The Hermosa Creek Watershed Protection Act, passed in December with bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress, established three levels of protection for nearly 108,000 acres north of Durango extending into San Juan County. The measure resulted from exhaustive input gathered over many years from stakeholders across a wide spectrum of interests.
It was this painstaking process that drew the support of Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez, and Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Denver, to push hard for the bill to pass in a Congress not particularly keen to act on legislation of any kind. Now, the San Juan National Forest must get down to the business of implementing the legislation by crafting a management plan for Hermosa Creek.
The agency has three years to complete the task, and it is likely to take that long to craft a plan that reflects the many uses and values that prompted the effort to protect the Hermosa Creek Watershed. Fishing, hunting, horseback riding, mountain biking, hiking, trails construction and maintenance, wildlife habitat, logging and water management all are key considerations in shaping the management prescriptions, and public input will be as critical for that process as it was for crafting the plan’s enabling legislation.
To that end, the San Juan National Forest will begin its scoping process for the management plan with a March 3 open house to outline the planning effort. This will involve a public education component, informing those in attendance about just what the plan will address in terms of summer and winter recreation management, as well as how roadless areas, minerals, vegetation and water will be handled in considering the management protocol.
From there, the agency will assemble a draft plan crafted from public input as well as its own directives and those laid out in the Hermosa Creek legislation. This will be a lengthy process and on one in which participation will weigh heavily. The U.S. Forest Service, as dictated by the National Environmental Policy Act, will convene a series of input-gathering meetings as it drafts its management plan. Those concerned about exactly how the Hermosa Creek Watershed Protection Act will affect the area’s future should weigh in throughout the progression from scoping to draft planning to the final adoption of the plan.
Public processes only are as good as the involvement they draw. If the Hermosa Creek Watershed’s history is any lesson, that participation likely is to be significant in the planning process. As with any such process, the agency only can respond to the input it receives, so early and frequent involvement will ensure that public voices are heard throughout the process and are therefore reflected in the final management plan.
Shepherding the Hermosa Creek Watershed Protection Act to enactment involved dedication and perseverance from advocates, decision-makers and land managers. It was far from an easy task and one that involved significant endurance. The management plan, by comparison, is likely to be relatively straightforward, but that is not to say it will lack challenges and complications. Its ultimate outcome will depend largely on public participation. Attend the meeting from 5 to 7 p.m. March 3 at the San Juan Public Lands Center; the work that led to protecting Hermosa Creek warrants the continued effort.
