By Mike Wight

Ah, winter…  As the white stuff piles up around us this year, I’m excited to get out in the mountains – to sled, ski, and explore the backcountry. When white-capped, the San Juans are majestic, but can also be dangerous. Tuning in to local avalanche conditions and following some basic safety precautions can make the difference between a day of winter fun and an avoidable accident.  

This winter, all of us at San Juan Mountains Association (SJMA) are excited to kick off our second winter season at Andrews Lake and welcome our new Snow Ambassador, Hannah Green, who is stationed at our Mobile Basecamp at the Andrews Lake winter parking area on Molas Pass. We’ll be stationed in the area every Friday through Monday until the end of March to provide information to visitors using this popular spot for winter recreation. 

Hannah brings great experience to this position as she served as a SJMA Forest Ambassador in 2021, volunteers for San Juan County Search and Rescue, and holds an Recreation Avalanche Training level 2 certification. Stop in to say hi this year when you are in the area, grab a hot drink, and check in on what’s happening with the snowpack on the daily. Hannah will be primarily based at the Andrews parking area, but roving area trails and trailheads to interact with both motorized and non motorized visitors, to share information on winter Leave No Trace, Wilderness boundaries, groomed snowmobile trails, and more. This position represents a partnership between SJMA, CDOT, and the San Juan National Forest with a purpose of promoting safe and responsible use of our shared resources. Thank you to San Juan Sledders Ken Hilfiker for developing a detailed map of the Andrews Lake area and nearby motorized use trails for us to share this year!  

In addition, SJMA and Mountain Studies Institute are excited to offer our Snow Science and Social interpretive snowshoe hikes once again this year. Starting January 14th, these free events will be offered every other weekend through mid March. Free to the public, these events offer a combination of snow education, travel awareness, winter ecology and fun! Finish with a hot beverage around a fire, check out our new Mobile Basecamp and meet our team!  Registration is required, and details can be found at https://sjma.org/events/. Snowshoes can be provided for those that need them. 

If you don’t have an opportunity to swing by the Mobile Basecamp or attend one of our winter events, remember to be safe out there, regardless of your activity.  

A few tips for winter safety:  Plan ahead and Prepare!   

• Check the avalanche forecast and local conditions at https://avalanche.state.co.us/ .
• Let someone know your plan for the day, including an exact location and time of return. Check in with them when you are back.  
• Carry the right equipment for any situation- extra layers, food and water, first aid kit, emergency gear repair, wag bags, and a communication device.   
• Stay off slopes above 30 degrees, and areas with steeper slopes above.
• Educate yourself! Consider an avalanche awareness course, such as those offered by our local Friends of the San Juans. 
• Remember- just because someone else went there, doesn’t mean it’s safe!

Mike Wight is SJMA’s Associate Director.

By Cassidy Storey

In Durango, the shift from Summer to Autumn brings warmer layers out of the closet, plans for desert season, and a rush to behold the aspens before their leaves fall. At the San Juan Mountains Association (SJMA), it also signifies the end of our summer stewardship crews. As the first spots of gold splashed across the highest aspens in the San Juans, SJMA’s front-country Ambassadors wrapped up a summer of outreach and stewardship throughout the San Juan and Uncompahgre National Forests as well as the Alpine Loop.

With one year of Ambassador work under our belts, we began this season optimistic for a second successful summer. We employed a crew of eight to engage with the public on “Leave No Trace” principles, responsible recreation in a variety of ecosystems, and protecting the magic of the San Juans, all while improving environmental conditions and removing hundreds of pounds of trash. Thanks to support from the Rocky Mountain Restoration Initiative (RMRI); county, state, and federal government; and support from SJMA members and corporate sponsors, we were lucky enough to welcome back five Ambassadors from the 2021 season and add three new stellar individuals to cover trails from Blue Lakes to Ice Lakes, Vallecito to Lizard Head, and many popular places in between.

The small but mighty team of Forest Ambassadors made nearly 14,000 public contacts, hiked about 1,200 miles, naturalized or cleaned 150 fire pits, and packed out over 400 pounds of trash! At the same time, our Alpine Loop Ambassador single-handedly removed more than 1,000 pounds of trash from the high alpine tundra and spoke to over 1,000 OHV users about the importance of staying on the trail in the high country where damage manifested by motorized vehicles could take many years to regenerate.

