Project Overview

The City of Boulder thanks Representatives from the Arapaho and Cheyenne Tribal Nations for working with the city to complete a collaborative stewardship plan for the city’s Fort Chambers / Poor Farm site. Learn about its historical, ecological and agricultural features and its direct connection to the Sand Creek Massacre.

Learn more about the plan, which is based on the vision “heal the land and heal the people,” and is guiding ongoing work and land stewardship to:

  • Develop an “interpretative experience” for a planned “healing trail” to foster education and reflection.
  • Restore natural areas and sustain ongoing agriculture operations.

Input for Interpretative Experience

Engagement opportunities are being planned for Sept. 2025 - we will build off previous input to start creating a vision for the Healing Trail. Please mark your calendar for a community workshop the afternoon of Sept. 22, 2025. Additional details will be posted when available.

In June, 2025 the City of Boulder invited community members to help prioritize ideas, stories and perspectives that will shape an educational, reflective and healing trail on the city’s Fort Chambers/Poor Farm site, through a community workshop and an online questionnaire.

This recent engagement built on community input gathered earlier this year where community members were asked to share their ideas, stories, and perspectives for healing trial interpretative elements. Now understanding the breadth of potential stories, the city requested additional guidance to help determine which ideas, stories or themes were the most important to feature along the planned healing trail.  Thank you to everyone who participated and provided input!

The online questionnaire was available from June 10–30, 2025, through the city’s Be Heard Boulder platform, and was completed by 72 participants.

The first section of the questionnaire asked people to rate the importance of sharing each story along the Healing Trail. The ideas with the highest ratings were:

  1. Aftermath of the Sand Creek Massacre for the Arapaho and Cheyenne Tribes
  2. Contemporary, present-day Tribal culture
  3. Victims of the Sand Creek Massacre and their personal stories
  4. Indigenous/Native connection to land and ecology
  5. Historical bias and continuing false narratives as depicted on stone marker

The next section of the questionnaire asked participants, “Which topics are most important to share along the Healing Trail?” with an option to choose their top 3 from a randomized list of all the topics. The ideas selected the most were:

  1. Aftermath of the Sand Creek Massacre for the Arapaho and Cheyenne Tribes
  2. Victims of the Sand Creek Massacre and their personal stories
  3. Indigenous/Native connection to land and ecology
  4. Firsthand accounts of the Sand Creek Massacre from Silas Soule, Morse Coffin, Joseph Cramer and/or others
  5. Contemporary, present-day Tribal culture

The in-person workshop was facilitated by Ernest House, Jr. of the Keystone Policy Center on June 17, 2025. About 23 community members participated in a dot exercise, where participants were asked to place dots on the stories they wanted featured along the healing trail. Sticky notes were available to community members to provide additional insight into the topics they wanted to see represented in interpretive materials.

The ideas with the most dots were:

  1. Aftermath of the Sand Creek Massacre for the Arapaho and Cheyenne Tribes
  2. Indigenous/Native connection to land and ecology
  3. Historical bias and continuing false narratives as depicted on stone marker
  4. Valmont Butte's history as a culturally important site
  5. Early settler perspectives and relationships with Tribes

Community input was also compiled and included in a memo prepared for the Open Space Board of Trustees PDF.

The trail is a key element of a collaborative stewardship plan developed with Arapaho and Cheyenne Tribal Representatives last year. The plan guides how the city will care for the Fort Chambers / Poor Farm site—land where more than 100 Boulder-area men trained before participating in the Sand Creek Massacre.

Next steps
The community input will be used to explore how community-prioritized stories will unfold along the healing trail. That could include interpretive signs, historical markers or monuments. A community workshop is planned for Sept. 22, 2025 with Arapaho and Cheyenne Tribal Representatives joining in-person as part of our ongoing collaboration on this project. Input from the community and Tribal Representatives will then be used to further design the interpretive trail experience.

The city thanks Arapaho and Cheyenne Tribal Representatives for helping to guide stewardship of the Fort Chambers / Poor Farm Site, shaped by a shared city-Tribal vision of “Heal the Land; Heal the People.”  

The proposed “Healing Trail” (as envisioned in the Concept Plan) is a walking trail with elements and areas to support learning, reflection, healing, and gathering. Interpretation is more than just presenting facts – an immersive experience can inspire reflection and a sense of connection to culture, nature and belonging. Common elements of interpretive experiences include signage, art, audio, and similar educational installations, as well as sitting areas and quiet spots for reflection and connection.

The “Healing Trail” feature and terminology is part of the concept plan that was developed in collaboration with Tribal Representatives. The goal for the site is to move towards community understanding and healing with the vision of “Heal the Land, Heal the People”, although we recognize that this site is also painful for individuals and may not support healing for everyone. No final name has been chosen for the interpretive trail - the trail and trailhead name will be determined through this design process.

