The Adams County Regional Park has evolved a lot since it was purchased in 1960. It has gone from 180 to 1,150 acres and the evolution continues.

Kurt Carlson, park manager, highlighted two future projects that will add to the park’s attraction for users — the addition of about 300 acres, which will include three new fishing lakes and extending the South Platte River Trail.

“(The 300 acres) has been part of the Regional Park for some time. It used to be farmland, but was mined for gravel since the mid-1980s and will now be reclaimed as three interconnected (lakes),” Carlson said. “Once the area is fully reclaimed, the (lakes) will be filled by a third party.”

Of the 300 acres, one lake will have 45 surface acres, a second 59 and the third 56, according to Carlson.

“Therefore the expansion will increase our water surface acreage by 160 acres with the three new lakes,” he said.

The park already has two fishing lakes that total nearly 95 surface acres and are regularly stocked by the Colorado Division of Parks and Wildlife.

Carlson said the project will take time as there is a lot of work needed to be done related to reclamation and water rights.

Another project on the horizon is the expansion of the 9-mile South Platte Trail, which runs alongside the eastern edge of Regional Park. The trail is part of the Colorado Front Range Trail, which will eventually create an 876-mile trail from Wyoming to New Mexico.

According to the Colorado Parks and Wildlife website, http://parks.state.co.us, more than 270 miles of the trail have been finished, which represents one-third of the corridor.

“There are currently two missing links of the South Platte River Trail in Adams County— a section of trail needs to be constructed on the northern end from Brighton Road/E-470 to Brighton and from 120th to 104th avenues (just south of the Regional Park),” Carlson said. “The trail is complete from 140th to Chatfield Reservoir. Once the two missing links are completed, a trail user could potentially start in Brighton and take the trail southwest until you reach Chatfield Reservoir in Littleton and beyond.”