The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
OHV use on county road in Marble to expire May 3
[ By Katherine Nettles ]
After months (and in fact years) of various stakeholder meetings and public outcry among concerned nearby residents, a meeting will take place in Marble on Thursday, April 28 for leaders to share ideas they have formulated so far to alleviate issues associated with increases in recreation-based visitation on the Lead King Loop outside the town of Marble. In advance of that meeting, Gunnison County commissioners met briefly with Forest Service (USFS) officials during their work session on April 26 to discuss their upcoming decision on whether or not to extend OHV/ATV use on County Road 3 that accesses the Lead King Loop past its current deadline of May 3. Commissioners indicated they are likely to extend it as stakeholders work toward consensus on a clear long-term and short-term plan.
After multiple sessions of workshopping ideas, the Lead Kind Loop stakeholder group, using a mediator from Western Colorado University, has identified “a range of priority actions that could be taken in the short- and long-term to mitigate impacts to the town of Marble, visitor experiences, and the ecosystem,” according to the mediator, Colorado Center for Public Lands representative Tobias Nickel.
These ideas will be shared with the community to garner feedback at a public listening session at the fire station in Marble on April 28 at 6:30 p.m.
A separate, virtual listening session will be held through Zoom on Tuesday, May 3 at 4:30 p.m. Anyone interested in participating in that session should email centerforpubliclands@western.edu
Following the public listening session, the stakeholder group plans to convene in early May to select and revise their ideas based on public input received and issue recommendations to the Forest Service, Gunnison County, and the towns of Marble and Crystal.
