Local drainages getting crowded

Nordic community seeks segregation

The Crested Butte Nordic Council presented its new master plan to the Gunnison Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) on Tuesday, January 20. The plan includes an outline for winter and summer growth, including the idea to officially designate specific drainages for motorized and non-motorized use.

In 1995, a group called the Gang of 9 addressed winter travel management in the north end of the valley. Nothing official came of the action, but a gentlemen’s agreement was reached and unofficial designations for drainages in the plan area were as follows:
—Kebler Pass would emphasize snowmobiling and cross-country skiing would be discouraged.
—The Slate River Valley would emphasize general non-commercial use.
—Washington Gulch would emphasize cross-country skiing, with snowmobiles and dog sleds discouraged.
—The Middle and East Brush Creek drainages would see no motorized use at all.
—Cement Creek and Farris Creek would have no restrictions.
—Motorized use in West Brush and Deer Creek would be restricted to roads only.
In recent years, that gentlemen’s agreement has undergone a sort of informal withdrawal.
Keith Bauer, director of Crested Butte Nordic, said, “The last decade we’ve really focused on building our product and making the trails the best they can be. In our master plan we’ve identified grooming up Slate and grooming up Washington Gulch. This will obviously be totally contingent upon the community’s decision.”
Last spring the Nordic Center surveyed 1,099 members of Crested Butte’s greater Nordic community and 86 percent of respondents (from a 22.6 percent response rate) said they would like to see “a more balanced allocation of non-motorized/motorized use on our public lands.” The majority of respondents said if any drainage were to be groomed, they would like it to be the Slate River Valley.
With more snowmobiles being used for backcountry access nowadays, Bauer says “We’ve basically moved the trailheads…We’re loving the place to death, but I guess that’s what we do best.”
Commissioner Jonathan Houck agreed that motorized use has grown dramatically. “Even places that used to be off the beaten path 20 years ago just aren’t anymore,” he said. “We’ve seen increases in all user groups. Nordic skiers, backcountry skiers, people using their snowmobiles for access…”
Bauer called the issue “obviously supercharged.” He knows most people in the valley are concerned about the outdoors and how they recreate. “I think this issue is every bit as big as Snodgrass,” he said. “It’s going to define what we look like going forward. Not only in the north end of the valley, but everywhere else, too.”
Local Forest Service officials will address the issue some time this year and have already allocated staff to put toward it. Bauer added, “At the end of the month there should be a ruling coming from D.C. to all the district rangers saying, ‘Here’s the scoop for winter travel. This is what we’d like you to do.’”
Bauer told the BOCC he has no idea if there will be an official timeframe. “It’s at a national level, so there are so many things to consider,” he said. The designation is to be re-discussed at a county and community level and, according to Bauer, “It would be a re-visitation of the Gang of 9 in some capacity.”