Valley comes together to tackle use of backcountry

“We’re trying to catch up with the curve.”

By Adam Broderick and Mark Reaman

Admitting that increasing summer numbers in the local backcountry are causing concerns and issues for many users, particularly up the Gothic Valley drainage, a group of federal and local officials met Tuesday afternoon, August 25 in Gothic and agreed to tackle the problem.

A seven-person subcommittee will meet this fall to address the problems outlined Tuesday that included traffic, safety, parking, waste (human and otherwise), preservation of Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL) research sites, trespassing and camping issues.

The new RMBL community center was filled with officials and members of the public for the three-hour discussion hosted by the Board of County Commissioners and led by Gunnison County community development director Russ Forrest. Roughly 100 people attended the work session.

Despite some serious consideration of closing Gothic Road above Mt. Crested Butte to at least northbound traffic, that idea was nixed in favor of some potential smaller measures. “We get huge pushback if we restrict access to public lands for any reason,” Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forest supervisor Scott Armentrout explained. “And putting something in like there is at the Maroon Bells would not be quick. The process would be challenging.”

At the Maroon Bells, private vehicles cannot access the trailhead between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. A $6 bus ticket gets visitors to Mirror Lake and back to Aspen Highlands. Before 8 a.m. and after 5 p.m., access to the lake costs $10 per car. The Forest Service regulates camping in the area.

In the coming months, the GMUG Forest Service office will prioritize a dispersed camping plan that was slated to be completed in the next year. Gunnison District ranger John Murphy said that would entail adjusting the motor vehicle use map for the Gunnison National Forest but there was a good chance signage and regulations could be in place to designate some specific camping areas in the Gothic Corridor for next summer.

“We could begin sign installation as early as next summer if we are implementing the 2010 travel management Record of Decision,” he explained.

“If we decide to do something different due to changed conditions, there could be a NEPA requirement that could delay implementation.”

According to Murphy, a lack of affordable housing in the area is also increasing use of the forest. He said this has always been an issue, but is an increasing problem.

Armentrout seconded that notion. “We do have people trying to live on the forest up here. I’ve been told that housing isn’t the easiest situation down in Crested Butte, so we find people occupying the forest, and when someone stays in the same site for more than 14 days we get damage that is much tougher to repair,” he said.

There is currently one USFS law enforcement officer covering one million acres of National Forest land in the region. Given declining budgets, Armentrout said he wouldn’t expect to see that number increase any time soon. But he said it could be possible to have an increased Forest Service presence in the area with field educator rangers. “They wouldn’t be law enforcement personnel, but it would help,” he said.

Armentrout explained that the Forest Service deals with enforcement issues of all kinds, everything from drug use to building structures on the forest to stealing firewood. And as RMBL executive director Ian Billick put it, “If you increase the number of people coming here, a certain percentage of them will make poor decisions.”

In terms of county law enforcement, Gunnison County sheriff Rick Besecker said he would mull over the idea of deputizing some people to perhaps enforce county regulations and write tickets for things like parking. “I am a little hesitant with that,” he said. “It could put a person at risk but I will consider the concept. I will survey other sheriffs in the state and see what they have done. It is a possibility.”

Besecker admitted that the Sheriff’s Office has been experiencing an increase in calls for all types of service. “It’s to the point where we’re reacting instead of being proactive,” he said. “We’re trying to catch up with the curve.”

County commissioner Jonathan Houck said increased enforcement could go a long way to alleviate congestion. “If you designate specific parking spots and make it clear that vehicles not in those spots will get a ticket, it won’t take long for the word to get out,” he said.

Besecker also encouraged property owners like RMBL and ranchers to file a report every time there is a trespassing intrusion. “We can then develop statistics and it helps put us in a position to evaluate those issues.”

Billick said he has attempted to file reports for speeding and trespassing but it seems the local law enforcement agencies are too swamped in the summer to even take his reports. Besecker said he should continue to try.

Local rancher Curtis Allen gave examples of problems he’s had with trespassers and other negative influences on his business, problems he said have been incrementally racking up pressure on his ranching business over the years, but that this year, “It felt like a flood. We’ve got issues on private land, where people are just wandering around, and we’ve got people poaching trails that were cow trails to start with. And they’re taking pictures from these scenic places then posting them on Facebook, and that’s an instant draw. People instantly want to visit there.”

Allen says he has witnessed many of the same problems RMBL has, but also in places like Washington Gulch and the Slate River Valley. “Dispersed camping, parking in front of corrals, and it’s getting stronger every year. That makes it difficult for us to operate our business. Then there’s damage to the forest, erosion, all these things that are off the main trail. That’s kind of the private land part of it, then we move on to [public lands]. We have to work around everyone else that’s there. When we have to move cattle somewhere, we’re often impacted by how much traffic is on the trail. It impacts us by pushing the cattle off trail, where we’re not supposed to be anyway. The only way we can deal with these types of issues is to try to work around the clock, at the time of day when nobody’s there,” Allen said.

Billick said RMBL could do some things on its own to help the situation. They would increase signage and fencing to clarify where people may and may not go.

Houck said while it would be a long shot to accomplish, eventually getting a single track for bikers that parallels Gothic Road from Mt. Crested Butte to Schofield Pass could help encourage biking instead of driving to trails like 401.

Bill Quiggle, assistant transit manager at Mountain Express, thinks that all the traffic on Gothic Road makes riding the road dangerous, dirty, and almost impossible. “The amount of cars on the road is actually forcing more people to drive,” he said.

The subcommittee will get together in September and report back to the county commissioners and the rest of the working group sometime in January with suggestions. The work group will be led by Gunnison County public works director Marlene Crosby and include Michael Kratz of CBMR, Aaron Huckstep of the town of Crested Butte, John Murphy of the USFS, Ian Billick of RMBL, Chris Larsen from Mountain Express and Gunnison County sheriff Rick Besecker.