This fall, the High Line Canal Conservancy will begin program planning focused on the northern reaches of the Canal in North Aurora and Green Valley Ranch. The Conservancy has received a grant from the Colorado Health Foundation – the state’s largest health-focused foundation – in their Activating Places and Spaces funding area. The grant allows the Conservancy to perform extensive outreach in areas of low use to begin to increase trail use and help people connect to the Canal as a source of recreation and exploration. The Conservancy will be convening community leaders, surveying community members and piloting programs to get people active outdoors and encourage healthy living. The planning will take place this fall through the summer of 2018.
Tactics:
- Strategic Input Sessions will be hosted the first week of October to convene community leaders, identify what programs already exist in these areas and determine how the Conservancy can add value.
- Surveys will be collected in October and November to hear directly from community members.
- Pilot programs beginning in 2018.
If you have ideas about what types of programming could be effective, would like to be a part of our strategic input sessions or want to help collect surveys with us, please email Josh Phillips at josh.p@highlinecanal.org.
While the Conservancy will be planning for programs across all 71 miles of the High Line Canal trail, Aurora and Green Valley Ranch represent unique opportunities where trail use is low and considerable barriers exist that prevent people from engaging in outdoor recreation. We believe that the High Line Canal can be a significant resource in these communities, connecting people to nature, healthy living and environmental education.
In North Aurora, the Canal winds its way through ten different neighborhoods: Expo Park, Highline Villages, Highland Park, Lynn Knoll, City Center, Centretech, Apache Mesa, Norfolk Glenn, Friendly Village and Tower Triangle. From there, the Canal connects through Green Valley Ranch in NE Denver. The Canal threads together more than 50,000 people in these neighborhoods, providing community connections and a natural space for families to be active outside.
