Summit County Citizens Voice

Multiple projects on national forest lands are under way. Watch this YouTube video of the Grateful Dead and Los Lobos singing This Land is Your Land to get fired up, then click on the links below and get involved.

SUMMIT COUNTY — About two-thirds of the land in Summit County is owned by you and me, and managed on our behalf by the U.S. Forest Service. Even the land where our big ski resorts operate is public land, and we all have a responsibility to be involved in making decisions about what happens on that land.

The Forest Service make an effort to let the public know about various studies that are under way with press releases and notices in the federal register, but sometimes those outreach efforts are limited to mailing lists of people who, at some point in the process, express an interest in a particular project.

As landowners, we need to be pro-active in getting involved. Go the White River National Forest website and click on the projects and plans link to see what’s going on. Under each listing, you’ll find links to make comments, or, at the very least, to add yourself to the mailing list.

Just a couple of things on the agenda:

A big land swap involved private land along Peru Creek and National Forest land at the base of Keystone is still in the works. More info here.

Major clear-cutting and thinning are planned in the lodgepole forests at Keystone Ski Area. Click here for information.

Get information on the long-delayed White River NF travel management (trails) plan here.

The White River forest is in the process of revising oil and gas leasing regulations. More info here.

Information on a major forest health and fuel reduction project around Breckenridge is online here.

Another way to honor the privilege of being a public land owner is to get involved in local stewardship efforts, including trail work, clean-ups and forest restoration.

Visit the Friends of the Eagles Nest Wilderness website here and the Friends of the Dillon Ranger District, to learn more.

Filed under: Environment, forests, public lands, Summit County Colorado, US Forest Service Tagged: | Environment, Friends of the Dillon Ranger District, Friends of the Eagles Nest Wilderness, Keystone Forest Health, NEPA, oil and gas leasing White River National Forest, public lands, Summit County, Summit County Colorado, Summit County News, White River National Forest projects, White River National Forest travel management plan