Graffiti-scarred Rainbow Falls under new management

The family that has owned Rainbow Falls west of Manitou Springs for decades has agreed to donate the land to El Paso County, which represents the first major step toward restoring the trash-strewn, graffiti-covered landscape to its natural grandeur.

“It made sense to let the county run with it,” said Brian Murphy, an attorney who represents  the Mansfield Development Company, which is controlled by members of the Ducharme family.

The company was unable to keep trespassers out of the area because of various easements granted to public entities like the Colorado Department of Transportation, Murphy said.  Threatened with code enforcement action, it decided to donate the seven-acre parcel, which includes a 25-foot waterfall, to the county.

On Tuesday, the El Paso County Board of Commissioners  unanimously agreed to move ahead with the deal but made no promises about funding any improvements.

L’Aura Montgomery Rutt, who spearheads a group of volunteers called MECA, or Manitou Environmental Citizen Action, was nevertheless ecstatic. “It means that all the hard work that’s gone on behind the scenes is finally going to come to fruition. Now we will be able to take action to restore Rainbow Falls to its former splendor,” she said in a later interview.

Bordered by Manitou Avenue on the south and Highway 24 on the north, Rainbow Falls was a destination spot at the turn of the century for fashionable men and women who were vacationing in nearby hotels in Manitou Springs. In recent years, it has become the destination spot for drug users, homeless people and graffiti vandals who spray-painted obscenities across the boulders and a nearby bridge.

Beginning in 2005 and 2006, volunteers began hauling out soggy sleeping bags, empty paint cans and hypodermic needles. They also began badgering local officials to do something and found a sympathetic listener in Commissioner Sallie Clark, who called the degradation of the once-beautiful area a “shame.”

Preliminary plans call for the construction of  trailhead parking, picnic and viewing areas, and trails connecting to the regional network of trails. El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa said he’s exploring the possibility of erecting a live camera in the area to deter would-be graffiti taggers. He also said may use inmates to remove the obscenities from the boulders and the bridge.

Tim Wolken, director of the county’s Public Services Department, said the graffiti vandals won’t disappear overnight. “Just because the county’s taking it over won’t mean it’s going to stop immediately.”

—

Call the writer at 476-4825.