McClure Trail

By Amy Hadden Marsh Sopris Sun Correspondent

White River National Forest (WRNF) offi cials are taking public comment on the Redstone to McClure Pass Trail, a seven-mile segment of the proposed 83-mile Carbondale to Crested Butte Trail (CCBT).

Pitkin County Commissioners approved the CCBT plan in 2018. Five miles of the seven-mile segment would be built through federal land, which means the USFS — in this case, the Aspen-Sopris Ranger District — must complete an environmental review per the National Environmental Policy Act or NEPA. In January, WRNF released the Draft Environmental Assessment (DEA), which opened the door to the second round of public comment.

The purpose of the second round of comments is to inform the Forest Service of what the agency might not have considered in the analysis.

Th e project website shows that 112 comments were received concerning the DEA as of Feb. 13, with at least 81 in favor of the trail and around 21 opposed. But, for some, the trail debate is more complex than a thumbs up or thumbs down.

“Th e Forest Service should scrap the DEA and do an EIS [Environmental Impact Statement] for the whole trail,” said Juli Slivka, policy director for Wilderness Workshop. An EIS takes a closer look at impacts of any project on federal lands.

At a public open house in Carbondale on Feb. 7, David Boyd, WRNF Public Aff airs Offi cer, said the EIS process is a result of comments on the DEA. “If there is something as we’re going through the public comments that showed we needed to do more analysis, and showed signifi cant impacts, that would bump it up to an EIS level”, he explained.

But, the basis for Slivka’s argument rests on page fi ve of the DEA, which states that “...the Forest Service considers the regional CCBT plan to be a reasonably foreseeable action that is analyzed for potential cumulative eff ects.”

The operative words are “reasonably foreseeable action”, which means the USFS sees the whole CCB trail as a future possibility. That acknowledgement, said Slivka, indicates that this segment is connected to the rest of the trail. “That full trail has a full plan associated with it. It’s no secret that’s the long-term goal,” she said. “Breaking it into these smaller segments that require only small DEAs we think is not sufficient and may not be legally supportable under NEPA.”

In other words, by not considering the CCB trail as a whole, the DEA could potentially violate NEPA.

Slivka added that NEPA requires an analysis of what are called “connected actions” to be included in a single environmental review. “NEPA prevents an agency from dividing a project into multiple actions, each of which individually has insignifi cant environmental impacts but collectively have a substantial impact,” she explained.

Shelly Grail, Aspen-Sopris Ranger District’s recreation manager, said the fi vemile stretch is the only project her offi ce is looking at right now. She added that she’s received a variety of comments online, in emails, and at the meeting.

“Th e things I’ve heard the most are peoples’ concerns with impacts to wildlife and the ability to eff ectively manage seasonal closures,” she said. “I’ve also heard from folks who are really interested in seeing the trail constructed, because of that connectivity piece and that safety piece of keeping people a little bit separated from highway traffi c.”

The Crystal Valley Caucus supports a trail that sticks to the Highway 133 rightof-way, but is opposed to building one through sensitive wildlife habitat, which John Emerick, the caucus chair, said, exists throughout the proposed CCB trail area. He told The Sopris Sun that analyzing just one segment is insufficient. “The idea that the Forest Service will look at the trail impacts on a segment-by-segment basis decreases the likelihood that they’re going to have a clear analysis of the cumulative impacts,” he said. “Clearly the Redstone to McClure Pass segment is interdependent on the rest of the trail system.”

Th e Crystal Valley Environmental Protection Association (CVEPA) has not yet offi cially weighed in about the trail, said Director John Armstrong. But, CVEPA shares

The old wagon road on McClure Pass. Photo by Amy Hadden Marsh

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TOWN OF CARBONDALE

MISSION STATEMENT

To maintain and enhance an environmentally sensitive, culturally diverse, family oriented small town, with town government providing quality service to the Carbondale community.

OUR GOALS AND OBJECTIVES ARE:

C. To protect the physical and natural environment.

Objectives

• Reduce emissions from solid fuel burning devices • Create a land use code that has environmental protection as a major priority. • Preserve river corridors in a predominantly natural state and provide or acquire access to these corridors. • Preserve and acquire open space. • Maintain water quality and quantity. • Encourage solar and renewable energy sources and minimize waste of natural resources. • Protect and improve viewscapes — underground power lines and reduce man made impacts on viewsheds. • Continue efforts to work toward reduction of solid waste and increase recycling efforts. • Support development of mass transit alternatives in the Roaring Fork Valley. • Encourage alternatives to automobile use, more particularly, non-motorized transport systems and associated trails.

The Carbondale Environmental Bill of Rights (EBOR) was modeled after the Carbondale Mission Statement C. (above). It was written by Heather Henry (current Trustee), Frosty Merriott (former Trustee), and contributed to by Julia Farwell (Chair of the Environmental Board) and Tom Dunlop (public health and environmental consultant for Pitkin County).

The EBOR is envisioned along with the Mission Statement to be a tool in assisting with growth decisions in Carbondale along with the Climate Energy and Action Plan (CAP), the water Vulnerability, Consequences, Adaptation Planning Scenarios (VCAPS), and the Carbondale Comprehensive Plan.

FAITH, FAMILY, AND FRIENDS!

KEEP A PMA (Positive Mental Attitude) • FINISH STRONG LOVE CRITTERS especially Goldens

Turn on Your Love Light

Continued from cover

Light the Night with Love brightened the Rio Grande Trail on Valentine's Day weekend. Photos by Sue Rollyson

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