Construction continues at Sweitzer Lake State Park near Delta, this time crews are busy near the entrance and north side of the park.
"We're replacing the 60 year old concrete spillway that was built when the dam was originally built. A few years ago, they found that concrete was rotting from the inside out due to the high alkalinity of the water. So they came in and took out the old concrete and dug a 23 foot deep hole that they're now putting in a new spillway, a new modern type spillway," said Scott Rist, Park Manager with Colorado Parks and Wildlife
The project started in October and is supposed to be finished up in April of 2025. Rist says the park remains open during this phase of the construction.
"You can still walk mostly around the lake. We have that area fenced off just for safety and stuff. The old bridge that was across the spillway is gone, and when they finish up the spillway, there will be a new bridge put on for pedestrian traffic so you can continue to walk all the way around the lake," Rist said.
Near the entrance, visitors will see a new low ropes course .
The project is in collaboration with The Nature Connection and funded with grant money. According to a press release, The Nature Connection contracted with Experiential Systems, Inc. to build the course. Funding for the project came from the El Pomar Foundation in partnership with the Delta County School District and Sweitzer Lake State Park.
While the low ropes course will primarily support programs ran by The Nature Connection, Rist says it is open to the public.
"The Nature Connection got a grant that paid for the building of the low ropes course. We built it for bringing kids out to the park," Rist said. " We're going to focus on seventh and ninth graders. Some of the obstacles are up. Some of the low, low hazard ones that, you know, if you fall, you're just falling under the ground are open. It's all open to the public."
Rist said that the area is much like a regular play ground.
" It is, you know, use at your own risk. If you do get hurt, it's kind of on you. We we do minimize hazards as best we can. But, you know, if you were to fall off of it, it it's your responsibility."
Over the summer construction took place on the southside of the park.
" Yeah, we're super excited. So it took a little longer than we expected to get the the project done. We put in an acre and a half of grass with concrete sidewalks around it, seven new shade shelters, and parking," Rist said.
Construction on the south side included entry points for stand up paddleboards to be able to walk to the edge of the water and launch their paddleboard and take right off from the shoreline that includes six inches of sand for people to lay out in and kids to play on, noted Rist.
"It's open now to the public. You know, come Spring, we figure it's going to be a pretty popular area for next Summer as the park expands, you know, it's just another spot for users to use," said Rist.
As for how all the fancy new amenities are being paid for, Rist reminds visitors that the Colorado Parks and Wildlife is a self-funded agency.
"You know, our daily operating costs come from all revenues coming in through our gates passes. We sell camping, but big projects like the south side is funded with Colorado GOCO lottery money so Greater Outdoors Colorado which gives Colorado Parks and Wildlife about $25 million a year to do these projects and future projects."
He said that the GOCO money is meant for large capital projects. In addition to the GOCO funds, a new funding source is the Keep Colorado Wild Pass that's attached to your vehicle registration for $29, which gets you into every state park in the state.
" A dedicated portion of that money is also now going to fix up state parks, catch up on our large capital maintenance projects, and to expand the three new state parks across the state that are in the works," said the park manager.
And Rist said, there's additional money coming on board.
"We have about $8 million coming on line July 1st of 2025. With that, we move into the construction phase of expanding the park. The first part will be all the underground utilities and it's going to be about five, $6 million of that money. So it's we call it the non glamorous stuff, the stuff underground that nobody sees. But it's it's it's really the heart of the park that needs to be built to make the rest of the park function.
Rist said he hopes to that by the Fall of 2025 to actually start to see ground construction happening at the park. One big question for park lovers, 'will there be any park closures during that time?'
"We think there'll be very minimal because the great thing is, is that it's all on that property that's not currently used part of the park," said Rist, adding. " There will be a little bit we're looking at bringing in a water line from the East. So if we do that, there might be a point where the south side of the lake might be inaccessible because they'll come straight down the road with the water line. But if we do it in November, December, it shouldn't interrupt at least the summer use of the park."
