The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Silent Tracks and Share the Slate disagree over “need” for new plan
by Mark Reaman
There was some obvious tension in the Crested Butte Town Council chambers Tuesday evening as representatives of Silent Tracks, which advocates human-powered winter recreation, and the multiple use/snowmobiling community expressed opinions to the council about the “need” for a new winter travel management plan in the Gunnison National Forest.
In the end, the two sides appeared to agree that collecting unbiased data on backcountry use is a good thing and better trailhead management would be helpful in the winter. The Town Council is taking a wait-and-see attitude on the issue.
Silent Tracks board members Bill Oliver and Cathy Frank gave a PowerPoint presentation to the council, starting with the history of the current rules for drainages around Crested Butte, formulated from what is known as “the Gang of Nine” meetings that were held in the early 1990s. But Frank pointed out that not only have the numbers of people using the local backcountry grown; the types of access to the backcountry have expanded. Snowmobiles are more powerful, methods such as fat bikes and motorized snowbikes are now used and better gear allows more people to feel safe in the backcountry. Plus, a federal court stated all National Forests must implement winter travel management plans that include over-snow vehicles (OSV).
“The increased numbers and types of users lead to increased conflicts between motorized and non-motorized users,” Frank said. “Since 1995 there have been no significant changes to the Gang of Nine plan. It is 21 years old and doesn’t address the entire Gunnison National Forest. There is more competition from more people for the same wild places. We are at a tipping point again.
“The Gang of Nine was successful because of collaboration with all the stakeholders,” Frank continued, pointing out that Silent Tracks has not taken a position on what uses are appropriate in any backcountry location.
Oliver said he and the group were working with Western State Colorado University’s Master in Environmental Management (MEM) program to begin surveying backcountry users to collect fresh data on who is utilizing the local drainages and how often they are getting used. He said students interviewed Forest Service personnel and they expressed their primary areas of concern: present trailhead conditions; analysis of crucial wildlife habitat; and trail management.
“It is better to start early to address the backcountry tensions,” Oliver said. “We recognize any solution will take a bit of time and a lot of collaboration. There is, however, no reliable data on how the backcountry is being used. We are asking the council to take a stand to move forward with a process for developing a new winter travel management plan.”
Oliver said Silent Tracks wants to be the stakeholder representing human-powered users in the Gunnison Valley as part of any winter recreation travel planning process.
Resident Mike Arbaney asked the council to allow public comment after the Silent Tracks presentation. He said he Nordic skis but gets into the backcountry in a number of other ways as well and wanted to make sure he “had the ability to do all these different things” in the local backcountry.
While almost everyone in the room agreed that collecting new data addressing backcountry use could be valuable, the prevailing opinion from people in the audience representing the group Share the Slate or the snowmobiling community was that the current rules were working pretty well and there should be no rush to change the rules.
Local business owner Brian Schneider of the Brick Oven Pizzeria said winter was a hard time to make a living and he welcomed anyone looking to get out in the backcountry. “Diversity is huge. The Slate River is huge. We shouldn’t limit the options of people looking to recreate out in the local backcountry,” he said.
Brittany Konsella of Share the Slate agreed that gathering data is needed. “But the travel management plan is not up for renewal for five years. We believe the process doesn’t need to be rushed,” she said. “Winter is not at all like the summer situation. Dealing with summer usage is more important than the winter right now. The current management plan is working.”
Crested Butte resident John Wirsing says he has seen access to the backcountry eroded in his 19 years here. “New plans for travel management usually screws one group over,” he said. “The summer plan took 20 trails away from dirt bikers. They’re still riding, but now they are on fewer trails. Concentration is not a good answer. There are plenty of places to go if you are looking for silence. I encourage collaboration but urge the council to be cautious in taking a stand one way or the other. You represent a lot of people with a lot of different views.”
“Silent Tracks is not proposing anything. We just want to start the process,” said board member Maureen Hall. “We are asking the council to write a letter to the Forest Service asking them to start the process. We are not trying to get rid of snowmobiles. There is a lot of misinformation out there.”
“What’s your mission statement?” resident Scott Yost asked rhetorically.
Franks expressed frustration for Nordic skiers who could get only few miles from a trailhead—not far enough away to avoid snowmobiles. She said snowmobiles, on the other hand, could travel farther into the backcountry to find some solitude.
“Access is a special thing in town,” said resident Thomas Hein. “It’s why a lot of us stayed here. I’m for multiple use. We need to all get along. We need better education, perhaps. But there is only one user group asking for a new management plan right now. The only tension I see is from those who don’t want snowmobiles out there. As for trailheads, that’s a county issue, not a Forest Service issue. There are a lot of multi-users living here. Go slow with any council decision.”
James Utt has been in the guided snowmobile business for 30 years and is a board member of local snowmobile club Sno Trackers. He was part of the Gang of Nine. “If we do this again I feel we’ll come up with a lot of the same conclusions,” he said. “I don’t think one group should try to shut down public lands to other user groups. We are in favor of collecting data but we feel the Gang of Nine is still working pretty well.”
“I commend Silent Tracks for saying they want collaboration, but they do have an agenda, as their name suggests,” said Briant Wiles of Gunnison.
“We understand that biased data does no good,” said Frank. “We’re not the villains.”
“There is lots of terrain out there for everyone,” pointed out Mark Bennett. “The Gang of Nine plan is working. It seems convenient for Nordic users to gain the Slate River but they have a lot of places—Brush Creek, Cement Creek, Gothic—that they can access that we can’t easily.”
“Things were different when the Gang of Nine happened,” said councilman Jim Schmidt. “The Forest Service had more people and more money. They don’t seem willing to jump into this right now. We had to encourage them to address this 20 years ago. And I’m also disappointed in the Gunnison County commissioner representing this end of the county who also doesn’t seem to want to address this as an active participant. Like James Utt, I agree many of the same conclusions will probably be reached but there are more people and more uses out there now and I hope the town will encourage the Forest Service to conduct a new process.”
Mayor Glenn Michel concluded that most people want a slow, cautious process, understand the need for new data, and see a need for better trailhead management. He wanted to hear from more constituents before taking any sort of stand on the issue. So he and the council want to hear from you. If they do, they will hold another meeting to discuss the issue further.
