Lone Mesa Park opens headquarters

Lone Mesa Park opens headquarters

April 19, 2001

PLATEAU CREEK winds its way through Lone Mesa State Park with the eastern end of Lone Mesa looming in the background. The new state park 24 miles north of Dolores is not yet developed and open for recreation, but management plans are being prepared and the area is expected to be open for hunting in 2002.

By Janelle Holden
Journal Staff Writer

Closed but not forgotten, Lone Mesa State Park recently gained a home office in Dolores, 24 miles south of the 11,760-acre park.

Lone Mesa’s new headquarters is at 1321 Railroad Avenue in Dolores and is being managed by Scot Elder, a Colorado State Parks senior ranger.

Elder said that Lone Mesa will be open for "limited" public access as early as the 2002 hunting season. But Elder predicted the park would not fully open for five years because Lone Mesa’s development depends on the strained budget of Great Outdoors Colorado.

Purchased in June 1999, Lone Mesa State Park cost a little over $6 million. The park was named after Lone Mesa Ranch, the largest of three adjoining ranches in Dolores County that complete the park. In addition to the pristine ranches, the park also includes 1,850 acres of isolated BLM lands, and is adjacent to the San Juan National Forest and a section of state school land.

"Lone Mesa is greatly different from most of the state parks in Colorado," explained Elder. "It certainly is a crown jewel in Colorado. One, because of its sheer size, and two, because its so diverse in its biomes and wildlife."

Lone Mesa is last on the list of the three "crown-jewel" parks yet to be developed, primarily because of the expensive undertaking of providing utilities in a remote location. The other two crown-jewel parks are Brush Creek State Park near Eagle, and Cheyenne Mountain State Park in the Colorado Springs area.

Eventually, a visitors’ center with staff offices and a nearby campground will be constructed at the Lone Mesa cabin, one of five cabins on the property. However, Elder said that if the Dolores office proved to be an asset to the community, the state-parks division would likely keep an office in the town.

Currently, the Dolores office provides a base camp not only for developing the management plan for the park, but as a year-round office for Southwest Colorado residents to register boats and off-road vehicles such as four-wheelers and snowmobiles. Navajo State Park, located between Bayfield and Pagosa Springs, was previously the closest office open for boat registrations in the Four Corners.

"This summer our main objective up there is beginning a vegetative management plan, and to continue to work with the Division of Wildlife to develop a wildlife-management plan," explained Elder.

For local recreationists excited about exploring Lone Mesa, Elder suggests contacting the San Juan Mountains Association, which is coordinating volunteer efforts in helping develop a trail system in the park.

When the park opens, recreationists will be privy to numerous scenic vistas, including rock outcrops, sandstone mesas, forests and meadowlands with trees ranging from piñon and juniper, to Douglas fir and aspen. It also provides critical habitat for a variety of wildlife including black bears, mountain lions, deer, elk, small mammals, and predatory birds.

Although the park’s recreation-development plan has yet to be determined, Elder said the recreation would "satisfy the more typical recreationists who want a more pristine experience."

In other words, the Colorado State Parks Division is not planning on building a "humongous paved campground," but is planning to accommodate hikers, bikers, equestrians, skiers, and other recreationists. In addition, Elder said plans to build yurts for cross-country recreationists are also being considered.

Initially, the park included the Perkins Ranch, 3,048 acres adjacent to Lone Mesa currently being purchased by Redstone Land Company, which plans to subdivide the ranch into 35-acre tracts. But Great Outdoors Colorado was under budget constraints, and the two southern ranches provide access to the larger Lone Mesa ranch.

To reach the park, recreationists should prepare for a 40-minute drive on roads that are open only seasonally. U.S. Forest Service Road 526 provides northern access to the property, and USFS Road 514 provides access to the southern boundary.

Currently, the Dolores Water Conservancy District is studying the possibility of turning Plateau Creek, which runs through Lone Mesa, into a dammed reservoir.

"The dam would be on private property, not in the park, but probably 80 percent of the water surface in the reservoir would be in the park," explained John Porter, the manager of DWCD.

"We would have to make arrangements on such things as minimum pool and how would they get water for their campgrounds. Those would be some of the issues that had to be addressed if Plateau Creek Reservoir would be constructed," said Porter.

Elder said that Colorado State Parks is not opposing the study of the project, but has not issued any statement either for or against the proposed reservoir.

The Lone Mesa office opened on March 19. Office hours are currently 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday to Sunday. The telephone number is 882-2213, and the mailing address is: Lone Mesa State Park, P.O. Box 1047, Dolores CO 81323.