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Permits proposed for popular Colorado wilderness

By August 3, 2021 | updated 4 years ago

four pass 1.jpg
Wildflowers burst along the Four Pass Loop, with the Elk Mountains providing the backdrop. The trail would be subject to limited $12 overnight reservations under a proposal.
Breanna Sneeringer/Out There Colorado

The U.S. Forest Service is proposing permits and fees for popular areas of an iconic wilderness area in Colorado.

Under the proposal, the Four Pass loop, the 26-mile backpacking trail outside Aspen, would be one destination subject to limited $12 overnight reservations. Also between May 1 and Oct. 31, campers would need permits for Conundrum hot springs and Geneva and Capitol lakes in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness.

The online system could be instituted next year, the Forest Service said.

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The proposal comes as the agency reports overnight visitation in the wilderness quadrupling between 2006 and 2020 — “resulting in large-scale environmental damage,” according to documents recently released in announcing the permit concept.

The Forest Service cites “unburied human waste, trash, dangerous human and wildlife interactions, visitor conflict and crowding, and total loss of vegetation that when added together is roughly 39 acres.” Rangers reportedly hauled more than 3,000 pounds of trash out of the wilderness over the last six years. They counted “1,573 incidents of exposed human waste” to bury over that time. 

Land managers say revenues from fees would help address environmental damage. Money would pay for maintenance and more ranger presence, according to the proposal.

White River National Forest leadership has said the reservation system wouldn’t necessarily decrease overall numbers, but the goal is to spread them out over time.

The Forest Service is accepting comments about the wilderness permits through mid-September. Go to fs.usda.gov/whiteriver.

Seth Boster

Reporter

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