May 2002
News from Steamboat Springs
The winter season is rapidly winding down, the snow is melting, along with the snowmobile tracks on Walton Peak and the simmering remains of burnt "No Snowmobile" signs on Buffalo Pass. In case you haven't heard, every weekend this season, someone on a snowmobile tracked up Walton Peak (which is on the non-motorized suggested use area), one of the only places at Rabbit Ears Pass where a steep descent can be enjoyed by skiers in a non-motorized setting. Also, several of the "No Snowmobile" signs on Rabbit Ears Pass were burned in late March.
Due to ever increasing numbers of snowmobile users and the Forest Service's reluctance to give our non-motorized areas an official seal of "designated" use status, instead of the "suggested use" label, the non-compliance issue with snowmobiles has been prevalent.
The local snowmobile club sent out letters and news releases to as many snowmobilers as they could reach to ask for compliance and respect for the boundaries which are suggested at present. We really appreciate their efforts.
The Routt Winter Task Force (an advisory group made up of motorized and non-motorized users that discusses winter issues on the Routt National Forest to the Forest Service) met monthly this winter. Unfortunately, the general feeling is that the non-motorized users were being stalled in efforts to accomplish anything this past season.
After ending last winter with the creation of a new small non-motorized "suggested use" area on Buffalo Pass, the Task Force began discussing the area surrounding the boundaries of the ski area. Local backcountry skiers have used this area, which is officially outside the ski area boundary, for 20 or more years. In the past 5 years snowmobilers have increasingly used this area, and there have been multiple sightings of snowmachines entering the ski area after hours. Friends of the Routt Backcountry are trying to look at all these areas with some foresight in mind.
The easy, natural access to these pristine areas in which to ski is present here. An on site field trip of the Task Force was organized and some natural boundaries were viewed. Despite numerous meetings and this trip, the Task Force could not reach agreement on this area. The snowmobilers have made it clear that they will not have one more boundary line drawn, the Forest Service has not stepped in to draw any lines, and skiers feel as though we have only begun the work of looking at non-motorized areas in Routt County. Thus the feeling of being stalled in our efforts this past winter persists.
This year, the Friends of the Routt Backcountry has been motivated to organize into four new committees dealing with legal aspects, research, mapping and communication. We have established contacts with our state senators and the national group, the Winter Wildlands Alliance.
The frustration with non-compliance has forced the Friends of the Routt Backcountry to seek "enforceable" boundaries to these areas. The group is moving in a direction to obtain a Forest Supervisor's order to this effect. We have also made it clear that we are eager to begin looking at North Routt and those areas, which need to be preserved for non-motorized users. Comments on backcountry experiences good or bad can be e-mailed to friendsofroutt@mindspring.com . All will be forwarded to the Forest Service.
At this writing (late April) the Forest Service is seeking public comment concerning the Buffalo Pass area. The snowcat operators, Blue Sky West, want to put in a snow cat road directly above our non-motorized area. This will likely bring in a significant snowmobile traffic as any road, and we are opposed to this alternative. Blue Sky West has listened to our concerns and has offered to pay for signage to direct snowmobile traffic and to help control the traffic problems; however, we continue to maintain the position that this new road will only encourage more non-compliance into the non-motorized area. Snowmobilers agree with this assessment.
A better alternative might be to look at the entire Soda Mountain area as non-motorized with allowable motorized access only to the permittee Blue Sky West. Though the comment period is over, please write a letter. Any comments can also be e-mailed to friendsofroutt @mindspring.com and they will be forwarded to the FS office.