By Aubrey Balcom

The Alpine Loop, a rugged byway winding through Colorado’s San Juan Mountains, is renowned for its stunning vistas, rugged terrain, and remote beauty. But behind its breathtaking landscapes is a region rich with history and fragile ecosystems that require careful stewardship. As an Alpine Loop Ambassador for the San Juan Mountains Association (SJMA) based in Silverton, Colorado, I learned that while these lands attract adventure-seekers, they also require a deep commitment to their protection.

Dating back to the 1870s, the Alpine Loop has long been shaped by Colorado’s mining boom. Today, remnants of this mining legacy—ghost towns, abandoned mine shafts, and machinery—serve as physical reminders of the area’s past. However, these historical features also bring modern challenges. The lingering effects of mining activities, such as erosion, contamination, and habitat disruption, make conservation efforts all the more critical. While history is important, balancing these legacies with ecological health requires careful management.

Beyond its historical significance, the Alpine Loop is home to some of Colorado’s most rare and delicate ecosystems, such as high-altitude wetland fens. These wetlands, often found at elevations above 10,000 feet, are incredibly rare but crucial to the region’s ecological health. Acting as natural water filters, fens trap pollutants and regulate water flow, which helps maintain the integrity of the surrounding environment. They also support unique plant and animal species that rely on their delicate balance. Protecting these ecosystems from disturbances is critical, as even small impacts can have significant consequences.

In addition to these rare ecosystems, the Alpine Loop hosts a variety of iconic wildlife. Beaver, for example, play a key role in shaping the landscape through their dam-building activities, which provide vital habitat for other species. Moose, once nearly extirpated in Colorado, have made a strong comeback in the area and are often spotted grazing in the meadows. Other wildlife includes yellow-bellied marmots, pikas that dart among the rocks, and a wide range of bird species that thrive in these high-alpine environments.

While monitoring these ecosystems, I was also fortunate to witness an extremely rare sight—a badger meandering over to its den at nearly 12,000 feet. This unexpected encounter reminded me just how resilient and interconnected these ecosystems are. The Alpine Loop’s wildlife, from the smallest pika to the rare badger, all depend on healthy, undisturbed habitats.

As an ambassador, my role was to educate visitors about their impact on this unique wilderness. Whether stationed at trailheads or driving the rugged Alpine Loop roads, I spoke with hikers, OHV riders, and campers about minimizing their impact on the land. Staying on designated trails, respecting wildlife habitats, and practicing Leave-No-Trace principles were essential to ensuring that these rare ecosystems remained intact for future generations.

In addition to education, I also monitored the health of the Alpine Loop by tracking visitor numbers, noting trail wear, and observing changes in the wetlands and tundra. By documenting these conditions and reporting them to BLM officials, I contributed to conservation efforts aimed at preserving the loop’s beauty and ecological integrity for future generations.

The stewardship of the Alpine Loop is a collective responsibility. From its mining history to its rare ecosystems and diverse wildlife, protecting this land is essential to preserving its beauty and ecological health. Through education, awareness, and responsible recreation, we can ensure that the Alpine Loop remains a wild, pristine wilderness for years to come.

Aubrey Balcom served as the Alpine Loop Ambassador for the San Juan Mountains Association, she is an environmental educator and Master of Environmental Management student at Western Colorado University, with a passion for wildlife photography and mountain exploration. You can find some of her photography work on Instagram: @aubrey_outside

by David Taft

Carl Sagan once mused, “who are we, if not measured by our impact on others”, and as members of a thriving community and a dynamic ecosystem, we all have impacts on our surroundings and society. In the context of public lands, which are so essential to our economy and sense of place, these impacts can vary wildly from restorative to devastating. Ultimately, we all must strive to understand the negative impacts so that we can design effective solutions to maximize positive impacts.

Recent years have taught us profound lessons about what can happen when the balance starts to tip towards negative impacts. We saw this through the unexpected public lands boom of 2020, the desperate need for educational outreach throughout heavy-use areas, the Ice Fire, and the ways in which all of these impact the watershed, forests, trails and surrounding communities. Fortunately, the lessons learned from recent years have guided new and innovative approaches towards land management, invigorated partnerships, and spurred community members towards a level of engagement commensurate with challenges at hand.

