Aiken Canyon Preserve

38°37′14″N 104°53′17″W / 38.620624°N 104.88795°W / 38.620624; -104.88795

Aiken Canyon Preserve
Entrance of Aiken Canyon Preserve
Area6.56 km2 (2.53 sq mi)
Geography
LocationColorado, U.S.
Population centerBetween Colorado Springs and Canon City
Coordinates38.620624°N 104.88795°W 

Aiken Canyon Preserve is a 1,621-acre (6.56 km2) Nature Conservancy-managed state property in Colorado. It was first observed and named after Charles Aiken, a 19th-century U.S. surveyor, pioneer, and ornithologist who first surveyed the region in the 1870s and identified more than 75 bird species.[1] The preserve consists of foothills, shrub and woodland ecosystems and is 12.4 miles (20.0 km) southeast from Colorado Springs located on the eastern slope of the Rampart Range which is within a smaller foothill system of the Front Range. The surrounding mountain ranges of the Rampart Range and Palmer Divide created the nature preserves sustainable ecosystem.[2] There is also a four-mile (6 km)-loop hiking trail on the preserve.[3]

The preservation title came into effect in 1991 when the Nature Conservancy signed a 99-year conservation lease to maintain exclusive rights of 1,080 acres (440 hectares) while still being state-owned, the Nature Conservancy then acquired the remaining 541 acres (219 hectares) which totalled the preserve to 1,621 acres (656 hectares) of land.[4] The land still left on the east side of Aiken canyon is owned by Fort Carson and the remaining west side is owned by the Bureau of Land Management.[5]

Aiken Canyon is one of the state's Natural Areas and one of The Nature Conservancy protects, an effort that began more than 50 years ago. Its mission is to "preserve the plants, animals and natural communities that represent the diversity of life of Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive".[6]

  1. ^ "Aiken Canyon Nature Preserve". Getting Lost on the Front Range. Retrieved 2020-05-26.
  2. ^ Wieder, William R.; Bower, Nathan W. (2004). "Fire History of the Aiken Canyon Grassland-Woodland Ecotone in the Southern Foothills of the Colorado Front Range". The Southwestern Naturalist. 49 (2): 239–243. doi:10.1894/0038-4909(2004)049<0239:nfhota>2.0.co;2. ISSN 0038-4909. S2CID 84482169.
  3. ^ Only in Colorado: Aiken Canyon Preserve, 11/27/2011, The Denver Post
  4. ^ Bartholomew, Marty (2010). Great places Colorado : a recreational guide to Colorado's public lands and historic places for birding, hiking, photography, fishing, hunting and camping (1st ed.). Belgrade, Mont.: Wilderness Adventures Press. p. 79. ISBN 978-1-932098-68-6. OCLC 636246561.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference :8 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ "Colorado's Last Great Places" (PDF). nature.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 10, 2015. Retrieved November 16, 2016.