Twin Lakes Open Space
Twin Lakes is peaceful neighborhood park that lies within the developed
areas of Gunbarrel. This 42-acre park contains two manmade lakes,
irrigation ditches and surrounding wetlands that have evolved into
valued habitat and travel corridors for wildlife. Great blue herons,
red-winged blackbirds, Northern Harriers, Red-tailed hawks, coyotes,
fox, and other birds and mammals frequent the area. Neighbors walk, jog,
view wildlife, and enjoy the lakes’ scenic values. Dogs have off-leash access
to the West Lake, and the trails are multi-use.
History
Twin Lakes Open Space was purchased in January 2002. The reservoirs
are used by the Boulder & Left Hand Irrigation Company (B&LHIC) to store
and transport agriculture water.
Twin Lakes Open Space is located within the developed area of Gunbarrel.
A majority of the residences are in the unincorporated county while the
commercial and industrial uses have been annexed into the City of
Boulder.
The Boulder & Left Hand Irrigation Company has been operating the
reservoirs since 1910. In 1957 IBM purchased nearly 500 acres of
agricultural property north of the Gunbarrel area. Residential and
commercial development began in response to the development of the IBM
plant in 1965.
 In 2002 Boulder County and B&LHIC reached an agreement in which the
county would purchase fee interest in the land and the recreation rights
on the reservoirs while B&LHIC would retain the right to use the
reservoirs to store water. Twin Lakes Open Space is a unique property
requiring special consideration for management because of its ecological
characteristics, patterns of previous use and proximity to urban
development.
Twin Lakes
offers 3.1 miles of scenic trails surrounding the lake areas.
Fishing is permitted,
and dogs are allowed off-leash access to the West Lake.
Twin Lakes can be
accessed by taking Jay Road to
63rd in Gunbarrel. Go north on 63rd and turn right onto Nautilus Drive,
where there is an industrial park
entrance, and follow around to Nautilus Court.
Twin Lakes Kiosk Map: Because all of our open space properties are
environmentally sensitive, it is important for users to know the
rules and regulations pertaining to our open space. Once the map is
displayed, you can use the adobe toolbar to fit the map to your window,
pan, zoom in or out, search or print the map on your own printer. The
size of the original map and screen reduction are shown on the lower
left hand status bar.
The map is a 665 KB file and will require Adobe Acrobat
Reader, which is available free from Adobe. The map may not appear properly
in your web browser. For best results, save the map file to a directory on
your computer by right-clicking on the map link and choosing "Save Target as" in Internet
explorer or "Save Link as" in Netscape. Open using Adobe Reader.
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