Budget and personnel cuts to the U.S. Forest Service have individuals and organizations worried about the fate of public lands in Southwest Colorado.
Now, the Southwest Colorado Conservation & Outdoor Recreation Roundtable is calling for community support.
Hikers, cyclists and outdoor enthusiasts answered SCCORR’s call at a volunteer fair Saturday at the Durango Nordic Center near Purgatory Resort.
Representatives for the San Juan Mountains Association, the Winter Wildlands Alliance, Great Old Broads for Wilderness and other groups met with prospective volunteers to discuss stewardship of public lands and volunteer opportunities.
SJMA Executive Director Stephanie Weber said the nine organizations with booths at the volunteer fair are partners to federal land management entities, and considering federal funding and staff cuts, it’s important for more people and partnering organizations to be responsible stewards of public lands.
“Having people engage and step up to help care for the public lands we all love to play on is key,” she said. “(Organizations are) trying to raise awareness of everything that has been going on, so that if people feel compelled to help, they have a place to go.”
Several Forest Service partners are working to generate funding in the absence of federal funds, and it appears likely some funding will be generated for summer operations, she said. SJMA, for example, will foot the bill for portable restrooms at South Fork Mineral Creek near Silverton this summer.
“Not having that is too dire to comprehend when we’re thinking about water quality, trash, all of that,” she said.
Maintaining park restrooms sounds simple enough. But Meyers said budget estimates being reviewed by SJMA place the bill for maintaining restrooms each summer within the Columbine Ranger District, for example, at $100,000.
She said some people are of the mind that parks and other public lands amenities should close if they don’t have the funding or staff to properly maintain them, and let people see for themselves what impacts would unfold.
“Unfortunately, we care too much about the quality of our public lands, the quality of public health, the quality of our (water),” she said. “We’ve got to try to do what we can to maintain these services, at least at a basic level.”
Durango resident Mimi Gillatt, who attended the volunteer fair on Saturday, said she was considering trail ambassadorship and performing water analysis.
She said she was moved to action because she sees the need for it.
Budget and personnel cuts to the U.S. Forest Service are “disheartening” and “penny wise, pound foolish,” she said. They are also an ineffective way to make the federal government’s spending more efficient.
She said her greatest fear about losing proper trail maintenance and stewardship of public lands is people will become stuck in the cities, which is mentally detrimental; the more outdoor programs and services available to young people to help them better appreciate the wilderness, the kinder people will become.
Winter Wildlands Alliance Colorado Policy Coordinator Brittany Leffel said WWA provides policy expertise, mobilizes communities and performs educational outreach about protecting winter recreational access by reducing human conflicts with wildlife.
She said the biggest component in managing public lands access in the Durango area is trail ambassadorship, engaging with visitors and tourists, and educating them about proper trail etiquette.
Laurie Parkinson with Great Old Broads for Wilderness said the Forest Service was understaffed before federal cuts and firings began. Now it’s severely understaffed.
Great Old Broads for Wilderness member and SCCORR Advisory Committee member Chara Ragland said events like the volunteer fair are important for discussions about living around, recreating on and preserving public lands for future generations.
“You want to be able to go and have the kind of experiences I’ve been able to have the last 30 to 40 years, about being able to see bighorn sheep, and being able to get into river and not have it be contaminated,” she said.
cburney@durangoherald.com
