SAVE SOUTH COLONY BASIN!

FEE PROPOSED FOR GENERAL ACCESS TO POPULAR CLIMBING AREA IN SANGRE DE CRISTO WILDERNESS

The Pike-San Isabel National Forest is proposing to charge daily and overnight general access fees at South Colony Basin in the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness. South Colony is the main route for climbers hoping to summit four of Colorado's fabled "fourteeners." About 80% of visitors to South Colony are there to climb one or more of the peaks, so this amounts to a "Fourteeners Fee." If it succeeds, there will soon be access fees to many more - maybe all - of Colorado's 53 peaks above 14,000 feet. 

DETAILS:

The fee proposed is $10 per day per person, $20 per overnight trip per person. 

There has been 10 years of volunteer effort - 40,000 volunteer hours - invested in rehabilitating South Colony Basin, along with $1 million in mostly non-federal funds.

The Forest has already taken several sensible steps to mitigate the impacts from the high use this area gets: the trailhead has been pulled 2.5 miles downhill, campfires have been banned, camping is now restricted to designated sites, and a voluntary program of packing out human waste in "WAG Bags" is being implemented in 2010. The WSNFC supports these measures and they should be given a chance to prove themselves. If impacts in the Basin are still unacceptable, then a system of limited permits may need to be used, but permits should be available on a fair and equal basis to all, not on the basis of who is able and willing to pay. There are a number of ways to accomplish this. Such systems have a history of being well accepted and supported because they protect natural resources while still maintaining the tradition of public lands as places where everyone has access and is welcome.

General access fees, on the other hand, represent the opposite of our tradition of public lands that are owned in common and available to all. Please help stop this fee!

HOW TO TAKE ACTION:

The Forest is asking the public to submit comments now. No deadline for comments has been established, but our information is that the comment period will continue at least through the summer of 2010.

When you send in your comments be sure to send a copy of them to your federal congressional delegation! You can find their webforms at www.senate.gov and www.house.gov.

Please also send a copy to kitty@WesternSlopeNoFee.org for posting on this website.

The proposal documents are posted HERE.

The Forest's public comment webform is HERE.

You can also comment by email to msmith05@fs.fed.us

MORE INFORMATION WILL BE POSTED HERE AS IT BECOMES AVAILABLE.