Forest Service planning RFL-area management project

By Linda Bell
Correspondent

The Canyon Lakes Ranger District of the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forest is in the early stages of developing an efficient, dispersed recreation management plan in the Mount Margaret, Lady Moon and Molly Lake area near Red Feather Lakes.

Coined the Margaret-Molly-Moon plan, it will bring the area in line with proposals set out in the 1997 forest plan, according to Kristy Wumkes, partnerships coordinator for the district.

This area attracts large numbers of visitors all year, Wumkes said, for activities like hiking, horseback riding, mountain biking, rock-climbing, backpacking to dispersed campsites, skiing, snow-shoeing, bird-watching and hunting, while during the summer months it is also used as a grazing allotment. There are no plans to change the grazing allotments under the current forest plan, she added.

Wumkes said Dowdy Campground at Red Feather Lakes, adjacent to Mount Margaret, gets the highest continual use of any in the district, and the forest management plan designates the Margaret-Molly-Moon blocks as high-use areas.

The district is especially evaluating current and potential travel routes in the area. In a recent letter sent to residents whose land is adjacent to the forestland, district ranger Ellen Hodges noted there is a confusing mixture of roads and trails, some improperly identified, which need to be sorted out.

Hodges stated that after the plan is completed, some of the proposed actions might include:

• converting selected non-system trails to system-trails;
• reconstructing existing travel routes to meet forest standards and guidelines;
• converting selected roads to system trails or decommissioning roads;
• designing new connector trails to tie in existing routes;
• designing and reconstructing trailhead access facilities;
• discontinuing use of the Mount Margaret road system for all nonadministrative motorized use, in accordance with the forest plan direction. This would affect motorized traffic during the fall hunting season.

To create such a plan, Wumkes said, Forest Service specialists in timber use, land use, recreational planning, archaeology, hydrology, botany, biology and engineering are assessing the area, setting out surveyor's marking and colored tape. After they finish their recommendations, she said, the district will estimate the cost of the plan and request funding.

Through March 15, the district is inviting comments on the proposed project from the community. Written comments should be sent to District Ranger, Canyon Lakes Ranger District, 1311 S. College Ave, Fort Collins, CO 80524 or sent by e-mail at kwumkes@fs.fed.us. Oral comments or questions about the project should be directed to Kristy Wumkes at 498-2733.