A unique partnership aims to reduce wildfire risk while improving trails around one of Colorado’s most popular mountain towns — what some see as a model for the state beyond.

The U.S. Forest Service is calling it the Town of Frisco Backyard Fuels and Recreation Project. The Backyard is what Summit County locals know as their backdrop, 3,000-plus acres encompassing Rainbow Lake, Miners Creek, Mount Royal and Ophir Mountain.

The Forest Service is proposing timber-cutting across 1,576 acres, while Frisco leadership would oversee trail development and maintenance around the popular, aptly named area.

Frisco Nordic Center and Trails Manager Pete Swenson has called the Backyard “our community’s gateway to thousands of acres of public land.” In a statement, Swenson called the area “vital to Frisco’s future,” speaking to wildfire risk and outdoor play.

Generations of locals and visitors have frequented the area, carving about 21 miles of trail. That’s according to a recently published environmental assessment, which deems many of those “social trails” as damaging to the environment and not designed for their heavy traffic. More than 251,000 visits were made to the Backyard in 2022, according to the document.

The proposed task for the town of Frisco: closing parts of trails, rerouting others, enhancing other segments and adding more routes around 28 miles of currently designated trail. That’s all in hopes of achieving a sustainable, long-envisioned destination.

Swenson’s view, from his nearly decade in local land management: “There was always a lot more potential for recreation.”

And from the Forest Service’s view, there has long been concern about heavy fuel loads. A top priority listed in the environmental assessment: “Balance a high-quality recreational experience with effective wildfire risk mitigation.”

Swenson called the paired approach “progressive.” As was the partnership between the Forest Service and the town, he said.

“I think it’s a model that is going to be needed moving forward,” he said. “The Forest Service’s resources have been well-documented; their resources are not increasing. So they’re looking for proven partners.”

It’s a model that appeals to Stan VanderWerf.

The former El Paso County commissioner is among Colorado Springs locals who have long seen greater recreation potential across the national forest surrounding Pikes Peak but have struggled to collaborate with a ranger district that has lately prioritized fire mitigation. VanderWerf flew to Washington, D.C., to lobby for mitigation funding — just as he continued to call for more recreation development.

“In fairness to them, they have a lot of people telling them we need more access, we need more this and more that, and it puts them on tilt,” VanderWerf said. “But it’s become glaringly obvious that we have had a problem here in the Pike National Forest and its interface with a major population. It’s time to fix that.”

Gov. Jared Polis backed an idea announced at the start of this year: for Colorado Parks and Wildlife to manage more recreation around Pikes Peak. The concept has caught the interest of Gary Moore, executive director of Colorado Mountain Bike Association.

His advocacy around the Front Range goes back about 10 years. As recreation demand has boomed, he’s seen federal land managers’ response “degrading,” he said.

“I’ve been concerned about the amount of public land that is owned and managed by (the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management) here in Colorado,” Moore said. “It’s all good people who are well-trained and know what they’re doing, but they’re just not given the resources to maintain our public spaces.”

That’s a sentiment shared by Colorado lawmakers who introduced House Bill 25-1323 this month.

Titled the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Outdoor Recreation Enhancement Act, the proposed legislation aims to better equip the agency in boosting a state industry that was credited with an economic output of $65.8 billion in 2023. The act also notes federal lands encompassing 24.1 million acres in Colorado, or 36% of the state.

Wrote lawmakers: “Given the significant role of federal public lands for the state’s outdoor recreation industry, tourism, wildlife and natural resources, it is in the state’s interest to take an active role in the health of Colorado’s federal public lands, wildlife, and outdoor recreation infrastructure through partnership with federal land management agencies.”

Moore mentioned an example around Indian Creek near Sedalia. His organization has been among nonprofits and local officials seeking better trails and management to account for safety and wildlife habitat.

A plan was made, funded by the group and outside agencies.

“And now we need to go implement that, and again the Forest Service has got nothing,” Moore said. “We have this million-dollar plan, and the Forest Service has no way to make it happen.”

So yes, he’s intrigued by the model around Frisco’s Backyard.

“A city or county or whomever has a vested interest in an area, and has the resources to develop and manage it,” he said. “I don’t know if we have a choice but to look at those kind of options.”

A working relationship

The town of Frisco and the Forest Service have had previous cost-sharing partnerships around the Backyard, which falls within White River National Forest, said to be the country’s busiest national forest. The town has provided porta-potties and picked up trash.

Also through the Dillon Ranger District — which has reported 9 million visits across its lands in recent years — the town has held an agreement to add amenities around the Peninsula Recreation Area. Through a special-use permit similar to ones held by ski resorts, the town has steadily expanded trails around the shores and woods off Dillon Reservoir.

The Peninsula Recreation Area, too, was born through a joint mission.

“A lot of mature trees had to get removed,” the Dillon Ranger District’s Sam Massman previously told The Gazette. “And secondly was this master development plan the town went through in hiring Pete Swenson and developing a vision for a more up-to-date trail system.”

For the Backyard, Swenson foresees a better Rainbow Lake Trail, Peaks Trail and Mount Royal Trail — among the area’s most popular paths.

In particular, “Mount Royal is going to be amazing,” Swenson said of the prominent, craggy peak overlooking town. “I think bang for the buck, it’s going to be up there with a fourteener. … If you’re driving I-70, I think people are going to want to stop and hike Mount Royal.”

Redesigns are proposed for the Peaks/Zach’s Stop and Miner’s Creek trailheads. And the proposal calls for 10 miles of trail to be groomed in the winter, allowing for cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and fat biking.

But some might question the town’s capacity to expand its recreation management. That would be the question for any local management of Pike National Forest against a major metro population, said Cory Sutela.

Over the years, the Medicine Wheel Trail Advocates executive director has also sought solutions around Pikes Peak.

Could Colorado Springs’ Parks Department seek something like a special-use permit? Theoretically, went the answer at a recent parks board meeting.

But “our city parks (and county parks) already lack the resources to manage the property they have, so it’s hard to imagine them applying for a special-use permit, especially without some kind of revenue on it,” Sutela said. “Obviously a big difference with Frisco is that their economy relies on tourism in a way that ours doesn’t.”

Funding has been a talking point for Frisco’s Town Council.

“We need to be able to take it on financially in the form of staffing and equipment,” Mayor Rick Ihnken previously told The Gazette. “If we find ourselves in a place where we are managing it, we’re going to do it thoughtfully.”

The Forest Service is taking public comments through May 5; those can be submitted on a project webpage, where the 124-page environmental assessment and proposal is posted.

If approved, Swenson said fire mitigation and trail work could start next summer.