Another roadblock lies in front of federal protections for a historic wagon road connecting La Plata and San Juan counties.
A U.S. Forest Service official said last week an internal policy is expected to stall the listing of the Animas Canyon Toll Road on the National Register of Historic Places.
In a meeting with the La Plata County Historic Preservation Review Commission, U.S. Forest Service archaeologist Julie Coleman said agencies including the Forest Service and National Park Service are holding off on placing items in the Federal Register.
“Before the Keeper of the National Register can get it officially listed, a Federal Register notification must be put out,” she said.
The restriction is not an executive order, but rather an internal policy as federal agencies transition to the new administration, Coleman said. The National Park Service is responsible for placing historic nominations in the Federal Register.
The road’s nomination was finalized with the U.S. Forest Service district office last month, and it was submitted to the regional preservation officer, Molly Westby.
The document could linger with the Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places in Washington, D.C., while officials figure out whether to move forward.
Calls to Westby and officials with the National Register of Historic Places were not returned.
“Local government is being put upon by the new administration,” said Andrew Gulliford, a professor of history at Fort Lewis College who has pushed for years for the road’s protection. “This is an important issue. Elected officials need to understand the impact this is having on an extremely valuable historic resource.”
The road, which pre-dated the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, was the only throughway to bring goods from Animas City to Silverton from the mid-1870s to the early 1880s.
Portions of the road remain intact today, and the U.S. Forest Service has sought the highest level of protection for a 19-mile segment that runs through La Plata and San Juan counties. The most accessible portion is near the northern edge of Haviland Lake, by the Chris Park campground.
The push for county historic designation originated with a 2010 land swap between the Forest Service and Glacier Club, a private golf course just south of Haviland Lake. The Forest Service relinquished 228 acres south of the lake so Glacier Club could expand, and received 160 acres at the Hermosa Creek trailhead west of Purgatory in exchange.
La Plata County added the road to the La Plata County Historic Register in 2014. Since then, historians and other local advocates have pushed to expedite the national designation.
The Forest Service decided to forego state designation for national designation, so the road could have the highest level of protection.
Erika Warzel, national and state register historian for the Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, said last November that the Forest Service and state were still going back and forth, making sure the nomination met national register guidelines.
It is unclear when La Plata and San Juan counties will hear back about their nomination.
“It’s crazy that this historic issue is now a political one,” Gulliford said.
jpace@durangoherald.com
This story has been updated to clarify that the National Park Service, not the U.S. Forest Service, is responsible for placing historic nominations in the federal register. The historic nomination has cleared local and regional U.S. Forest Service offices, and it’s pending with the Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places.
