The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Management will affect all of Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness
by Crystal Kotowski
The wilderness character of the Maroon Bells–Snowmass Wilderness is being negatively impacted by unprecedented levels of overnight visitation and associated impacts—including trailhead parking breaching capacity, abandoned tents, illegal campsites and campfires, pervasive trash and unburied piles of human waste.
The White River National Forest is seeking public comment on a recently released draft environmental assessment for the Maroon Bells–Snowmass Wilderness Overnight Visitor Use Management Plan that includes implementing a permit system and camping fees.
“I think in general the EA has been well received,” said public information officer Kate Jermans at a public meeting at the Gunnison Community Center on April 6. “People recognize, particularly in this area, the value of wilderness and what it’s supposed to be… It doesn’t sound like there is a substantive need for a total revamp, but just some clarifications of the EA.”
While chronic budget cuts and limited staff affect the Forest Service’s proposed management actions, according to Kay Hopkins, recreation planner for the White River National Forest, options such as a limited-use camping permit system, an online reservation system, length of stay limits, an overnight limited use camping permit fee, restrictions of camping to designated sites, dog prohibitions, and requirements for packing out human waste are still feasible.
With three decades of data documenting both the impacts and the carrying capacity of the area, and upon applying the forest plan’s management action guidelines, the Forest Service believes the need for management is clear.
“We have a really good baseline after all these years of campsite inventories,” said Hopkins, noting that an inventory must be completed every five years to assess the allocations of sites appropriate for each zone. “Our wilderness rangers are supposed to be out there helping the public, providing directions, helping them with Leave No Trace principles and setting up bear canisters, but what’s really happening is they’re becoming janitors. They’re becoming backcountry janitors.”
The analysis revealed that five zones within the proposed plan are currently exceeding their overnight capacity: Capitol Lake, Crater Lake, Conundrum Hot Springs, Maroon Lake and Snowmass Lake.
From 2007 to 2015, overnight visitors on the 10 most popular trails increased 115 percent; within certain locations—including Conundrum Hot Springs, Crater Lake and the Four Pass Loop—use has increased up to 285 percent in nearly the same time frame.
In 2016, 323 illegal campfires were reported in the Maroon Bells–Snowmass Wilderness, 273 incidences of unburied human waste were reported, and 438 pounds of trash were packed out.
The incidents could still be higher, as the Aspen Sopris Ranger District’s wilderness field crew consists of only two paid rangers and four volunteer interns. Forest Service representatives confirmed, “Ten forest protection officers would be ideal.”
With continued budget cuts looming and the maintenance challenges of high-altitude vault or composting toilets, the Forest Service representatives consider wag bags—and wag bag dispensers with donation boxes at trailheads—the most logical solution to human waste.
“What we’re doing right now is going across the forest and removing bathrooms because we can’t afford to pump them or sustain them… We’re getting rid of a lot of the infrastructure that the government can’t afford anymore,” said Hopkins. “We don’t have the money or the staff to be trash collectors. We keep trying to instill the stewardship ethic—that these aren’t our lands, they’re your lands.”
“Crested Butte could be the community all about wag bags,” added Karen Schrover, Aspen Sopris district ranger, noting the community could get more involved in local education efforts surrounding the use of wag bags, better marketing them to tourists and locals alike.
If the EA is approved, Conundrum will be the first area regulated by a permitting system in 2018. The other zones will follow a year or two after, as the Forest Service wants to thoroughly assess compliance and camping displacement. It will be the first permitting system in the Aspen Sopris Ranger District.
The Forest Service will employ a few new strategies this summer to mitigate human impacts before the permitting system can be implemented. Education regarding bear canisters will continue; the Aspen Sopris Ranger District has seen bear canister compliance increase greatly after emergency orders were issued three years ago.
In 2015, 62 percent of overnight visitors complied with the bear canister regulations and in 2016 compliance reached 83 percent. Additional signage at trailheads this summer will give folks a heads-up on future management actions, such as bringing wag bags.
The Forest Service hopes to have a draft decision at the end of May or beginning of June. If there are no objections, the final decision will be signed 45 days later. The reservation system for permits will ideally be open by January.
Written comments must be submitted via mail, fax, electronically, or in person by April 28 to: Scott Fitzwilliams, c/o Erin Carey, Project Leader, 620 Main Street, Carbondale, CO 81623. Fax: (970) 404-3163. Electronic comments including attachments can be submitted. Find the EA and other project documents on the Forest Service website.
