Denver Public Schools will not allow their students to visit the former Rocky Flats site, which will finally open to the public as a national wildlife refuge this summer.

In a unanimous vote made in April, the Denver Public Schools board has joined six other state school districts in banning school field trips to the formerly radioactive Rocky Flats site in Denver's northwest suburbs. Previously a nuclear weapons manufacturing plant from 1952 to 1992, the 5,237-acre space is now a designated national wildlife refuge, which is slated to open to the public this summer. [caption id="attachment_36532" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Courtesy of Colorado.gov[/caption] The concern of activists has been that, during its operation, the Rocky Flats plant experienced toxic plutonium leaks. And even though the site has undergone an extensive 10-year cleanup project with no abnormal plutonium levels or contamination detected, they worry that school visits to the site could expose students to harmful radiation. Not so, says Carl Spreng, the Rocky Flats program manager with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. “The districts are making their decisions in the absence of full information,” Spreng told the Denver Post, adding that the radiation levels are roughly the same as background levels found elsewhere in Colorado and that "a year’s worth of Rocky Flats radiation would add less than an additional millirem" to the 650 millirems of radiation that Coloradans are exposed to every year, via mammograms, CT scans, and other sources.

Other school districts with similar directives regarding Rocky Flats include Boulder Valley School District, St. Vrain Valley School District, Adams 12 Five Star, Adams 14, Westminster Public Schools, and Jefferson County Public Schools. A group of activists at the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center are behind the bans, making it their mission to appear at district school board meetings across the state to appeal their case during the public comment section of each meeting. They argue that Colorado's nature and wildlife scene is robust enough for students to explore, without exposing them to potential harm at Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge. [caption id="attachment_36531" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Courtesy of Wikipedia Commons[/caption] According to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the wildlife refuge, which is located between Arvada and Superior, is home to 239 wildlife species, "including prairie falcons, deer, elk, coyotes, songbirds, and the federally threatened Preble's meadow jumping mouse." What do you think of the ban? Do you trust that the area has been properly cleaned up? Would you let your kids go on a field trip to the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge? Please leave a comment below!

Curious about the full history of Rocky Flats? We lay it all out for you right here!