What does the future hold for The Heart of Aspen?
Friends of Marolt Park & Open Space are dedicated to protecting Marolt and Thomas Open Space and all the benefits it provides.
To make a donation to our 501(c)(3) nonprofit, please send a check to:
Friends of Marolt Park & Open Space
P.O. Box 7946 • Aspen, CO 81612
Make check payable to “Friends of Marolt Park & Open Space”
Our front yard
The Marolt Open Space is the crown jewel of Aspen’s parks and public lands. It was purchased by the community in the early 1980s and has served as Aspen’s front yard ever since. This is where we honor our history, run our dogs, ride bikes, cross country ski, land paragliders, and grow our vegetables in the community garden. We share it with dozens of species — birds, deer and their fawns, elk, coyotes, red tail fox and other critters. Its trails link the town to its schools, hospital and recreation center for cyclists year round and Nordic skiers in the winter.
As Aspen planner Tom Baker described it in the late 1980s, a few years after the city purchased the land, the Marolt Open Space is, “…a key piece of open space at the City’s west entrance; a parcel free of development making a statement about Aspen’s image to all who travel through it.”
Friends of Marolt Park & Open Space is nonprofit that was founded in the 1990s to protect the property from highway encroachment (which it is threatened with once again) and overuse. We have successfully made the case for leaving well enough alone and allowing the community to use this property for a host of passive activities.
Please consider joining our mailing list and donating to help preserve this vital slice of our identity. And sign up for our newsletters to stay informed about the open space and the pressures it faces in the coming year.
“The Marolt Open Space is a keystone property in the City of Aspen’s parks and open space inventory.”
— City of Aspen 2021 Marolt Open Space Management Plan
The Threat
The pressure to do more with and even pave over this open space is relentless. The city and the Colorado Department of Transportation continue to argue that Marolt Open Space should be paved over with a four-lane highway (six if you count the shoulders) that would provide no relief to the backup into town every morning or the standstill traffic that clogs Main Street every afternoon.
Aspen’s Parks & Open Space wants to build a mountain bike park on Marolt Open Space, which will require trees to be cut down, brush cleared and the landscape manipulated in a section that provides wildlife cover and access to Castle Creek.
Friends of Marolt Park & Open Space has been beating back bad ideas for this open space for decades, including the attempt to build the straight shot in the early 2000s, private stables for a horse-drawn carriage business, a BMX bike track and a ballfield with lights for night games.
Please help us continue the fight to protect the Marolt Open Space — our front yard — and preserve Aspen’s small town character by donating and/or volunteering. And don't forget to sign up for our newsletter.
Think about all the ways Aspenites and visitors come together around the Marolt Open Space:
History
The Holden Marolt Mining & Ranching Museum is located on a 2.5 acre site within the Marolt Open Space. It is managed by the Aspen Historical Society and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The museum is located in the old Marolt Barn and takes people into another time to explore the mining and agricultural history the site and the greater Aspen area. The McMurchy and Zupancis buildings were relocated here to help tell the story of Aspen’s Victorian era and the original immigrants who helped shape the community.
Paragliding
After ranching, the longest use of the land has most likely been a landing site for paragliders who begin their flights on Aspen Mountain. Marolt Open Space has provided a safe landing zone for paragliders since at least the early 1970s, and given the community a place to watch them fly. Paragliding and hang gliding are supported and the landing zone maintained by the nonprofit Parapente Aspen.
The Dogs of Marolt
Although not specifically designated as a dog park, Marolt Open Space has long been a place where Aspenites — both human and canine — can get some exercise by walking and playing. It is one of the few spots in town where dogs and their humans have room to run and play. In the winter, its Nordic ski trails are open to dogs as well as skiers.
Aspen Community Garden
The Aspen Community Garden was created in 1978. It honors the agricultural history of the land with 83 plots that are watered from the Marolt Ditch. Member gardeners use organic methods to grow vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers.
Trails
Aspen’s Open Space and Trails Board has done an excellent job maintaining the property and the trails on the Marolt Open Space. The Marolt Trail is a paved, multi-use path that runs in an arc inside the perimeter of the property. It was paved sometime between 1968 and 1974 and has long been an important connection between the core of Aspen and key services and amenities up Maroon and Castle Creeks.
The Bergman Trail is a soft-surface loop trail that winds through a portion of the historic lixiviation site where a derrick replica and series of interpretive signs invite visitors to imagine the industrial activities that took place here during the mining era. It descends an old road cut to the riparian zone along Castle Creek, below the mill’s stair-stepped sandstone and timber foundations.
A number of soft-surface, single-track trails cross the property to reach places like the community garden and the paraglider landing zone. Most are unofficial social trails that have developed as a result of people bee-lining from point-to-point or simply by using a favorite route repeatedly.
Nordic Skiing
Within the Aspen Snowmass Nordic Trail System, the Marolt Open Space offers an easy cross-country skiing and snowshoeing experience on 2.5 km of trails that connect to the High School Nordic trails and to ski trails on Moore Open Space. Dogs are permitted here, making it one of the few dog-friendly places within the Nordic ski trail system.
Wildlfe
Wildlife use the Marolt Open Space for fawning, nesting, migratory stopovers, seasonal movements, resting cover, and foraging. This is valuable habitat for a wide variety of wildlife, notably songbirds, small mammals, meso-carnivores such as red fox, coyotes, skunks and other species, including elk. Owls and raptors are regular visitors to Marolt Open Space. Mule deer with fawns can be seen here annually. Notably, it provides critical access for wildlife to the rich riparian habitat along Castle Creek, including those mama deer and their fawns.
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone
They paved paradise, put up a parking lot
— Joni Mitchell
In the coming year, the future of this community asset will face some big questions.
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