A long-awaited master plan for a long-debated park in Colorado Springs' southwest mountains has gained initial approval. That's against continued pushback.
Ahead of considerations by Palmer Land Conservancy and El Paso County commissioners, the county's parks board has unanimously approved a master plan for Jones Park. That's the nearly 1,200 acres in the Bear Creek watershed popularly reached by hikers, mountain bikers, motorcyclists and equestrians from North Cheyenne Canon Park.
The 97-page document calls for the land-managing county to improve forest health, reroute a small spur trail off Seven Bridges Trail, continue to monitor "rogue" trail proliferation and continue pricey, time-consuming maintenance of a network that includes the trail known as Captain Jacks, beloved by mountain bikers and motorcyclists.
For years, stewardship has focused on Bear Creek's greenback cutthroat trout — a genetically pure strain listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The species was at the center of a lawsuit against the U.S. Forest Service alleging damage to the habitat from erosive trails.
That prompted the agency to close several trails and reroute others, including Captain Jacks, following an action plan hatched in 2016. Around that time, El Paso County accepted Jones Park's transfer from Colorado Springs Utilities.
The county ever since has worked toward a master plan — years that have underscored lingering legal scrutiny and lingering tension between conservation and recreation, and between federal oversight and local control.
“I realize the federal government dictates a lot of stuff, but it’s still county property,” said Robert Rickgauer, who has long ridden bikes and horses in Jones Park.
It’s “really one of the most beautiful places in our region,” said Cory Sutela, representing mountain bikers with Medicine Wheel Trail Advocates.
He, too, feared the plan would block more trails to enjoy that place.
Nearly 6 miles of new trail — nearly doubling Jones Park's current network — were blueprinted by a county contractor in 2019. They are mapped in the appendix of the plan approved by the county parks board and labeled as "aspirational trails."
The trails "ARE NOT APPROVED and WILL NOT be constructed or considered as part of the Jones Park Master Plan," the appendix emphasizes.
Said to be crafted by a county attorney, the appendix lays out steps to be taken for any trails to be built. That includes authorization under previous documents by the Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Palmer Land Conservancy's conservation easement that came with the land's transfer to the county.
The appendix adds the Endangered Species Act "may require" new federal reviews, and the Forest Service "may require" an environmental assessment.
At the parks board meeting, Mark Miquelon pointed out county surveys that yielded new trails as a top desire among taxpayers. He pointed also to one of those most desired, blueprinted trails running outside the watershed, out of harm's way of the fish. Miquelon's fellow trail-riding advocates have called it "Captain Jacks Part 2."
"We feel the appendix unnecessarily goes out of its way to shut that down," said Miquelon, president of Colorado Motorcycle Trail Riders Association.
El Paso County's parks director, Todd Marts, tried to assure recreation enthusiasts: "I'm sorry if it feels we're throwing (trails) out. We're not."
While critics see loaded language and onerous federal requirements, Marts pointed to the "may require" language.
The master plan "will be in place, but there's a lot of factors that could change in the near future, and for sure in the distant future," Marts told the parks board.
Regardless of factors, Sutela said his understanding — having been involved since the start of what he calls "the most complicated advocacy issue I've ever been involved in" — is that Palmer Land Conservancy has the final say in trail development.
"Definitely the easement allows for it, assuming our partners at the federal agencies feel that it meets the requirements," Steve Harris, the conservancy's land stewardship director, previously told The Gazette. "And right now, my clear understanding is they do not feel any of that meets any requirements."
A Forest Service representative did not reply to a request for comment in time for this article. Having overseen trail closures and reroutes going back to 2017, that representative over the years has expressed concern over "rogue" trail building that could cause erosion and sediment buildup in the fish's home.
Advocates like Sutela, meanwhile, have suggested "good, well thought-out and well-built trails are actually a conservation tool," he said. "If we can give people good places to go ... they're not going to be tempted to go off trail and build their own trails."
After years of draft plans getting turned down for including trails and excluding trails, Marts said he hoped the proposed plan was a "compromise."
Not everyone would be happy, said Thomas Lachocki, the parks board chairman. He spoke for the fish, "the one group that isn't here speaking," he said.
"But my hope is in the future those trails get built, because we learn the fish is doing OK," he said.
Most Popular
Comments / 0