Dunton LLC seeks easement for access via old forest road

Dunton LLC seeks easement for access via old forest road

Mar. 27, 2001

By Janelle Holden
Journal Staff Writer

Despite the misleading moniker of an "inventoried roadless" area, the 5,000 acres of Forest Service land south of the Lizard Head Wilderness in Dolores County contains at least one official Forest Service road.

U.S. Forest Service Road 205, an offshoot of the Dunton Road near Coal Creek, has been closed to the public for nearly 10 years. Now the nearly mile-long road may be opened, but only for private use.

Dunton LLC, the owners of a 320-acre inholding, are asking the Forest Service to grant them an easement to repair and use the road to access their property during the summer and fall. The public has until May 1 to comment on the proposal, which would allow the owners to reconstruct the low-standard forest road from its native surface to a single-lane gravel road made to Forest Service specifications.

The Forest Service is obligated to provide owners of private property surrounded by Forest Service lands with "reasonable access" to their property.

"It’s not whether, it’s how and where," explained John Reidinger, a land and minerals forester at the Dolores-Mancos Ranger District. The only other means of accessing the property is from the south, on a four-wheel-drive road that has been closed by rockslides in recent years.

The road stretches across the Lizard Head roadless area, a 5,000-acre area that was not included in the Lizard Head Wilderness because of its proximity to the West Dolores Road, the fact that it can’t be linked to other roads, and its minerals.

In order to mitigate the damage the gravel road may cause to the area’s wetlands, the current engineering designs include a culvert system and geotextile material.

Reidinger said that before the road was closed, recreationists and hunters used it to access the wilderness in motorized vehicles, causing damage to the sensitive high-altitude wetlands. No motorized vehicles are currently allowed to travel off the roads in the area.

Once the road is improved, Dunton LLC is proposing to build four structures on the property. Reidinger said the Forest Service will also be evaluating any new development on the property.

Lyle Laverty, the Rocky Mountain regional forester, will make the final decision on the easement. The environmental impact statement, as required by NEPA, is being conducted by Barry Rhea of Rhea Consulting in Durango.

In addition to the easement, the Forest Service is also soliciting public comment on fixing an area of the Dunton Road that was damaged by a landslide. In that section, the road is open only to one-lane traffic.

For further information or to comment on either of these proposals, address your comments to John Reidinger at the Mancos-Dolores Ranger District, P.O. Box 210, Dolores, Colorado 81323, (970) 882-7296.