ARAPAHOE COUNTY, Colo. — A popular Denver metro area dog park will close for several days in October so Colorado Parks and Wildlife can make multiple improvements to the space.
The Dog Off-Leash Area (DOLA) at Cherry Creek State Park is set to close Oct. 14 through Oct. 17 — that's a Monday through Thursday — so crews can safely work to fix issues with erosion, vegetation, the parking lot and more.
“We are reinvesting into the dog off leash area to give users the experience they want,” said Park Manager Jason Trujillo. “It has gotten to the point it is so busy down there we can’t get any work done without interrupting experiences of visitors and this maintenance work cannot be conducted safely while the area is open.”
In 2018, the park had more than one million visitors by late November.
“It is hard to have a sustainable resource when it is so heavily used,” Trujillo said. “The work we are doing will be a balance of resource protection and preservation. We appreciate the patience of our users for the brief period the dog off leash area will close.”
Here are the improvements CPW plans to complete during that four-day window:
New entrances
Crews will build two new entrances to the dog park. In addition, they will introduce exit-only and entrance-only bull-pens to avoid traffic jams and confrontations between tired dogs leaving and excited dogs headed into the park.
Relocating access gates
The gates off of Orchard Road will be moved to the main DOLA parking lot. This will allow park staff to control access to this parking lot and still access the nearby stables.
Parking lot improvements
The DOLA parking lot will be striped to create designated parking spaces. Crews also plan to create a one-way traffic flow pattern.
Erosion control
Crews will work to improve erosion control in the northern section of the dog park. This will reduce the risk that trails over drainages will get washed out during heavy rainfalls. It will also allow more vegetation to grow.
Vegetation sustainability
Staff will spray and mow harmful weeds so native grasses and vegetation can continue to grow in the park. They will also seed areas with native grasses to re-establish native vegetative areas.
Trail work
Park staff will add a road base and layer of crusher fine to certain areas of the trail to elevate it. This will help with erosion control.
To learn more about the Cherry Creek State Park DOLA, visit CPW's website here.