Some recreation facilities that people are used to in the San Juan National Forest could be going away.
Forest representatives outlined potential recreation facility closures or other changes to the La Plata County Commissioners on Dec. 8.
Columbine District Ranger Matt Janowiak cited budget cuts being passed down from the regional Forest Service office. They have budget allocation criteria based on things like user trail miles and number of ski areas, he said. "This is new. These criteria haven't been applied before. They said we'd be looking at a 36-percent reduction. We said we can't handle that in one year. They said three years."
He continued, "It's based on our lack of ski areas and visitor numbers compared to other regions," especially near Denver.
County Commissioner Brad Blake asked, "Are hunters considered visitors? Isn't this the most heavily hunted forest in the nation?"
Hunters count as visitors, Janowiak said, "but compared to being next to Denver, the day hikers would exceed all the hunters in this area."
SJNF representative Brian White noted that the San Juan National Forest goes from Wolf Creek Pass to the Utah border. With that large area, "The money doesn't go far," he said. "We have 127 developed recreation sites, 43 developed campgrounds, 1,800 miles of trails, part or all of four Wilderness areas."
SJNF has back country and wilderness type recreation, and the focus is on facilities that support those uses, White said.
They are reviewing the 127 recreation sites for sustainability, social, environmental, and economic impacts, he said. Operating costs have seen 18 percent inflation over the past decade, while the SJNF budget has gone down 50 percent.
"Maintenance costs go up with aging infrastructure," White continued. "When we first got word that our budget was going down, we convened a working group and cut seven from (recreation) staff to hire the people to clean the toilets. We've done the belt tightening, everything we can. Now we're to the things the public sees."
White listed some proposed changes:
. The Old Timers day use area and boat launch at Vallecito would be de-commissioned. It generated only $70 in user fees, White said.
. The Sig Creek Campground on the Hermosa Road above Purgatory would be completely de-commissioned. "We would see about a replacement camping area," White said. The Lower Hermosa Trail is proposed to go to a concession with a fee charged. There would be some improvements there, and squatters would be eliminated.
. User fees were proposed for Little Molas Campground and trailhead, but those were reconsidered, White said. "With a concession (to collect the fees), we'd only get a share of those to maintain the site," he said. But there are two toilets fairly close together. One would be eliminated.
. The Molas Pass overlook has thousands of visitors, White said. "We are pursuing a partnership with the counties to keep that open... We'd save 65 percent of the cost of that if we were relieved of (toilet) pumping costs."
. There are six or seven toilets fairly close together near the top of Coalbank Pass, and some of those could go away.
. Seven recreation sites in La Plata Canyon are a problem, White said. "Is it legitimate recreation or a place for people to live? Do we reduce season of use? We have a closure order that allows camping only in developed sites."
. At Lemon reservoir, only one toilet is maintained by SJNF. The others are maintained by concessions in campgrounds, he said.
. Staffers are looking at eliminating toilets and fire rings at a recreation site on Old Lime Creek Road, he said, but parking and fishing access would remain. The South Mineral Creek dispersed camping area has flood hazards, White said. "We want to delineate the 100 year flood plain, maybe reduce toilets there. We are told not to encourage use in floodplain areas."
. Asked about Henderson Lake at the far end of the Missionary Ridge road, White said those old toilets would be removed but the parking would stay.
Blake commented that the financial savings listed with the various changes seemed to total around $30,000. "It seems to me that if you had one less employee, all these could stay open. It boils down to a health issue for the counties. Everything from San Juan County washes down here. Coalbank is always full of people in the summer. That and Molas. That would really concern me. I could see the amount of toilet paper being left" behind bushes.
Blake continued, "I've looked at the homeless areas" on SJNF land. "Those are definitely something we need to look at in La Plata County, areas that have been over-run."
Before the SJNF presentation, county resident Kitty Benzar questioned the validity of the funding cuts cited by the SJNF representatives. She cited a Durango Herald article that said to "expect reduced services because the (Forest Service) budget has declined 50 percent in the last 10 years. Something fishy is going on."
She passed out an article from a Wyoming newspaper about their county commissioners opposing what they saw as disproportionate funding cuts to the local Bighorn National Forest versus the larger Forest Service region. Benzar asked for similar action from the La Plata County Commissioners, and the commissioners in the other SJNF counties.
"In La Plata County, there are a couple things that I think are nuts," she said. "They are talking about removing the toilet at the Junction Creek Trailhead, the premiere trail in Colorado." It will impact a residential area as well as the large number of trail users, she said.
Benzar is a long-time critic of fees for use of public facilities on federal land, especially if the fees mainly go to a private contractor to collect the fees rather than for facility maintenance and improvements.
Brian White agreed with Benzar that SJNF is one of the first two national forests, along with Bighorn, to have these cuts. The draft facility plan is a 60-page working document, with a seven to eight-page draft summary to come out in January. There will be a 30-day comment period after that is released, with a final plan scheduled for release in March. That will be followed by national environmental policy analysis that will lead to a Record of Decision "hopefully before next summer," White said.
A group of volunteers have maintained the toilet at the Junction Creek trailhead, but they are getting fairly old, White said. "We are talking to Trails 2000 for future toilet cleaning." Farther up Junction Creek Road, the Animas Overlook toilet also is maintained by volunteers, he said.
Blake objected, "It seems like there are a lot more closures than things remaining open."
White responded, "Of the 127, 50 have no changes. Some have a shorter season, cleaning once a week instead of twice. ... What's better? A filthy toilet? Or one that's not there?"
