![Photo: Ben Nielsen Surfing The South Platte](https://wp-cpr.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2019/06/ben_nielsen_surfing_the_platte_2-1.jpg)
You would be forgiven for thinking that Colorado and surfing don't really go together. Except they do on the South Platte River, in a symbol of the river's improving health.
![Photo: Ben Nielsen And His Surfboard Beside The South Platte](https://www.cpr.org/cdn-cgi/image/width=3840,quality=75,format=auto/https://wp-cpr.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2019/06/ben_nielsen_surfing_the_platte_3-2.jpg)
A $15 million project is going on right now along a one-mile stretch of the river near Denver to enhance flood control, wildlife, and recreation -- including hangin' 10. We visited River Run Park in Sheridan, which isn't even a year old, to meet its designer Ben Nielsen, who also happens to be a skilled river surfer.