Roxborough State Park
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The Roxborough State Park is a state park in Douglas County in the U.S. state of Colorado. It is located southwest of Denver and about 24 km south of Littleton on the north side of the Pike National Forest. Covering an area of 13.5 km ² are primarily caused by rejection and erosion of rock formations, the defining element of the park.
History
In 1975, the site has been designated as a state park and has since been subject to the management of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. Between July 2006 and June 2007 63769 park visitors were counted within a year. 1980 Roxborough State Park was also registered as a National Natural Landmark.
Geology
The park rises 1800 - 2200m above sea level, the drainage takes place mainly in the Willow Creek, the Little Willow Creek and the Mill Gulch. It forms an ecotone between the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, the forest communities of the Front Range and the plane with grassland.
The Fountain Formation from red to gray sandstone was created 300 million years ago by rejecting and different erosion from the primeval Rocky Mountains. The sandstone layer with an angle of 60 ° has thereby captured the nickname Iron Flat ( iron). In the park are also exposed layers of the Precambrian, Cretaceous and the Permian.
Flora
The park contains some high quality undisturbed plant communities with populations of ponderosa pines (Pinus ponderosa), Douglas-fir forests and viol corpses (Quercus gambelii ).
Half of the park is surrounded by a thicket of mostly gamba corpses ( Cercocarpus ) Buckbrush, Three-lobed sumac ( Rhus trilobata ), snow berries and yucca covered. Mixed swards are on the locations where the soil is deep and moist enough, such as Western Wheatgrass ( Pascopyrum smithii ), Green Needlegrass ( Stipa viridula ), Little Bluestem ( Schizachyrium scoparium ), big bluestem ( Andropogon gerardii ), Prairie Sand Reed ( Calamovilfa longifolia ), Blue grama ( Bouteloua gracilis ), sideoats grama ( Bouteloua curtipendula ), and needle- and- thread grass ( Stipa comata ).
Along the Fliesßgewässer a Traubenkirschenart ( prunus virginia ), maple species such as ( acer glabrum ), shrub areas are located with ( Rubus deliciosus ), but also (Lilium philadelphicum ), ( Eutrochium ), Rockrose, ( Pterospora andromedea ) and Carrion - Flower / carrion flowers.
Fauna
The park visitors show up frequently mule deer, coyotes, foxes, black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus ) and cottontail rabbits. Less commonly seen are elk, black bear, cougar and bobcat.
145 bird species have been recorded in more than 20 years of bird watching, 42 of which nest in Roxborough State Park. Raptors, songbirds, waterfowl and grassland species such as evening Bunting ( Pooecetes gramineus ) and Western Meadowlark populate the grounds. Also, rock wren, Tanager, Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Ferruginous Hawk (Buteo regalis ), and burrowing owl can be observed.