The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Effort to maintain a “primitive camping experience” where possible
By Katherine Nettles
Details are emerging on how designated camping will unfold for popular areas in and around Crested Butte, and the focus will be on curtailing impacts without detracting from the existing backcountry experience.
This fall, the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison (GMUG) National Forest will implement the camping management strategy in the Crested Butte area by shifting to a designated camping system in the following drainages: Kebler Pass, Lake Irwin, Splains Gulch, Slate River, Washington Gulch, Upper East River, Brush Creek and Cement Creek.
The Forest Service will designate approximately 100 campsites in the project area that are spread “throughout the landscape,” according to USFS recreation staff officer Aaron Drendel, but no new campsites will be created.
Western Colorado University’s Master of Environmental Management program has partnered with the Forest Service to implement this strategy. Drendel says a graduate student is evaluating the area’s existing dispersed campsites for designation suitability.
The move to designated camping will require people to stay only in pre-established sites in the affected drainages. These campsites will be primarily located in the hardened areas that already exist, and unsustainable sites and those established too close to water will be decommissioned, according to the Forest Service.
The project proposal states that campsites will be designated with a universal camping symbol and number on a wooden post. Metal fire rings will be installed at each campsite. Informational kiosks and signage will also be installed, and toilets will be considered near highly concentrated camping. It is not yet clear how many toilets might be installed, or where.
“The Forest Service is looking at areas of concentrated overnight use, or camping hot spots, to install toilets. Where sanitation problem areas exist and funding is available, the Agency will seek to install toilets to alleviate the human waste problem currently occurring around Crested Butte,” wrote Drendel by e-mail to the Crested Butte News.
The proposal suggests that further measures such as mandating wag bags or other portable toilet requirements will be considered in areas where toilets are not nearby.
“Parking is always a consideration when designating a dispersed campsite, and this is part of the designation process. Furthermore, fire rings will be installed to avoid impacts we have seen from camp fires, such as escaped fires, trash accumulation, fire scars, and gigantic, camper-constructed fire rings,” wrote Drendel.
Additional conveniences or facilities will be parsed out sparingly to encourage the spirit of the backcountry. “Other proposed amenities are minimal as this action is being done primarily to curtail impacts and provide a more primitive camping experience like what exists with the current dispersed camping situation,” Drendel wrote.
The Forest Service has cited the rising popularity of dispersed camping on National Forest System lands surrounding Crested Butte in recent years as the reason for this new approach. A marked increase in undesirable impacts, such as rising levels of E. coli in streams, creation of unauthorized routes, social conflicts due to crowding and issues involving trespassing on neighboring private lands “are all indications that a management change is needed,” wrote Forest Service public affairs officer Kimberlee Phillips in a press release on Monday.
The USFS’s project proposal also names escaped campfires, fire scars and rock fire rings, which it states “proliferate in these areas despite regular camp cleanups with volunteer groups, paid staff, and interns. Responding to unattended and escaped campfires is a regular occurrence.”
“The combination of significant year-over-year increases in visitation as well as new technology that allows campers to push deeper and persist longer in the backcountry has created a situation that under our current management strategy is not sustainable,” said Gunnison District ranger Matt McCombs. “Add in that there are currently different regulations in each of these drainages making education, enforcement and visitor compliance difficult, it’s time for a shift to a more direct management approach.”
McCombs continued, “Our goal is to maximize recreation opportunities while minimizing unwanted impacts, moving us to a sustainable path going forward.”
This strategy will mirror other public lands that require camping in designated sites, such as the BLM-managed Hartman Rocks.
The Sustainable Tourism and Outdoor Recreation Committee, which represents various entities within Gunnison County, has agreed to support the project, and to match funding with the Forest Service by using GOCO (Great Outdoors Colorado) money it was awarded to fund public land stewardships.
The Gunnison Ranger District is seeking informal feedback on this proposal at https://cara.ecosystem-management.org/Public//CommentInput?Project=56454. Questions can be directed to the Gunnison Ranger District at (970) 641-0471.
While the effort has already begun, full implementation of the project is planned to start in 2020 and continue through 2021.
The USFS has stated that the proposal will be implemented as an action that is categorically excluded from documentation in an Environmental Impact Statement or an Environmental Analysis, as prescribed in Chapter 36 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
