Walk the High Line Canal Trail past the Marjorie Perry Nature Preserve on any weekend morning and you will find the same scene that has drawn Greenwood Village residents there for decades: herons working the shallows, cottonwoods old enough to have shaded three generations of dog walkers, and a pair of ponds that look as permanent as the trail itself. Cyclists slow down here. Birders stop entirely.
None of it was ever guaranteed. For most of the twentieth century, the water right attached to this land never included permission to store water in ponds at all. The wetlands residents treat as a fixed feature of their trail system have spent the better part of a century running on a legal gap that only got closed in 2023, and the plumbing to actually fix it is being installed right now.
A Preservationist Bought the Land, Not the Water
The preserve traces back to 1936, when Marjorie Perry, a Colorado preservationist, purchased the 59 acres of wetlands and former farmland that now bear her name. Her original barn still stands on the property. The City of Greenwood Village acquired the land in 1990, and it comes with two conservation easements obligating the city to maintain the property's scenic views, passive recreation use, and natural habitat indefinitely.
What the deed transfer did not fix was the water. The property's original water decree dates to 1930, and that decree never included a storage right for the ponds themselves. In practical terms, the city owned land with ponds on it but lacked the specific legal authority to keep water sitting in them. It is the kind of gap that can go unnoticed for generations, right up until someone has to defend the arrangement or fund a fix for it.
The Fix Is Being Installed This Summer
In 2023, the city purchased the water rights needed to secure the ponds long term and to support irrigation for new trees along the canal corridor. That purchase set off a multi-year construction sequence that is still underway. A well was drilled on the property at the start of 2025, and the current phase involves building a well house, roughly 15 by 17 feet with 8-foot walls, along with a water distribution system that will finally deliver water to the ponds through a legitimate, permanent source rather than an aging decree that never covered them.
As of this summer, the first phase of the irrigation distribution line is being installed along the canal corridor around the preserve, according to the High Line Canal Conservancy's active project tracker. A second phase could begin as early as this fall. If you have noticed work crews or staging equipment along the Orchard Road stretch in recent weeks, that is what you are looking at.
The city has said it expects the trail to stay open through most of this work, with only brief closures needed when equipment has to cross the path. That is worth knowing if Segment 12 is part of your regular loop, since it means rerouting should be the exception rather than the rule this season.
The scenery didn't get more legal until 2023. The plumbing to make it permanent is going in now.
The Trees Tell the Same Story
The ponds are not the only thing this project is fixing. Many of the cottonwoods providing canopy along this stretch are more than 100 years old, and mature trees at that age need real maintenance to survive Colorado's dry stretches. In 2021, the city approved a five-year plan to plant 250 new trees along the canal at a cost of $360,000, specifically to reinforce that aging canopy before it thins out.
Until the new well and distribution system are fully operational, the city has had to bring in a water truck to keep those new plantings alive, a stopgap that costs more and covers less ground than a fixed irrigation line. The same well project securing the ponds is also what finally lets the tree program work the way it was designed to.
What Actually Runs Where
If you use the canal for a run, a ride, or a slow evening walk with the dog, the three segments through and around Greenwood Village don't all behave the same way. Here's how they break down:
| Segment | Route | Surface | Distance | Worth Knowing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Segment 11, Greenwood Village Amble | S. Franklin St. to the Orchard Road Trailhead (4011 E. Orchard Rd.) | Crushed gravel | 4.6 miles | Horse pastures and bridle paths line the route; there's no parking at the Franklin Street start, so plan to park at the Orchard Road end, where restrooms are also available |
| Segment 12, Nature Preserve Amble | Orchard Road Trailhead to E. Belleview Ave. | Crushed gravel | Wraps almost entirely around Marjorie Perry Nature Preserve | Best stretch for wide-open Front Range views and wildlife watching, including the ponds discussed above |
| Segment 13, Cherry Hills Village | E. Belleview Ave. north to Three Pond Park | Crusher-fine gravel | 2.9 miles | Parking at both ends, 4200 E. Belleview Ave. and S. Colorado Blvd.; restrooms only at the Three Pond Park end, so carry water if you're headed south |
None of these segments are paved in the way a lot of Front Range urban trails are. That surface choice is deliberate. It keeps the corridor feeling closer to a working canal than a city bike path, which matters once you understand who else is using it.
Why the Right of Way Feels Different Here
Greenwood Village maintains a dedicated equestrian network layered directly onto the canal corridor, something you won't find on most Denver-area trails. Rollin D. Barnard Equestrian Park sits at 1001 East Orchard Road and Alexander Lane Equestrian Park at 2501 East Alexander Lane. Horses cross the canal at several marked points, including the Colorado Boulevard Equestrian Trail accessible from the Orchard Road trailhead, a crossing east of Monaco Street at Crestline Avenue, a horseback-only crossing at Steele Street, and one specifically routed through the Marjorie Perry Nature Preserve itself where it crosses Greenwood Gulch.
That infrastructure is why cyclists yield to pedestrians here and why equestrians get the right of way over both. It is also why the preserve's second conservation easement matters practically, not just legally. Keeping this stretch as passive recreation and natural habitat is what makes it possible for a horse, a stroller, and a road bike to share the same quarter mile without anyone having to negotiate.
What This Actually Tells You
The Marjorie Perry ponds are not going anywhere. The preserve's easements make sure of that. But the water that fills them, the canopy that shades them, and the trail surface that carries you past them are the product of specific, ongoing decisions, not a fixed backdrop that takes care of itself. This summer's construction is the closest this stretch of the canal has come in nearly a century to having its water supply actually match what residents assumed it already had.
The next time you round the bend at Orchard Road and the ponds come into view, you'll know the version of the story most people walking past you don't: that the scenery is only now catching up to a legal fix nearly ninety years in the making.
If you're a longtime Greenwood Village resident who has watched this corridor change over the years, or you're weighing what a home near the canal is actually worth given the city's ongoing investment in it, Rule Properties knows this neighborhood block by block. Connect with Ben & Erin for a tailored market valuation grounded in the details that actually shape life here.