Image: Illustration of possible signage
For many residents along Colorado’s Front Range, Rocky Flats is more than a wildlife refuge. It’s a place layered with memory, uncertainty and lived experience.
In recent weeks, new warning signs have started going up at the edges of the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge, alerting hikers, bikers and equestrians to the lingering presence of radioactive contamination and encouraging people to make informed decisions about visiting the area. The recent installation of warning signs has reopened long-standing conversations about what happened here, what remains, and what we, as neighbors and citizens, need to know.
Sections of the the signs say:
“Visiting Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge May Expose You to Radioactive Materials. The Rocky Flats Plant Leaked Plutonium and Hazardous Materials onto the land and into the water. Hikers, Bikers, and Equestrians are encouraged to make informed decisions before entering the refuge.”
U.S. Department of Energy
From 1951 to 1989, the Rocky Flats Plant played a central role in the nation’s nuclear weapons program, manufacturing plutonium components during the Cold War. Thousands of workers passed through its gates, often without full knowledge of the long-term risks they faced. At the same time, nearby communities were living downwind of a facility that handled some of the most hazardous materials ever produced. For decades, concerns about air releases, soil contamination, and community safety simmered beneath the surface.
The 1989 FBI and EPA raid exposed serious environmental violations that led to the plant’s closure. The closure prompted cleanup efforts by the Department of Energy (DOE) under the Rocky Flats Cleanup Agreement (RFCA). The fact that the DOE both caused and cleaned up the contamination is not lost among public concern.
Cleanup officially ended in the early 2000’s, and in 2007 more than 4,000 acres were transferred to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge. Government agencies involved in cleanup, oversight and long-term monitoring maintain that the areas open to the public meet safety standards and continue to be monitored.
Yet the question “Is Rocky Flats radiation safe now?” persists, stemming from decades of nuclear weapons production and ongoing concerns about contamination, especially among residents living in newly developed housing nearby. Particularly, questions about plutonium particles that remain in the soil and can be stirred up by wind or human activity. Many of these lingering chemicals with a half-life far longer than our normal lifetimes.
For Downwinders and former workers, these issues and questions are deeply personal. Many have experienced illnesses, losses, or lifelong health struggles that can be linked to the activities at Rocky Flats. To many, the new warning signs feel long overdue as recognition that this land has a nuclear past and deserves transparency.
Others in the community, including frequent refuge visitors, point to monitoring data and decades of regulatory review as reassurance that current risks are low. Understanding risk levels can be extremely complex, with different experts interpreting testing and cleanup standards in different ways. What we can conclude though, is that regardless of hazardous levels present today, it is true that this area was exposed to some of the most violent chemicals created and total annihilation of the remaining chemicals is still an ongoing process.
While the new signage is informative, their presence does not settle the decades-old debate. Instead, they remind visitors that the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge is not a typical wildlife park and never has been. They offer people the chance to make informed decisions, especially families with children, former workers, or anyone with health concerns. For the general public, this moment is an invitation to learn. For those directly affected (nuclear workers, their families, and Downwinders), it’s another chapter in a long-running effort to be seen, heard, and have their concerns taken seriously.
The Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge can be a place of natural beauty and a place of difficult history at the same time. As conversations continue and research evolves, one thing remains clear: Rocky Flats is not just a patch of open space, it’s a place where history, science, policy, and personal experience intersect. Whether you walk its trails with wonder, avoid the area with caution, or fall somewhere in between, knowing of its layered past makes any visit that much richer and more complex than it might first appear. The impact of Rocky Flats has touched lives in ways we’re still sorting through.
The Rocky Flats Plant is an approved facility for The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program or the EEOICPA White Card Program and has been designated as a Special Exposure Cohort (SEC) facility. This is a defined category of employees established under EEOICPA. The SEC is comprised of classes of employees who have at least one of the 22 SEC cancers and have worked for a specific period of time at one of the SEC facilities. Claims compensated under the SEC do not have to go through the dose reconstruction process, as is required for other cancer claims covered by EEOICPA.
As of April 2025, Rocky Flats Plant workers have received over $1.1 billion in EEOICPA settlements and medical bills paid.
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