{"id":108805,"date":"2015-10-15T21:55:13","date_gmt":"2015-10-16T03:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/with-cuts-looming-san-juan-national-forest-prioritizes-recreational-sites\/"},"modified":"2015-10-15T21:55:13","modified_gmt":"2015-10-16T03:55:13","slug":"with-cuts-looming-san-juan-national-forest-prioritizes-recreational-sites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/with-cuts-looming-san-juan-national-forest-prioritizes-recreational-sites\/","title":{"rendered":"With cuts looming, San Juan National Forest prioritizes recreational sites"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Hikers
Hikers ascend the Elbert Creek Trail in the San Juan National Forest. Because of cuts to its recreational budget, the Forest Service is prioritizing recreational sites to determine the ones worth maintaining. A plan of action for more than 125 locations will be released in November. In a separate project, the Forest Service will be conducting a survey for the next year to collect a wide variety of socio-economic data from its users.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file photo<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Responding to nearly 50 percent decline in its recreational budget over the last decade, the San Juan National Forest Service has prioritized its sites, deeming what areas are worth saving.<\/p>\n

Recently, the Forest Service ranked more than 125 of its recreation facilities, which include anything from trailheads to campgrounds to docks.<\/p>\n

Ann Bond, spokesperson for the San Juan National Forest, said that significant changes are required for the agency to maintain a sustainable recreation program. Those changes could include anything from reduced service frequency to newly priced fees to outright closure of selected sites.<\/p>\n

According to the Forest Service\u2019s rankings \u2013 based on environmental protection, social and economic factors \u2013 sites such as Chris Park, Cayton Campground, Chimney Rock and Target Tree Campground top the agency\u2019s list of importance. However, other areas, including Ruby Camping Area, Madden Creek Campground and the Graham Creek Boat Ramp, fall among the lowest priority.<\/p>\n

Brian White, San Juan National Forest\u2019s program manager for recreation, wilderness and trails, said the agency will release its proposed plan of action for the forest\u2019s sites during the week of Nov. 9. The public and local governments will then be able to comment on the report. The Forest Service hopes to initiate its forest-wide strategy in January 2016.<\/p>\n

Over the years, Congress has allocated less money to the U.S. Forest Service, which has a trickle down effect on local agencies such as the San Juan National Forest.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Congress) over time is trying to trim the federal budget, and this is part of that,\u201d White said. \u201cThe (Forest Service) is doing its best to allocate that money wisely. We don\u2019t disagree with how it\u2019s spent, we\u2019re just getting less of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

One issue in Washington, D.C., is the rising cost of fighting wildfires, which is cutting into local agencies\u2019 budgets. A recent U.S. Forest Service report said the six worst wildfire seasons on record have occurred since 2000.<\/p>\n

A sizable portion of the U.S. Forest Service\u2019s budget goes toward emergency fire fighting, but in a particular year, when demand exceeds the allotted funds, additional costs are taken from the agency\u2019s general fund, thereby limiting local projects.<\/p>\n

By August 2015, more than half of the U.S. Forest Service\u2019s budget was consumed by fighting wildfires in the West, and agency officials are calling on Congress to create a separate fund specifically for emergency fire response situations.<\/p>\n

\u201cClimate change has led to fire seasons that are now on average 78 days longer than in 1970,\u201d the U.S. Forest Service reported in August. \u201cThe U.S. burns twice as many acres as three decades ago, and Forest Service scientists believe the acreage burned may double again by mid-century. Increasing development in fire-prone areas also puts more stress on the Forest Service\u2019s suppression efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n

As far as San Juan National Forest is concerned, White said the agency will continue to work with what it\u2019s given.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re at the end of the chain and take what we\u2019re given,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ll operate our program accordingly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recreation surveys<\/p>\n

In a separate initiative, on Oct. 1 the San Juan National Forest began its National Visitor Use Monitoring program, a public-feedback survey that collects a wide variety of socio-economic data.<\/p>\n

For the next year, contracted workers will visit trailheads at random across the 1.8 million-acre forest and ask visitors to rate their experience. The surveyors\u2019 presence will wane during the winter months then pick up at the start of the summer season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really has a lot of objectives,\u201d White said. \u201cPrimarily, we\u2019re looking at economics, getting some idea what the main economic drivers are, as well as just getting a wide variety of customer satisfaction.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe voluntary questionnaire is not directly related to the prioritizing of the park\u2019s most salvageable sites, but it is helpful,\u201d White said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s certainly a useful tool. If a particular site starts to get less use over time, it\u2019s probably time to invest less, based on what the public is telling us,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re really touching back with our constituents and the public, who are the real owners of the forests.\u201d<\/p>\n

White said the last survey in 2010 showed that overall satisfaction with the services has been consistently very high. He expects that trend to continue.<\/p>\n

Bill and Deanna Collins, who have been hiking the area for more than 20 years, finished an afternoon hike Tuesday at Goulding Creek Trail, off of U.S. Highway 550 near Glacier Club.<\/p>\n

Both understood the struggle the Forest Service faces.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven the lack of funding they have, they\u2019ve done an excellent job,\u201d Bill Collins said. \u201cI think they do the best they can.\u201d<\/p>\n

His wife, Deanna, said there are going to be some difficult questions for the public to answer in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are people who use these resources willing to pay for them?\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s always been thought of as a free resource, but it really takes a lot of maintenance. You can tell the trails aren\u2019t as nice as they were 20 years ago, but (the San Juan National Forest) is doing a great job with the resources they have.\u201d<\/p>\n

jromeo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

National Forest deciding what recreational sites to save<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":108806,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[21],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-108805","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-cortez"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108805","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108805"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108805\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108805"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108805"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108805"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=108805"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}