This project is called the “Fort Chambers / Poor Farm” project based on the history of the site and its broad recognition throughout the community. The new trail and trailhead name will be determined through this design process and will then be used to reference the site in the future.

The stone marker that sat on the edge of the Fort Chambers / Poor Farm property was removed with support from Arapaho and Cheyenne Nation Tribal Representatives and government officials in 2023. It inaccurately states that Fort Chambers was used in an “Indian Uprising” in 1864, a false claim of coordinated Indigenous violence. The city acknowledges that Arapaho and Cheyenne leaders sought peace in the Fall of 1864 and Arapaho and Cheyenne Peoples camped at Sand Creek had been promised the protection of the U.S. Army. The stone marker is currently in storage and there is potential to place it on the site as part of the interpretive experience

As part of the initial planning process, OSMP worked with Tribal Nations to identify their desired long-term relationship with the Fort Chambers / Poor Farm property. The Tribes were not interested in owning the property but wanted to collaborate with OSMP staff on the development of interpretive materials and future stewardship, recognizing the site’s ability to support learning, healing and praying.

March Public Comment Overview

In March 2025, the City of Boulder invited community members to share ideas for what stories should be told and interpreted at the Fort Chambers / Poor Farm site. Thank you to everyone who shared their ideas and perspectives online and at the community workshop! We received many ideas, which are broadly categorized below:

Indigenous Perspectives and Connection to Sand Creek Massacre

  • Indigenous history
  • Context surrounding injustices to Tribes
  • Contemporary Indigenous perspectives
  • Exploring Indigenous identities

The Land and Ecosystem at the Fort Chambers/Poor Farm Site

  • Nature’s beauty and destruction
  • Agriculture and native plants on the site
  • History through agriculture on the site

Fort Chambers, Company D, and Connection to Sand Creek Massacre

  • History and narrative about Fort Chambers, Company D and the Sand Creek Massacre
  • Misinformation and false narratives
  • Reinstalling the monument

Poor Farm and Early History of Boulder

  • Early settlers
  • History of the Queen Anne House/ Poor Farm
  • Agriculture

Other Ideas

  • Reflection on white privilege / continued benefits to Boulder residents
  • Rotating stories/historic focuses at the site
  • Native American dance and song/ programming
  • Funding, oversight, and insurance
  • “Healing” at a different site

A more detailed summary of the input PDF received, and a full compendium PDF, that includes all input are available.

Common threads from the input shared included:

  • Historical Acknowledgment: Participants called for transparent storytelling about Company D, the Sand Creek Massacre, and historical misinformation.
  • Reflection: Many stressed the need for the site to foster reflection and education around past injustices to Indigenous peoples.
  • Indigenous Representation: Participants expressed a desire for the design to prioritize Tribal voices and accommodate Tribal needs.

Planning Process

This planning process is anticipated to take approximately 15-18 months with five engagement windows:

  1. Listening and Learning. Goal: Hear all potential experiences and stories people desire for the site.

  2. Identifying Themes & Priorities. Goal: Understand the most important stories to share out (prioritize) and the reasons why.

  3. Identifying a Vision for the Interpretive Experience. Goal: Create a vision for the Healing Trail.  Explore and identify how the stories will unfold along the Healing Trail (i.e.  flow of the interpretive experience and order of themes/stories). Explore potential design features/elements.

  4. Designing the Interpretive Experience. Goal: Understand level of support (or not) and why for a staff/consultant developed draft design(s) including interpretive elements/features to inform the development of a final design.

  5. Finalizing the Interpretive Experience Design. Goal: Finalize and share out the Interpretive Experience design.

The process will involve the community throughout, with engagement windows that include both in person and online options. Sign up for our “Field Notes” e-newsletter to receive the latest updates about this community and Tribal Nation engagement effort!

Contact the Fort Chambers / Poor Farm project team

Site Background

The city acquired the Fort Chambers – Poor Farm property in 2018 to fulfill open space purposes in the city charter, and it is located near Boulder Creek east of 63rd Street and south of Jay Road. It is currently closed to the public while the concept plan recommendations are being implemented.

This unique property has important historical, ecological and agricultural features. A presentation from Aug. 25, 2025 PDF provides information from OSMP's Cultural Survey Results.

A story map includes details on:

Concept Plan Overview

In July 2022, Open Space and Mountain Parks staff began collaborating with Tribal Representatives from the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, the Northern Arapaho Tribe and the Northern Cheyenne Tribe to understand their desired long-term relationship with this site. The concept plan provides a broad foundation for how the city – with continuing guidance from Tribal Representatives – will steward land where Fort Chambers likely stood.

