This is a wildlife preserve right in the Denver city limits and is Denver’s best birdwatching spot. There are over 230 species that have been identified at Bluff Lake, the largest number in Denver. The site is at the end of an abandoned airplane runway. When Stapleton Airport was operating here, the FAA required that an extension to the runway be built that was then blocked off for normal use. If a plane was unable to stop this part of the runway was available. This area and the surrounding lake and trees were then relatively unused, which created the conditions for wildlife habitat. The area has since been preserved while the rest of Stapleton was turned over to developers for housing. It represents a triumph of nature in an urban environment. My thought is to go in and start photographing as much as possible, and tell more of the story of this preserve, how it came to be, how it is maintained in the face of urban sprawl, and what life is like for the species that live there.