{"id":91459,"date":"2019-11-29T22:24:24","date_gmt":"2019-11-29T22:24:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/forest-bans-hikers-from-groomed-ski-trails-at-chicken-creek\/"},"modified":"2019-11-29T22:24:24","modified_gmt":"2019-11-29T22:24:24","slug":"forest-bans-hikers-from-groomed-ski-trails-at-chicken-creek","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/forest-bans-hikers-from-groomed-ski-trails-at-chicken-creek\/","title":{"rendered":"Forest bans hikers from groomed ski trails at Chicken Creek"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"In
In this 2017 photo, Oliver Scott-Tomlin takes his dog for a hike at Chicken Creek. This November, the Forest Service issued an order prohibiting hiking on the groomed trails in the ski area.<\/span>The Journal file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Hiking will not be allowed on groomed trails at the Chicken Creek ski area this winter, after an order was issued this month by the San Juan National Forest Dolores Ranger District.<\/p>\n

The order will take effect during the winter grooming season, typically mid-November to mid-March. The reason for the order is to prevent dangerous holes on the trails that create difficulties for groomers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn order to try and protect the work that all the groomers are doing, plus avoid damage to the trail that could result in people falling, we chose to implement that closure,\u201d said Tom Rice, recreation staff officer with the ranger district.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Forest Service allows forests to issue special orders<\/a> to protect public safety, prevent resource destruction and protect wildlife populations.<\/p>\n

For the past 30 years, the ski area typically has been managed by volunteers, Rice said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of its low elevation and frequent freeze-thaw cycle, the grooming efforts are quite extensive and there\u2019s a lot of work that needs to be done,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Peter Brind\u2019Amour from the board of Chicken Creek Nordic, the nonprofit organization that manages the trails, said his group had asked the Forest Service for assistance in keeping hikers away during grooming season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re lucky, we may have a two-to-three month window for Nordic skiing,\u201d he told The Journal in an email statement representing the board\u2019s position. \u201cWe feel it is reasonable to ask people not to ruin the groomed surface for this brief window in time. However our past requests for cooperation from the walking public have been widely ignored.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that if hikers continue to walk on the trails, Chicken Creek Nordic may halt grooming operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is impossible to express the frustration our volunteer groomers feel when they work for several hours in the bitter cold only to have their labors undone in a matter of minutes by hikers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Hiking will be permitted in the area during the non-grooming season from approximately mid-March to mid-November, and hiking will be allowed in other nearby areas, including the West Mancos and Echo Basin roads, along with Boggy Draw.<\/p>\n

Snowshoers will still be permitted at Chicken Creek.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not the first time that the Chicken Creek trail system has been contested by different recreationalists. A few years ago, complaints on the effect of snow bikes<\/a> prompted the Forest Service to install a sign encouraging bikers to ride elsewhere.<\/p>\n

ealvero@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

district cites difficulties for groomers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":91460,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,83,29,2740,549],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-91459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-mancos","tag-newsletter","tag-nordic-skiing","tag-united-states-forest-service"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91459","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=91459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91459"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=91459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}