The fort was built northeast of Boulder in the summer of 1864 amid exaggerated and false claims of coordinated Indigenous violence that helped fan anti-Indigenous hatred in Colorado during the summer and fall of 1864. In August 1864, more than 100 Boulder-area men mobilized into Company D of the Third Colorado Cavalry Regiment at Fort Chambers.

The men of Company D attacked a Cheyenne camp near present day Sterling (“Buffalo Springs”) on Oct. 10, 1864, killing 10 Cheyenne People. They later participated in the killing of 230 peaceful Arapaho and Cheyenne People at the Sand Creek Massacre on Nov. 29, 1864 – the deadliest day in Colorado history.

Discussion and collaboration with Tribal Representatives led to a concept plan that is based on a shared vision to “Heal the Land; Heal the People” and focuses on these key elements:

  • Healing Trail: Create a trail with areas for education, reflection and gathering to foster healing and help the Boulder community acknowledge and communicate its role in the Sand Creek Massacre.
  • Ecological Restoration: Heal the land from past ecological disturbances to help sustain the area’s rich natural diversity.
  • Visitor Access: Enhance visitor access with a new entrance, parking and bus drop-off.
  • Agricultural and Farmstead Enhancements: Sustain ongoing agricultural operations and conduct restoration of the home and farm structures on the land.

In March and April of 2024, the city and Tribal Representatives  welcomed community feedback on the draft concept plan through an online questionnaire, with 86% of respondents supporting the concept plan and its recommendations.

In July, 2024, the city’s Open Space Board of Trustees recommended the city move forward with the concept plan and include Tribal Representatives and community histories in the development of content for the healing trail and other interpretative elements on the property. Learn more about this unique land and the concept plan.

A pond on the city's Fort Chambers - Poor Farm property

Arapaho and Cheyenne Tribal Representatives have provided guidance to prioritize "healing the land" from past uses, such as gravel mining. That work would include restoring the land's ecology, improving wildlife habitat and removing invasive weed species.

City-Tribal Nation Collaboration

The City of Boulder honors Tribal sovereignty and conducts government-to-government consultations with Representatives appointed by elected leaders of Tribal Governments that have historic and enduring connections to the Boulder Valley and share agreements with the city. The city recognizes that Tribal Nations are sovereign governmental entities whose special relationship with the United States is recognized under the Constitution of the United States, treaties, Supreme Court decisions, federal laws and presidential Executive Orders.

Given the land's connection to the Sand Creek Massacre, City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks (OSMP) staff prioritized receiving guidance from Tribal Representatives – including Sand Creek descendants – designated by elected leaders representing the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, the Northern Arapaho Tribe and the Northern Cheyenne Tribe to help develop concept plan. Throughout this project, the city has collaborated with Arapaho and Cheyenne Tribal Representatives to:

  • Learn the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, the Northern Arapaho Tribe and the Northern Cheyenne Tribe's desired long-term relationship with the land.
  • Understand how best to interpret the land's history and its connection to the Sand Creek Massacre and accurately describe Boulder residents’ role in the massacre. 
  • Identify opportunities to incorporate the intergenerational trauma that the Arapaho and Cheyenne Nations have endured from both the colonization of Indigenous lands in the Boulder Valley and the Sand Creek Massacre into Boulder history.
Fort Chambers marker stands on Fort Chambers - Poor Farm property

The city removed this marker – with support from Arapaho and Cheyenne Nation Tribal Representatives – because it inaccurately states that Fort Chambers was used in an “Indian Uprising” in 1864. The city acknowledges it is a false claim because Arapaho and Cheyenne leaders sought peace in the fall of 1864 and Arapaho and Cheyenne Peoples camped at Sand Creek had been promised the protection of the U.S. Army. Exaggerated and false claims of coordinated Indigenous violence helped fan anti-Indigenous hatred in Colorado during the summer and fall of 1864. 

The stone marker is currently in storage; the long-term placement of the marker will be considered during the upcoming planning phase to design the interpretive experience at the site. 

Agricultural operations occurring on the city's Fort Chambers - Poor Farm property

City staff and Arapaho and Cheyenne Tribal Representatives recognize the importance of preserving existing agricultural values on the land and using the house and other structures on the property to support agricultural operations.

Recent Open Space Board of Trustees Updates

August 2025: OSMP staff provided the Open Space Board of Trustees with a memo summarizing the community input PDF about which stories and ideas to prioritize for inclusion along the Healing Trail and next steps for the design.

Previous Open Space Board of Trustees Updates:

Go Further

Read a broad compilation of timeline information that city staff have developed to provide community members context on colonization of Indigenous lands in the Boulder Valley, Fort Chambers, Company D and the Sand Creek Massacre. We ask community members to go beyond our broad overview and take time to learn more about the Sand Creek Massacre by:

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