Butterfly Woods

Butterfly Woods Natural Area is located in the northwest corner of Fort Collins, along the Poudre River. From 1938 to 1984, the area belonged to James and Margaret Hyde, who ran the Hyde Vegetable Farm here. I spoke to a woman running her dog off-leash in the flat farm field beside the river, who claims she has been visiting the Natural Area frequently for 20 years and has never once spotted a butterfly in the area. But the area is said to be home to the rare smokey-eyed brown butterfly and the two spotted skipper. As for woods, there are cottonwoods nearby, along the river. But these are inaccessible, as visitors are allowed only on the Poudre River Bike Trail that skirts the Natural Area on the south so as to protect the habitat of the rare butterflies. The river can be accessed, briefly, near the Overland Trail parking lot and before the bridge, as you make your way into the Natural Area.