies that burden interagency cooperation and public/private interfaces are being addressed. Participants Chatfield State Park (Brad Taylor, 791-7275) Chatfield Arboretum, Denver Botanic Gardens (Marsha Staughton, 973-3705) Colorado Division of Wildlife (Paul Jones, 291-7227) Denver Water Department (Bob Taylor, 628-6524) Martin Marietta Astronautics Group (Dave Weiland, 971-2074) Roxborough State Park (Susie Trumble, 973-3959) South Suburban Park & Recreation District (Resource Specialist, 730-1022) Thorne Ecological Institute (Carol Knepp, 499-3647) U.S. Corps of Engineers (Karen Sitoski, 9794120) U.S. Forest Service (Steve Priest, 697-0414) Sources of technical input Data gathering during the initial stages of CHEERS consisted of all agencies providing input on their current resources available. This data was initially i gathered by Colorado Sate Parks for development of an agency resources inventory, but has since been turned over to Thorne Ecological Institute. Thorne is currently developing a CHEERS database utilizing Macintosh Filemaker. This database will include specific information on environmental education programs offered by each agency, such as program description, fees, point of contact, etc.