This year at the San Juan Mountains Association (SJMA), we will be working closely with land management agencies and community partners to amplify the positive impact we have on public lands. As with the past two years, our Wilderness Stewardship Crew will be working throughout the Weminuche, Hermosa Creek, and Lizard Head Wildernesses. They’ll be educating visitors about best practices, clearing trails such as the Needle Creek trail, and performing monitoring to ensure future management is well-informed. You will also see our Forest Ambassadors throughout the San Juan, and, new for this year, the Uncompahgre National Forests. They’ll be promoting Leave No Trace principles, maintaining trails, and collecting user data to help us understand on-the-ground conditions. Our Alpine Loop Ambassador will also be patrolling the high passes, improving outreach capacity on these spectacular roads and offering help to the quarter-million visitors who tour this world-renowned amenity. Last year, SJMA ambassadors racked up tens of thousands of educational contacts, and they’ll be working hard this year to top last year’s accomplishments.

Our staff are only one piece of the puzzle towards maximizing positive impact in the San Juans. We’ve been a volunteer-driven organization since our inception, and this year will be no different. We have a raft of new (or returning) opportunities to give back, including getting out as a volunteer trail ambassador, spending a few days doing public outreach, learning how to clear downed trees with a crosscut saw. The tens of thousands of volunteer hours contributed each year to our public lands make all the difference, and we are here to ensure that community members have everything they need to give back in whatever way they can.

As we transition into our busiest season of the year, we encourage everyone to sign up for a volunteer day, give one of our seasonal staff words of support, and most importantly enjoy their time in the San Juans in a respectful and low-impact way. With another busy fire season to our south already, it will likely be a popular year to the San Juans, and we all need to do our part to protect the places we love. Visit sjma.org for more information on how to give back.

By David Taft

In his wildly popular 1968 book Desert Solitaire, Ed Abbey claimed that “we need wilderness whether or not we ever set foot in it. We need a refuge even though we may never need to go there.” Whether one seeks to explore the deepest depths of our greatest wildernesses, shoots a photo of the solemn peaks from the highway shoulder, or relies upon the water and clean air provided by their lush forests and lofty mountainous heights, we all benefit from the existence of healthy open spaces. More so than ever, in the midst of a devastating pandemic and in the aftermath of a catastrophic wildfire season, we can see how our wild places provide enormous value to our economies as well as the physical and emotional wellbeing of our society. 

We have a particularly clear view of the value received from our mountain forests in regard to water storage and purification as we watch the recovery in the Cameron Peak Fire zone. This fall, the downstream towns which rely on the Poudre River for water are spending $300,000 each day dropping mulch from helicopters in an attempt to prevent debris slides, allow for greater water uptake into the soil, and to keep sediment from polluting the water system. According to engineers this is a relatively small price to pay compared to the damage caused by debris flows into rivers and reservoirs, and the associated purification costs incurred to amend that situation. Considering that not only our small community, but eventually 20 million people in the Colorado River Basin rely on water from our local wildernesses, it’s easy to imagine just how integral this resource is to our society. 

In addition to the profound importance of healthy forests to our water system, there is a well documented and growing body of research indicating that access to open space is among the most significant factors in determining mental health outcomes. In Southwest Colorado we are fortunate enough to have millions of acres of open space within a short drive, walk, or bike ride, and it goes without saying that this is one of the greatest reasons for continued growth in our communities. A Dutch study of over a million residents found that access to open space has the second highest correlation with positive mental health outcomes of all the factors studied. This is exceptionally important during a pandemic in which the CDC finds increases of anxiety and depression incidences 3-4 times higher than in previous years.

Given these exceptional benefits of healthy open space to our society and economy, we must continue finding effective and creative solutions to protect them. This summer, crews from the San Juan Mountains Association educated over 15,000 forest visitors about Leave No Trace practices and wildfire safety, covered hundreds of miles monitoring trail and forest conditions, hauled out almost 2,000 pounds of trash, naturalized 300 illegal fire rings, and cleared over 600 downed trees from San Juan Mountain trails. Through these efforts, our staff have not only played a valuable resource in educating forest visitors about how to protect this immense resource, but also ensured that visitors and locals alike are able to benefit from their time in the mountains. Each year during the month of October, we like to take a moment to thank these crews for the work they’ve done, and encourage everyone to do so by ensuring the financial viability of this program. Visit our website at sjma.org to become a member and support these efforts, and thank our field staff next time you see them on trail for all their hard work!

