The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Poised to receive $350,000 for Crested Butte-Carbondale Trail
The Board of Gunnison County Commissioners has agreed to support a revised version of the proposed Bear Ranch land exchange near Paonia. The new deal would forego access to a non-motorized trail parallel to the multiple-use Ragged Mountain Trail.
Once seen as a key component to achieving the Gunnison Trails Commission’s dreams of a Crested Butte-Carbondale bike trail, the parallel trail conflicts with the U.S. Forest Service travel management plan and drew opposition from recreation groups in Gunnison and Delta counties. Former Crested Butte Mayor Tom Glass, who represents billionaire Bill Koch through the Western Land Group, Inc., said he and Koch were no longer willing to push that trail forward.
“The thing that pushed me and Mr. Koch over the edge was when the Crested Butte Mountain Bike Association came out and said they don’t support the parallel trail,” said Glass.
“We’ve proposed an alternative that provides incredible new access. It’s an alternative that is the Kebler Pass trail, basically, that goes from the old Kebler Wagon road down to the Erickson Springs campground,” Glass continued.
The new trail does not conflict with the Forest Service’s travel management plan, and in exchange for supporting the deal, Gunnison County will receive two possible funding sources for trail planning and construction. Once the deal is sponsored and introduced to Congress as a bill it will receive $50,000 to pursue construction of a bridge across Anthracite Creek—a piece of the Crested Butte to Carbondale Trail that has plagued the Trails Commission for the last five years.
“We’ve been short of funding, short of approvals, and short of match money for grants. We’ve had quite a few shorts with that project,” said Assistant County Manager Marlene Crosby.
If the legislation passes, the county will receive an additional $300,000 for planning and construction of the 23-mile segment from Old Kebler Wagon road to Erickson Springs. The money would have to be spent in 10 years, but the county and the Trails Commission would have full discretion as to how it is spent to construct the new trail.
“The money is going to the county and not the Forest Service because our process is less onerous, less time-consuming, less expensive and it would give us the opportunity to have volunteer trail days,” Crosby said.
“Look what they did with the Lupine Trail, and they did that overnight,” said Commissioner Phil Chamberland. “I think $300,000 is generous. Cash leveraging [for grants] goes a long way, plain and simple, and it’s accomplishing one of the Trail Commission’s highest priorities.”
Crested Butte Parks and Recreation Director Jake Jones, who sits on the Trails Commission, said the group was unanimous in its support of the exchange. He thought the new deal benefits the public even more than the original proposal.
“There is an important distinction between the $50,000 and $300,000. The $50,000 is available on introduction of the bill, not passage. That is a generous good faith gesture, for our support, to begin working on the bridge,” Jones said.
The commissioners voted to support the deal, but will take a few days to work out the wording in their letter of support to congressional leaders. Commissioner Hap Channell wanted assurances that county support could be revisited if major components of the deal were removed once a bill reached Congress.
The remainder of the land exchange agreement remains intact. One additional change addresses concerns about fishing access to Snowshoe Creek near the Anthracites; a parcel of land on the Bureau of Land Management’s disposal list will be transferred to the Forest Service instead of Bear Ranch, which also manages surrounding parcels.
But Koch would still obtain 1,846 acres of BLM land in six parcels near his Bear Ranch property 20 miles west of Crested Butte over Kebler Pass. In exchange, the public will still receive property or rights of way on parcels of land near the Curecanti National Recreation Area, Dinosaur National Monument, Marble, Paonia and Erickson Springs.
