County contemplates STOR/human health conundrum

Immediate needs versus long-term implications

By Katherine Nettles

Gunnison County commissioners and the Sustainable Tourism and Outdoor Recreation (STOR) Committee are considering how to address federal worker layoffs and budget cuts to several areas, including the public lands which make up such a significant portion of the Gunnison Valley’s landscape and tourism draw. Budget cuts to several other areas of government could spread county funds thin if not managed carefully and commissioners are trying to decide how that might look in 2025 and beyond.

The issue came up in a STOR meeting last week but a funding decision could not be made at that meeting, and committee members scheduled an additional STOR meeting for further discussion this Thursday, April 3.

During the regular county commissioners meeting on April 1, commissioner chair Laura Puckett Daniels reviewed that at the STOR Committee meeting last week, which came on the heels of a MetRec meeting just prior (see page 1), the request to financially support federal partners and land managers this summer presented some tough decisions.

“It was a good conversation, but we didn’t have enough time to have a really robust conversation,” recapped Puckett Daniels. “So they are scheduling a follow-up call with the interested parties to talk about what the best approach is for supporting our public lands.” 

Puckett Daniels said one of the concerns that came up at STOR was about the long-term ramifications of putting local money into the US Forest Service responsibilities. “Does this become a long-term responsibility of the county, and we can’t sustain that either?” she asked. 

She said she personally felt concern that local spending on public lands might empower decisions that do not ultimately serve the county’s goals. “I think the long-term goal of the federal government right now is to divest itself of these public lands, and I don’t want to take any actions now that encourage that divestiture later. It’s really hard to know what are the actions that are going to take care of our public lands, support keeping our public lands public, and what are the actions that are going to support the federal government’s case for divestiture?”

The request is for multiple entities across the county to pool about $60,000 to hire a crew, likely to join the Crested Butte Conservation Corps (CBCC) trail and stewardship crew this summer. “I think there is a desire for STOR and/or the county to contribute to that,” she said. “I also think that there could be other mechanisms…I’m feeling torn because I want our public lands to be protected and cared for and I want the public to recognize the consequences of choices that are being made in Washington [DC].”

Commissioner Jonathan Houck was also at the STOR meeting last week and echoed Puckett Daniels’ summary of the conversation about choices. He said the issue touches more than just recreation in the valley, and federal funding is being cut on health and human services, grants to road and bridge funding and other areas. 

“This isn’t at all a conversation just about public lands and recreation,” he said, adding that other industries including agriculture depend on public lands being managed too. “There’s the immediate needs; there’s the long-term implications,” he said. “This is a very murky, hard to understand future.”

Houck noted that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Forest Service are also lacking range and timber personnel, those who know how to issue grazing permits or manage timber sales. “So now we’re talking about timber, range and rec not having the staff they need,” he said. “There’s this fine line that locally we want to protect the things that our economy is rooted in and are important to us, but at the same time jumping in and just taking care of all the issues creates the narrative that the federal government doesn’t need to be that big anyway and communities are the ones benefitting from this and they should be the ones taking care of it.”

Houck likened it to a long-term and a short-term game being played at the same time, with paths leading in different directions. He said there are still many other issues, like how bathrooms and campgrounds will be maintained, that need clarification. “There are a couple fact-finding missions that are happening while simultaneously, day in and day out, trying to figure out what the hell the federal government is doing.” 

Commissioner Liz Smith called it “a very discouraging conversation to have,” given the massive cuts to other areas as well. She said she wants to facilitate meeting this need while balancing the others, whether it is through nonprofits or fundraisers or other mechanisms. 

Puckett Daniels concurred that many other issues may need triage from county funding sources.

Houck summarized that he wants people to understand the county is “committed to working for all our constituents but that doesn’t mean we can address every request to the county that comes in.”