The City of Boulder thanks Representatives from the Arapaho and Cheyenne Tribal Nations for working with the city to complete a concept plan for a unique city open space site with important historical, ecological and agricultural features and a direct connection to the Sand Creek Massacre.
Learn more about this unique land and the concept plan, based on the vision “heal the land and heal the people” with plans for ecological restoration, ongoing agriculture, and a reflective visitor experience along an interpretive, healing trail.
Open Space and Mountain Parks (OSMP) staff is now working in collaboration with Tribal Representatives to start a new, more detailed planning process to involve community members in designing the interpretive experience along the proposed healing trail in the concept plan. During the upcoming engagement process, community members will:
- Have opportunities to share their stories
- Help determine what will be included along the healing trail
- Shape how the interpretive experience will unfold.
This planning process is anticipated to take approximately 15-18 months with five engagement windows:
- Listening and Learning. Goal: Hear all potential experiences and stories people desire for the site.
- Identifying Themes & Priorities. Goal: Understand the most important stories to share out (prioritize) and the reasons why.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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. We anticipate beginning the first engagement window – which will focus on hearing potential experiences and stories people desire for the site – in the coming months. Read a memo PDF or watch/listen to a recent Open Space Board of Trustees meeting to learn more about key next steps in the city’s stewardship of the Fort Chambers / Poor Farm property.
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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. This 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. Last July, 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.
Read more about OSMP work to fulfill these key elements in a January 2025 memo PDF shared with the Open Space Board of Trustees.
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.
Recent 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:
