Plains Conservation Center

Plains Conservation Center
View of Cheyenne Camp looking east at the Plains Conservation Center
Type	History museum and nature preserve
Location	21901 E Hampden Av Aurora, Colorado
Coordinates	39°39′22″N 104°44′13″W / 39.65604°N 104.73700°W / 39.65604; -104.73700
Area	1,100 acres (450 ha) in Aurora
Created	1949
Website	AuroraGov.org

The Plains Conservation Center is an outdoor education center and state-designated natural area in Aurora, Colorado. The Aurora property is owned by the Aurora Parks, Recreation and Open Space department.^[1]

The land that is currently part of the Aurora site was once part of the railroad. The city of Denver bought the land in 1933, and the land later became federal land managed by the Bureau of Land Management. An education center was established in 1949, and in 1969 a group of sod structures were built.^[2][3] In 1997 the West Arapahoe Conservation District sold 1,100 acres (4.5 km²) to the City of Aurora; about 500 additional acres (2 km²) were sold for private development,^[4] with revenue from the private sale used to buy the West Bijou Creek site in Strasburg.^[5] The Plains Conservation Center non-profit dissolved and the City of Aurora, already owning the land, assumed management of the site in 2017.

The Aurora site features a replica homestead village that includes two houses, a school house, blacksmith shop and chicken coop, a replica tipi camp, and 1,000 acres of shortgrass prairie. Special seasonal events and education programs are offered through the City of Aurora's naturalist program and the Denver Botanic Gardens.^[6]

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  Entrance sign
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  Yurt
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  Sod House
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  Pronghorn
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  Tipi
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  Cheyenne camp looking west
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  Students observe prairie dog colony
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  Students view farm equipment

• Stone, Tammy (1997). "An Intensive Archaeological Survey of the Plains Conservation Center, Arapahoe County, Colorado". Western Central High Plains Archaeological Research Project Survey. Department of Anthropology, University of Colorado at Denver.
• Zeiner, Helen Marsh (Spring 1976). "Grass Flora of the Plains Conservation Center". The Green Thumb. 35. Denver Botanic Gardens, Colorado Forestry and Horticultural Association: 15.
• Danilov, Victor J. (2002). "Plains Conservation Center". Museums and historic sites of the American West. Greenwood Press. p. 200. ISBN 9780313309083.

• Plains Conservation Center