Nearly three years ago, in October 2020, Governor Jared Polis signed executive Order B 2020-008 creating the Colorado Outdoor Regional Partnerships Initiative (RPI). The goals of the RPI are pretty straightforward:

1. Ensure that Colorado’s land, water, and wildlife thrive while also providing equitable and safe access to quality outdoor recreation experiences;
2. Convene representatives from different outdoor interests, races, cultures, ages, and sectors through Regional Partnerships to identify regional priorities and strategies;
3. Collaborate to develop a state-level vision and plan for conservation and recreation that will inform future investments to conserve Colorado’s landscapes, rivers, wildlife, sensitive habitats, and recreational opportunities.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) has partnered with Great Outdoor Colorado (GOCO) to establish a statewide grant program to provide funding to establish regional collaborations and provide support for their ongoing success. Prior to the most recent grant cycle, more than $1.5 million had been awarded to 15 collaborations across primarily the Western half of Colorado – with a couple of gaping holes, including one in our corner of the state.

In the latest grant cycle this spring, after consulting with our federal, state, and local partners, along with other key stakeholders, San Juan Mountains Association (SJMA) submitted an application to launch a research and planning process for an RPI in Southwest Colorado. CPW notified SJMA in late June that we were awarded funds to create the new Southwest Colorado Conservation Outdoor Recreation Roundtable (SCCORR).

There is no shortage of collaborations and initiatives occurring in Southwest Colorado right now. There are two landscape-scale forest health initiatives underway through the Rocky Mountain Restoration Initiative (RMRI) and the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP), along with the Animas Headwater Ecological Action Division (AHEAD), a Recreation Strategy in the San Juan National Forest’s Columbine District and other efforts to care for the water, wildlife, and public lands that have drawn so many people to call this place home.

For more than 35 years, SJMA has played an integral role providing education and outreach and encouraging responsible recreation across public lands throughout Southwest Colorado, and now through SCCORR, we seek to bring a very diverse group of stakeholders together to share information, address concerns, and prioritize a sustainable vision for conservation and outdoor recreation in our region We are starting out with a planning and research grant, and as such, SCCORR’s initial steps include:

• Convening a diverse suite of stakeholders to convey and share regional priorities, issues and ongoing conservation and recreation efforts.
• Determining the appropriate scale and geography for the regional partnership’s focus.
• Engaging a facilitator to develop a process for ensuring that the diverse conservation and recreation interests have ongoing input on efforts underway in this region and to the development of the Statewide Conservation and Recreation Plan.
• Developing a complete inventory of the current initiatives and collaborations currently in process throughout Southwest Colorado, identifying overarching goals and strategies.
• Mapping existing data on recreation use, wildlife habitats and other information that will ultimately provide critical input into the current array of initiatives and collaborations.

The ultimate goal is to work toward priority areas for long-term planning that both protects our wildlife and enhances this area’s recreation economy sustainably. Equally important, having a CPW-supported regional partnership in Southwest Colorado provides us with a communication channel to those who are working on the Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP) update for 2024-2028. As this process progresses, this regional partnership will ensure that the people and interest groups of Southwest Colorado have an opportunity to provide input on statewide level planning as well as on initiatives developing in the region.

We recognize that there is a chorus of different voices when it comes to conservation and outdoor recreation; and we firmly believe there is a need to collectively share our priorities and understand the very real constraints facing land use management. Through SCCORR, we plan to provide Southwest Colorado communities with a chance to better understand current and future issues from both sides of the table, and to craft a balanced future trajectory to sustain the quality of life in this region. I encourage you to engage and follow along as SCORR gets started. Contact me at sweber@sjma.org.

San Juan Mountains Association’s seasonal stewards have reached the final third of their summer stint. While I hear anecdotal updates from them throughout the season, it’s the time of year when I begin to look more closely at their impact throughout the San Juan Mountains – from Navajo Lake in Montezuma County to the eastern reaches of the Weminuche Wilderness, and from Blue Lakes to Junction Creek. 

San Juan Mountains Association (SJMA) has two seasonal stewardship crews – the Wilderness Stewardship Crew and the Forest Ambassadors. The Wilderness Stewardship crew is in its third year. Supported, in part, by the community through SJMA’s Wilderness Fund, this season we have a crew of four who work with the San Juan National Forest Wilderness team. They are clearing trails, collecting data for the US Forest Service which provides necessary information on future management plans, and conducting education and outreach to backcountry users. 

The Wilderness crew spends most of their summer in the Weminuche Wilderness, but they also spend at least one or two hitches in other Wilderness areas in the San Juans. During their weeklong hitches, they clear downed trees along trails, laboriously using crosscut saws since chainsaws are not allowed in Wilderness areas. At the start of this summer, they worked diligently to clear more than 150 trees from Needle Creek to provide easier access to Chicago Basin. On a hitch on the Rio Grande side of the Weminuche a couple of weeks ago, they cleared more than 300 trees from Archuleta Creek and South Fork trails. 

While SJMA’s Wilderness Stewardship crew works in the San Juan’s backcountry, SJMA employs a crew of front country stewards, too. SJMA’s Forest Ambassadors’ primary objective is to educate public land users on recreating responsibly and “Leave No Trace” principles in order to provide a better, safer experience for all users and to protect our public lands so that they remain a gem for generations to come. 

Forest Ambassadors work at some of the most popular trailheads over the weekends to interact with as many people as possible.  This summer, the Forest Ambassadors are focused on a dozen locations throughout the San Juan and Uncompahgre National Forests. 

Their rotation includes Ice Lake and Blue Lakes, two locations that have forever been changed by social media’s reach.  At each of these locations, SJMA Forest Ambassadors interact with an average of 125 visitors daily, and on some days, they easily surpass more than 250 engagements. 

SJMA also tracks the preparedness of the recreationists for all of the trails that we monitor. It’s no surprise that the average readiness at Ice and Blue Lakes, in particular, is lower than average for all the trails we monitor. Forest Ambassadors routinely talk with visitors arriving in the afternoon as the monsoons roll in, ill-equipped with footwear and gear. These interactions allow Forest Ambassadors the opportunity to instruct recreationists in how to better prepare and prevent potentially dangerous situations. 

The one pervasive issue that plagues all of our seasonal crews: trash. Whether it’s dog waste, human waste, wrappers, or trash bags deposited into port-a-johns or vault toilets, our stewardship crews contend with trash on a constant basis. Oh the stories they can tell! If there’s one thing you can do to help your public lands, it’s to pack out all trash. 

On a regular basis, our staff are buoyed by their interactions with many public land users.  Repeatedly, we see that many people simply don’t know the common principles of “Leave No Trace.”  We have heard from quite a few people who have been pleasantly surprised to find their favorite trails in good shape despite increased us, and most people our crews interact with appreciate the work we are doing.  

SJMA’s stewardship crews work hard because they are passionate about protecting our unsurpassed public lands, and they want to ensure that all of us can have safe, enjoyable experiences for years to come.  If you cross paths with one of our crew, take a minute to thank them – or better yet, sign up as a San Juan Volunteer and shadow them for a day.  I guarantee that you’ll look at the lands you love to play on with a little more appreciation and knowledge.