Colorado Springs’ Pikeview Quarry beginning to look a lot greener amid reclamation project
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – One of the biggest and most famous eye sores in Colorado Springs is now exploding with greenery.
Last year, crews began efforts to return the Pikeview Quarry, a former limestone mine on the northwest side of the city, to its original beauty by planting over 31,000 native trees.
Jerald Schnabel is the president of Castle Aggregates, the company that currently owns the land. He says their goal is to have the mountain scar covered in green by this summer, but that they did have their doubts if that would be possible.
"The wet fall we had last year gave us a good start, but if we hadn't got the rains we've had in the last 2 or 3 weeks, we would have seen some drying," Schnabel said. "And we were concerned about it, to the point of even talking about reseeding."
With all of this new, fresh vegetation, Schnabel says they're also seeing more wildlife roam in the mountain.
"The bighorn sheep have been as high as 40 to 45 sheep on the mountain current," Schnabel said. "We have four lambs this year that have been born here. We've also seen an influx of little blue birds, mountain birds, robins."
Castle Aggregates said it plans to restore the quarry to its natural state before donating the land back to the city of Colorado Springs. The overall hope, the company says, is that the city will turn the land into a mountain bike park.
KRDO13 reached out to the city of Colorado Springs for a statement on the reclamation progress and potential use of the land in the future, who provided the following statement:
"Currently, Pikeview Quarry does not belong to the City of Colorado Springs. Once reclamation is complete, the property will be evaluated by the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety before it can be offered to the City as a donation. Prior to the acceptance of the donation, the Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Department recommends an independent review of the reclamation work to make sure the area is safe for public use. If the City accepts the donation and considers the property for recreational use, a site-specific public process will be required to create a Master and Management Plan for Pikeview Quarry. This Plan will be a guiding document for the sustainable development of recreational opportunities in Pikeview Quarry specifically."
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