As a nature photographer and an avid mountain biker, I was struck recently week by John Fielder’s timely message that protecting our local public lands is vital to our way of life and economy here in southwestern Colorado.
We’ve got world-class riding just outside of Durango, and some of our most classic trails – including the Hermosa Creek Trail, the Colorado Trail and the Corral Trail – are made all the better because of their backcountry setting. Each of those trails would be permanently protected by the Hermosa Creek Watershed Protection Act as originally drafted by our community. As Fielder said during his presentation, we need to remember that the attractive value of our backyard – the money our community makes by maintaining our trails and mountains – far outweighs the extractive value we’d get from letting our backyard be privately developed.
Unfortunately, the recent changes to the Hermosa Creek bill open up the option for future development in the Hermosa area and would make it nearly impossible to improve or reroute existing mountain bike or hiking trails in the case of wash-out or erosion.
As a community member, I thank Sen. Michael Bennet and Rep. Scott Tipton for their help in bringing our proposal for protecting our attractive assets to D.C. At the same time, however, I echo the many voices we’ve heard in recent weeks by asking that Tipton reinstate the original language to our homegrown Hermosa Creek bill and do everything in his power to pass this vital piece of legislation before the new year.
Nathan Jesse
Durango
