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Results: Cherry Creek |
Aharon's Jewish Books
and Judaica
600 South Holly Street Suite 103
Denver, Colorado 80246
303-322-7345
800-830-8660 |
 Cherry
Creek is a tributary of the South Platte River, 64 mi
(103 km) long, in Colorado in the United States.
It rises in the high plateau, east of the Front Range,
in northwestern El Paso County. It flows north,
through Castlewood Canyon State Park, past Parker and
through portions of Centennial and Aurora, and into
southeast Denver. It flows northwest through Denver,
becoming an urban stream and joining the South Platte
at Confluence Park in central Denver just west of
downtown and approximately 5 mi (8 km) east of the
foothills, near the site where the city of Denver was
founded in 1858.
The 140 ft (43 m) high Cherry Creek Dam, completed
1950, forms Cherry Creek Reservoir in Cherry Creek
State Park, providing flood control and irrigation.
The dam lies immediately southeast and southwest of
the Denver and Aurora city limits, respectively,
approximately 8 mi (13 km) from the creek's confluence
with the South Platte.
The creek lends its name to the Cherry Creek
neighborhood in south-central Denver, and in
particular to the Cherry Creek Shopping Center and to
a prominent neighborhood newspaper, the Cherry Creek
News.
The creek itself is locally well known for its
population of crayfish. Some local inhabitants catch
and eat these crustaceans, though this is of
questionable legality. The creek is also home to a
large population of small fish (Including immature
trout and sunfish). Large fish are largely absent,
except when the Cherry Creek Dam is partially opened
and floodwaters carry fish such as rainbow trout,
brown trout, mature sunfish, and even northern pike
downstream. The creek's ecosystem was damaged during a
drought in the first few years of the 21st century.
Plants along the banks, damaged by the drought,
dropped organic debris into the water, increasing
biochemical oxygen demand substantially. Decreased
flow also limited the ecosystem's capacity to supply
needed oxygen. Decreased flow also prevented the
washing away of pollutants such as NPK fertilizers,
insecticides and organic solvents. Water temperatures
also rose during this period, compounding the problem.
As of 2005, however, the creek is substantially
healthier.
For some of its distance, notably in the region of
Four Mile Historical Park, the creek is flanked on
each side by approximately 15 m (50 ft) of woods and
scrub. This corridor is deliberately left semi-wild,
though there is a dirt bike track on the northern
bank. This corridor is one of the few places within
the Denver metro area where the creek's namesake
plant, the chokecherry, can still be seen in a largely
wild state. Large trees such as cottonwoods are
common, as are willows. Edible plants such as wild
asparagus and prickly pear are occasionally found.
Imported plants such as the Russian olive, dandelion,
and Virginia creeper are also notably present. Despite
the limited area this corridor offers, raccoons,
beaver, foxes, and even deer are not uncommom sights
along the creek. The beaver typically have lodges
upstream (east) of Denver, but swim downstream to
forage.
Petrified wood is extremely common in the creek. It is
washed down, sometimes in fairly large pieces, from
'petrified forests' upstream. Fossil mammal bones have
also been found.
Historical records kept at what is now Four Mile
Historical Park indicate that prior to the
construction of the Cherry Creek Dam, the creek's
water level rose and fell regularly. Since the dam's
completion, however, this flood cycle has been
interrupted. Now, the flow is regulated almost
exclusively by the dam's operators. The level of the
creek is kept constant except when water needs to be
vented from the Cherry Creek Reservoir. When the dam's
floodgates are opened for this venting, the creek's
level may rise as much as two feet, sometimes in less
than an hour. |
Adjacent
municipalities
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North: Commerce City
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West: Wheat Ridge, Lakeside, Mountain View,
Edgewater, Lakewood
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East: Aurora
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South: Aurora, Greenwood Village, Cherry Hills
Village, Englewood, Sheridan, Littleton, Bow Mar, Centennial
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