The Columbine Ranger District of the San Juan National Forest thanks local volunteers from the Backcountry Hunters and Anglers for their help in installing travel management signs Aug. 17.
Backcountry Hunters and Anglers’ mission is to ensure North America’s outdoor heritage of hunting and fishing in a natural setting, through education and work on behalf of wild public lands and waters.
The group installed about 40 road number signs in the Hermosa Park vicinity, showing which roads to dispersed campsites are legal to drive on. The need for the signs is because of new rules that were adopted when the Hermosa Creek Watershed Management Plan was approved in 2018, after the watershed was designated by Congress as part Special Management Area and part wilderness.
Unlike across much of the rest of the forest, driving motorized or mechanized vehicles off-road for camping is no longer allowed along the Hermosa Park Road (No. 578). This is for the protection of the natural resources for which the Special Management Area was made. By designating most of the campsite spurs as official roads, most traditional campsites can still be used.
The Forest Service would like to remind the public that this and other new rules now apply in the Hermosa Watershed, and these rules are beginning to be implemented.
For more information about the Hermosa Management Plan including Travel Management rules (Appendix C), and Allowed Uses, visit www.fs.usda.gov/sanjuan or call 884-2512.