But why do these numbers matter to the average public lands’ enthusiast? Think of it this way: every time you visit an iconic trail in the San Juans and your trip is not tainted by human and pet waste, poorly-draining trails, excessive trash, overgrown vegetation, or messy campsites, there is a good chance an SJMA Ambassador had something to do with it. If you don’t notice our work, it means we’re doing it right and contributing to a safer and more enjoyable public lands experience.

The Oxford Dictionary defines an “Ambassador” as a person who acts as a representative or promoter of a specified activity, and, in our case, there’s more to the job than just time on trail. You may have encountered one of our Ambassadors in a variety of settings. Representing SJMA, RMRI, and our federal partners, the crew led volunteer cleanup events, provided visitor information in Durango and Silverton, hosted interpretive walks, and attended many community events to share messages on forests, wildlife, water resources, and recreation opportunities across the mountains. We can’t thank this team enough for sharing their passion for public lands in our neck of the woods.

While our stewardship programs slow down for Fall, we have big plans for Winter. The San Juans are a year-round destination, so we’re preparing to bring back our Snow Ambassador program for a second season. In 2021, SJMA’s Snow Ambassador stationed at Molas Pass reached hundreds of visitors about avalanche safety, winter ecology, and how to “Leave No Trace” as a winter recreationist. Stay tuned to our website or social media for updates on this year’s Snow Ambassador as well as snowshoeing interpretive hikes and other winter events.

By Corbin Reiter

With Moab two hours to the northwest, Telluride an hour to the southeast, and Durango several hours further south, the West End is easily accessible to many recreationists seeking new terrain, but it remains off the beaten path for now.

“The West End” refers to a collection of communities in close proximity along the western slope of the rockies and includes Norwood, Redvale, Naturita, Nucla and Paradox. Telluride is by far, the most recognizable community in the West End. Most people that visit the area don’t look much farther than this well-known, long-standing, highly developed recreation hub.

The desert trails and climate found around the West End presents a unique recreation opportunity for the area, and is an area that has a growing community of recreators that are invested in a more remote and high-skill recreation environment. With temperatures getting colder, the warmer climate of the West End means longer access to trail systems for biking, hiking, and off-roading after the more mountainous areas to the east are restricted by snow. It also means that residents of the West End have more opportunities to get out and do some stewardship and education programs that ensure that this part of Colorado can remains protected and well-managed even as more people find their way to the area.

Serving as San Juan Mountains Association’s community outreach specialist this summer in the West End, I have had the opportunity to put together events to help improve some of the public spaces in the area. In August, SJMA partnered with the Norwood ranger district to host a planting cone pickup event that removed plastic waste from the forest. This event included Forest Service and SJMA staff as well as volunteers from the area that chose to spend time contributing to the health of local public lands. Together, those present filled dozens of garbage bags with plastic planting cones that had outlived their usefulness and were polluting the Forest.

As the Community Outreach Specialist for the SJMA in the West End, my goal has been to connect with the organizations and people that are already invested in the West End. This has presented a range of opportunities from creating volunteer opportunities to expanding the reach of Forest Service programming.

The Norwood Ranger district office and SJMA have worked together in the West End to put together youth education opportunities through local libraries. Throughout the summer, the Forest Service hosted five youth education events that introduced concepts regarding sustainable stewardship, using public lands, and education about public lands in the area. The Wilkinson Library in Telluride provided the first venue for this series, hosting four separate youth education events. Norwood’s Lone Cone library also hosted a youth education event and had the second highest attendance out of any library education event hosted this summer.

Going into the fall, the Norwood Ranger district office is continuing its youth education programs. As the school year starts, we are engaging with Fourth Grade classes to continue to engage local kids in outdoor education. As part of this program, students will attend a series of events that are sponsored by the Forest Service, and once the students attend enough sessions, they will receive a parks pass and a
free Christmas tree.

The West End is an area that has been quietly nestled among other recreation powerhouses. It has massive potential to be a local hotspot that serves high-skill recreators looking to push their skills in a new area, but SJMA is helping to ensure that the next generation of residents understands the value and importance of caring for those public lands well even as it becomes discovered.

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.

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.