Welcome to the July 2021 Keep Routt Wild Newsletter!

We’ve been busy! In this newsletter we will give you the latest on the Mad Rabbit trails project, report on numerous trail closure violations that occurred recently, and an update on the Steamboat Resort Improvements Project.

As a reminder, Keep Routt Wild is a community organization dedicated to preserving wildlife and wild places in Routt County. Our mission is to promote policies and practices for the benefit of conserving the Yampa Valley for future generations of outdoor enthusiasts by balancing the opportunities for recreational development with the habitat needs of wildlife.

To find out more about Keep Routt Wild, go to our website, or follow our nearly daily postings on Facebook. There we play dual roles, as a celebrant of local wildlife and as a conservation watchdog. You can support Keep Routt Wild by donating online or by check here. 

Mad Rabbit and 2A funding update.

On May 18, Keep Routt Wild presented to the Steamboat Springs City Council regarding the ongoing issue of 2A funds being used for planning and NEPA analysis of non-2A trails. These were trails never listed in the 2013 ballot proposal approved by the voters. It was our discovery of the 2A Trails Committee’s declaration of “functional equivalency” of these nine Mad Rabbit trails that brought this before the Steamboat City Council as an agenda item. You can watch Larry Desjardin speaking on behalf of Keep Routt Wild here, at 3:54:00 in the video.

We pointed out that the City staff’s own memo from June 4, 2019 stated, “Use of the accommodation tax funds must follow the 1986 ballot language regarding the funds and the 2A Trails Ballot question further restricted use of the 2A Trails dollars to the projects listed in the Trails Alliance proposal.”

However, the City Attorney declared a new concept of “functional equivalency” that gives wide discretion to the 2A Trails Committee and City Council to declare a trail not on the STA list to be “functionally equivalent”, and therefore eligible for funding. We gave a detailed presentation showing that the nine trails didn’t match in location, function, or even number of trails to the original proposal. City staff did not counter our detailed analysis, but argued to wait until the Mad Rabbit EA (Environmental Assessment) was released to review the particulars.

We had hoped that the City Council would have intervened at this time, but they chose to wait until the Mad Rabbit EA was released to examine any specific trails. However, we were encouraged by the statements from Councilor Sonja Macys, echoed by Council Heather Sloop, that it was time for the city to “pull the plug” on Mad Rabbit funding. You can view her comments here, at 4:25:10. She cited the deep and ongoing community divide on the project and the public perception that the 2A Committee gave strong priority to mountain bike trails. No councilors spoke in favor of Mad Rabbit. We observed that the City Council had received letters in their packet overwhelmingly in opposition to funding these nine specific trails, with many opposed to funding any Mad Rabbit trails at all. We wish to thank all of those who wrote to City Council; your voice was heard.

We continue to hope that the Forest Service will release a more modest version of Mad Rabbit based on our compromise proposal. It has the best chance of avoiding a complicated and expensive EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) and extended litigation. Adopting our proposal would set an example for the entire Rocky Mountain west of how recreation opportunities can be increased with the least impact to wildlife. We remain committed to working with the Forest Service on this opportunity.

Keep Routt Wild Objects to Steamboat Ski Resorts Improvement Project

The Forest Service released the EA (Environmental Assessment) and draft Decision Notice for the Steamboat Resort Improvements Projects in late April. The project adds the Wild Blue Gondola, expands the operating boundary of the ski area further into the Fish Creek area, and adds significant snow making infrastructure. Last year, Keep Routt Wild suggested several changes to be made to the plan. We appreciate that two important ones were adopted: 1) That any disturbance into elk calving areas be prohibited through June 30 each year, and 2) that the new Wild Blue Gondola not be allowed to transport summer recreationalists to the top of Sunshine Peak.

That said, we were disappointed that the Forest Service had not performed the proper cumulative impact analysis regarding elk habitat. Because of this, we objected to the EA and draft Decision Notice. You can read our detailed comments here, but the essence of the objection was that cumulative impacts were never analyzed over the geographic area of concern and called out in the 1998 Forest Plan. While the EA implied the local E2 Bears Ears elk herd was thriving with ample summer range, we showed that this contradicted the population objectives of the E2 herd plan and the most recent data of GMU-14’s declining calf/cow ratio. (See chart below from CPW).

To remedy this, the EA needs to incorporate a cumulative effects analysis on elk, elk habitat, and elk habitat effectiveness that incorporates all past, current, and foreseeable activities in the Middle Yampa Geographical Area. There are several, including the Buffalo Pass Road Improvements and the Mad Rabbit Trails Project. We have been invited to attend the Objection Resolution meeting later this month, and plan to attend.

The image above is courtesy of Colorado Parks and Wildlife – Steamboat Springs. It shows the declining calf to cow ratio in GMU-14, and area that includes the ski area, Buffalo Pass, and Rabbit Ears Pass. This important metric measures the number of calves per cow that survive until the winter after their birth. From 2006 to 2018, this metric has dropped from 0.52 to 0.37, a decline of 29%.

Trail Closure Violations

We were alerted to trail violations over the Memorial Day Weekend where three mountain bikers had ridden closed trails in the Buffalo Pass area, and then posted their times and GPS tracks on Strava (an athletic social media app).

In fact, Strava hosted a leaderboard for the fastest times down BTR, the closed trail in question, below.

We redacted the names of the perpetrators in the above images, but not when we reported them to the US Forest Service. We sent the Forest Service the links to each individual’s account, the Strava summaries, and archived the web pages of each infraction. We’ve asked the Forest Service to enforce these violations by bringing the perpetrators to justice. Elk production areas are closed during calving season due to the low calf survival rate when subjected to human disturbance. You can read the science behind calving closures on our Wildlife Studies page on the Keep Routt Wild website.

This is a test of whether these closures are enforced. The evidence in this case (GPS tracks self-posted by the violators) is overwhelming. We check with the Forest Service every two weeks to see if anything has been done. So far, we have been told it is a subject for law enforcement and that there has been no resolution. We will keep checking. If these are just token regulations with no intention to be enforced, then we shouldn’t be building trails in elk calving areas in the first place. This is an important issue for many Mad Rabbit trails that traverse calving areas. We will keep you informed.

Consider a Donation to Keep Routt Wild 

We continue to fight for wildlife and wild places in Routt County. We have no paid staff, but envision significant costs going forward if we need to object to Mad Rabbit. Simply put, we deliver extraordinary value for your conservation dollar. Please consider a tax-deductible donation to Keep Routt Wild so we can protect the Yampa Valley for future generations.

Click here to donate to Keep Routt Wild

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"Building a new recreation trail is not, by itself, an act of conservation. What takes courage, conviction and forward-thinking vision is consciously choosing not to blaze a trail out of respect for animals that have limited home ground to inhabit, and far fewer options to survive than we do to play.”

– Todd Wilkinson, founder of Mountain Journal

If you would like to support Keep Routt Wild and its efforts to save Routt County’s wildlife and wild spaces, please donate at the link below.

For more information please visit our website, Facebook page and Instagram feed. Our Facebook page has nearly daily updates on news related to wildlife and conservation.