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• Conservation
• Smart Growth
• Social
Justice
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Conservation
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| Photo credit Mark Harvey |
Public
Access to the Hunter Creek Valley Permanently Protected: A 17 year
saga
In 1988, in Aspen, "FREE HUNTER CREEK" was emblazoned on T-shirts
and bumper stickers. Hardly a week went by the next four years without
a County Commission or Court hearing, a front-page article or lead
editorial, a full-page ad announcing a picnic or ski-in, or an incident
of harassment on public roads and trails accessing this popular recreation
area.
Today, Pitkin County and the Friends of Hunter
Creek have finally secured perpetual rights
of public access from
Aspen to the nearby Hunter Creek Valley -- the back yard of Aspen --
and to the pristine 82,450 acre Hunter-Frying Pan Wilderness beyond.
This is the culmination of one state and two federal court litigations,
a 50-witness trial in U.S. District Court in 1993, and interminable
years awaiting Court rulings and participating in stop-and-go settlement
negotiations.
In 2002, following issuance of the federal court's
Order locating the route of the public road -- from
Aspen, through the maze of high-end homes on Red Mountain, and on to
the national forest boundary -- the landowners' appeal to the 10th
Circuit was gathering momentum. Public Counsel immediately retained
former Colorado
Supreme Court justice Jean Dubofsky as the appellate attorney for the
Friends of Hunter Creek. During the next three years, Ms. Dubofsky
skillfully guided the case through 10th Circuit mediation to a long-awaited
final settlement.
Wisely, the County, the Friends, and
all of the affected Red Mountain landowners settled for limited
rather than unlimited public access. In so doing, the interests of
all parties were harmonized so as to preserve as much as possible the
sanctity of this very special place -- for tomorrow’s
flora and fauna as well as for all who find time for a lunch hour walk
or ski, an afternoon ride, a day or two of hiking or fishing, a summer
or winter hut trip, a week of hunting, or an extended adventure into
permanently protected wilderness.
The settlement protects these lands
from being overrun by "too much access"(e.g., vehicular,
dirt bike, snowmobile, tour bus ... even asphalt). As the Agreement
recites, a balance has been struck that will "guarantee
suitable public access to the Hunter Creek Valley and aid in
the preservation of the Hunter Creek Valley."
The
Friends of Hunter Creek was the torch bearer from the outset,
founded in 1988 by two former Aspen Mayors when the landowners
closed and barricaded the historic North Road as it passed through
their 70 acres. Pitkin County was close to caving
in and abandoning claims of public rights of access to these
roads. Through the entire 17-year saga, the
Friends were led by the same dedicated conservationists and backcountry
enthusiasts who had worked together in the early ’70s on another
project to protect this land; that was to secure Congressional approval
of the federal purchase of the entire Hunter Creek valley floor from
McCulloch Oil Company, averting a planned 1200 house subdivision with
a planned gondola serving the subdivision from Aspen.
Highlights of this settlement include:
- 24/7 motorized as
well as non-motorized access to a small parking lot on
national forest lands (for
general public "drop
off"or "pick up"and for special needs,
senior and 10th Mountain Hut parking) and to the much larger
BLM parking lot (for general public parking).
- Perpetual easements
for mountain bike users and hikers along a ravine
route.
- A perpetual conservation easement granted
by the landowners to Aspen Valley Land Trust along
Hunter Creek.
- A perpetual Nordic
Trail easement granted by the landowners
to Pitkin County and prohibiting snow plowing.
- Hunter access
from 7 days before until 7 days after hunting season.
- 24/7 motorized access guaranteed for handicapped or senior citizens
or school children on educational outings.
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