Supporters of Colorado Trail seek new route through wildlife area

Supporters of Colorado Trail seek new route through wildlife area

January 15, 2002

By Tom Sluis
Durango Herald Staff Writer

A land swap may help bring the end of the Colorado Trail closer to downtown Durango under a proposal supported by the La Plata County commissioners.

The 500-mile trail stretches from Denver to Durango and ends about 3 miles up Junction Creek. Trail supporters want to improve access by routing the trail through the Perins Peak State Wildlife Area and add better parking.

The Division of Wildlife is concerned because the 6,900-acre Perins Peak State Wildlife Area it owns is home to numerous species of animals and is closed during the winter to protect habitat.

At its weekly meeting Monday the three commissioners unanimously agreed to send a letter to Division of Wildlife Director Russell George requesting all or some of the wildlife area would be swapped with land owned by the U.S. Forest Service and the BLM.

If the deal works out, the end of the trail would be on the eastern fringe of land currently owned by the DOW.

Sheryl Rogers, one of the county’s attorneys, told commissioners it will probably take a long time to finalize the swaps.

"The Division of Wildlife, Forest Service and BLM all say this is the preferred method," Rogers said.

About 30,000 hikers and bicyclists would gain access to the wildlife area, which is owned by the Colorado Division of Wildlife and the BLM.

Commissioner Fred Klatt said the land swap will be contentious for some people, but that the letter to George is important to move the process forward.

The county and the DOW sparred in the past over the trail’s extension through the wildlife area, with both sides laying claim to a potential trail site, an old wagon road on Dry Gulch Road.

In other action, the commissioners approved $18,000 for its share of a wildlife-management program run by the United State Department of Agriculture.

The money for 2002 will go toward USDA’s Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health, Wildlife Services division.

The county will also spend $9,000 on educational aspects of the program, which has been criticized in the past for too heavily relying on killing animals.