By Meghann Burke
These last couple years, it seems people are out recreating earlier and staying out later in the season. We all hope this winter was a hoax, but overall, this may represent a new trend and new challenges to public land management. Despite increased numbers of early recreators things seem to be gearing up at a reasonable pace. A couple of late spring mountain snow storms and the price of gas may be slowing down some visitors’ travel plans. Last weekend at the popular Ice Lake Trail, San Juan Mountains Association’s (SJMA) seasonal Forest Ambassadors clocked visitation numbers in the 40’s. Our Alpine Loop Ambassadors stated that visitation on the loop was at about 30% compared to prior seasons. But with the Fourth of July looming, and temperatures on the rise, we fully expect visitation to steadily rise in both the front and backcountry, once again putting the pressure on natural resources and land management agencies.
As visitation to the National Forests and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) destinations starts earlier, our partners need support in the field earlier than in previous seasons. Crews will need to start clearing trails before people naturally make their own trails around downed trees. Ambassadors will need to be out talking to recreationists about conditions they may encounter at higher elevations and about early-season fire restrictions that may be in effect.
This season, SJMA is fortunate to have 16 seasonal stewardship employees through grants, agreements, and our supporters. Our team includes seven “pass-through” employees who are working directly with our Forest Service partners. But SJMA’s Forest Ambassador crew is smaller than prior years due to reduced funding. Our average crew of seven-nine ambassadors has shrunk to a mighty five, spread across San Juan National Forest (SJNF) and the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre, Gunnison (GMUG) National Forests. We worked with BLM to bring back two Alpine Loop Ambassadors since they have reduced agency staff and thanks to a combination of federal support and state grants, we have a four-person crew working in the Weminuche Wilderness for a full season, logging out trails and monitoring conditions.
In addition to SJMA’s paid seasonal staff, we have a wonderful group of volunteers dedicated to the stewardship of our surrounding public lands. Through this group of people, we know that people want to help and do good. Interested? Start small. Start local. There is a place for everyone on our public lands and opportunities of all interest and skill levels to volunteer and make a difference.
Meghann Burke is SJMA’s Stewardship director and lives in Mancos with her five rescue dogs and menagerie of chickens.