By Ana Siegel, SJMA Wilderness Crew Member

For the last two months, my office has been the burn zones, alpine vistas, cow-filled meadows, and log-strewn trails of the Weminuche Wilderness. As a member of the San Juan Mountains Association’s Wilderness Crew, I have the privilege of spending my work week immersing myself in, and helping to protect, this beautiful and unique landscape.

To understand the work we do, it is necessary to grasp the goals of the 1964 Wilderness Act: “Wilderness should be administered for the use and enjoyment of the American people in such manner as will leave them unimpaired for future use and enjoyment as wilderness, and so as to provide for the protection of these areas, the preservation of their wilderness character, and for the gathering and dissemination of information regarding their use and enjoyment as wilderness.”

Our aim as the Wilderness Crew is to facilitate the balance between easing visitor access to and enjoyment of this land, while protecting both the landscape and its character. Depending on the week, our focus is on either trail work or campsite monitoring. Most recently, we cleared a trail in the Rio Grande National Forest–using only non-mechanized tools, like crosscut and hand saws–allowing for easier foot and stock access to an alpine lake. Other weeks, we hike remote trails, collecting data on already-existing or new campsites, dispersing illegal campsites, and carrying out as much trash as we can fit in our packs. On the first hitch of our season, we carried out nearly 85lb of trash and abandoned supplies.

Most significant to me, is the way that these weeks in the field have deepened my own understanding of wilderness character. This week, two of our work days were cut short due to dangerous weather conditions; lightning strikes with almost immediate thunder claps prompted us to decide to return to lower ground and wait out the storm in our camp. Waiting for the storm to pass in my tent, I felt humbled by the power of this place and the lack of power that we have as visitors in wilderness. I think that reaches the crux of wilderness character: that feeling of ceding control, entering an environment where you are humbled by both the power and the beauty of the natural world, “untrammeled by man,” as the Act puts it.

As our crew experiences on a daily basis, this wilderness character does not always make our lives easy: it’s that feeling of willingly putting yourself in the position of being cold, wet, sore, and daydreaming about that piece of pizza you’re going to eat the very second you get back to town, while simultaneously being in awe of the place you’re in. Wilderness character is the now-infrequent experience of being at the whim of the natural world. In a society where we have predominantly controlled our environments for our own use, safety, and enjoyment, it is a welcome-challenge–refreshing, even–to relinquish that control.

The efforts of our Wilderness Crew to both improve access to and protect the Weminuche Wilderness ultimately contribute to the protection of this character. It’s a fine line to walk: visitors must travel with care in order to protect the landscape. But, I hope that the work we are doing allows future visitors the opportunity to experience the joy, challenge, and resulting empowerment that I have experienced during my time working here in the Weminuche.

By Julia Ledford, SJMA Forest Ambassador

I know what it’s like when the crowds find your secret spot. I’ve known waterfalls and powder stashes and pristine lakes that I could once visit without seeing another soul. But now, the secret is out. I’ve also been the one to stumble upon someone else’s special place and disrupt their solitude. Most likely, so have you.

I’ve known people that complain more about other people on the trail than they appreciate what’s around them, and I’d be lying if I said I’ve never fallen into the same trap. Let’s be honest, passing hordes of other hikers and hearing dogs barking or seeing toilet paper in the woods isn’t what we imagine for an ideal day in the mountains.

Being a Forest Ambassador has changed my perspective. I spend my days hiking in the places that many locals say have been “ruined” by mountain bikers or the sheer number of visitors. My job is to deliberately engage with all of these people with the goal of reducing our collective impact on the landscape. I have learned what an honor it is to share these incredible places with others, and to appreciate watching so many people smile at the same things that make me smile. Instead of rolling my eyes at the group of nine hikers approaching me on the trail, I welcome them to this breathtaking meadow of wildflowers and educate them on how to keep it that way. Together, we share the joy of being surrounded by such magnificence, and almost always, we learn something from each other. After all, understanding these places is the first step to protecting them.

The truth is, your secret spot won’t be yours forever. People will continue coming to the San Juans, so welcome them, enjoy every second of it, and of course, Leave No Trace.