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There are concerns within the Mosquito Range that might affect a number of separate interests. Some in the area are concerned over recent efforts to re-zone mining land to become residential developments.
PARK COUNTY — Recent issues with access to Colorado’s Fourteeners have spawned questions from hikers all over the state.
Mainly, the issue has surfaced in Park County, where the U.S. Forest Service recently began distributing fliers warning hikers to keep off trails to Mount Democrat, Mount Lincoln, Mount Bross and Mount Cameron unless they have permission from landowners who acquired the land through old mining claims.
But what do you do when everyone has a different idea about the best way to use the land of the Mosquito Range Mountains, home of several of the famous Colorado Fourteeners?
Argue? Get mad? Trespass?
For some who live around the Fourteeners, the answer is to organize.
The result has been the formation of the Mosquito Range Heritage Initiative, a consortium of widely diverse groups who have an interest in what goes on in the Mosquito Range.
There are concerns within the Mosquito Range that might affect a number of separate interests. Some in the area are concerned over recent efforts to re-zone mining land to become residential developments. They are afraid that long-used hiking trails that cross from mining land to state and national forest property will be closed, while wildlife experts fear breeding and grazing land will be lost to the many elk, moose, deer and other animals living in the area.
With these and other concerns in mind, organizers of the Mosquito Range Heritage Initiative began gathering representatives of governmental agencies, homeowners associations, towns, off-road vehicle clubs, non-profits, hiking and sport groups, historical associations, individuals and other organizations to discuss their very diverse interests and to exchange information.
Over the last several months, the group has mapped traditional trails, recreational areas, historical sites, wildlife habitat, mining areas and locations of rare plant life such as the globe gilia, known only to the Mosquito Range and Porter feathergrass, which is found in South Park and no where else in the world.
Since the recent issue of the brochure advising hikers to contact landowners before climbing the Mosquito Range fourteeners, stakeholders in the initiative have been planning talks and are soon to have a formal meeting to address the issue, though the date is currently uncertain.
Cara Doyle, one of the founders of the organization, said the group stands willing to help ease the conflicts of interests that arise over the use of the high country.
“If the owners are willing, perhaps we can build signs to identify private land up there, or distribute educational materials,” Doyle said.
Doyle added that the group is willing to help clean up or maintain historic trails.
“We will be having a work session on (Sunday) Aug. 28 and a planning meeting on Tuesday, Aug.16 at 10 a.m. at the Alma Town Hall, and we invite people interested in finding out about the Mosquito Range Heritage Initiative to come.”
<b>History</b>
Ever since the white man began looking for gold in “them thar hills,” disputes have surfaced over who should have access to the land and how it should be used.
When gold was found in abundance in the area of Buckskin Mountain in the early 1860s, miners flocked to the Mosquito Range as well as to other areas of Colorado’s Mineral belt that included an area roughly from Telluride to well north of Denver.
People slapped claims on 10 or 100 acres areas, depending on the type of mining they were doing. Later, silver was found at the very tops of Mount Bross and Mount Lincoln and claims soon covered the mountains.
Most of those claims are still in private hands, waiting for the mines to once again yield minerals or metals that will be worth the cost to remove them. The most recent conflict to cause a stir is the admonition in Forest Service brochures that hikers seeking to climb the four fourteeners located in the range are trespassing and should get permission from the owners of the land on the mountain tops before climbing them.
“We are swamped with calls,” said Park County Assessor Dave Wissel, whose office is listed as a source for the names of the owners of the mining claims.
With the popularity of four-wheel-drive autos, mountain bikes and hiking, the old roads and trails are once again as populated as when tourists in 1875 once rode horses or clambered in high-heeled boots to visit the mines on the “Top of the World.”
Now, the attraction of the views from the top of Bross, Lincoln, Democrat and Sherman conflicts with the worries the landowners have over the dangers trespassers might face if they should fall into one of the many mine shafts dotting the mountain surfaces.
Mainly, the issue has surfaced in Park County, where the U.S. Forest Service recently began distributing fliers warning hikers to keep off trails to Mount Democrat, Mount Lincoln, Mount Bross and Mount Cameron unless they have permission from landowners who acquired the land through old mining claims.
But what do you do when everyone has a different idea about the best way to use the land of the Mosquito Range Mountains, home of several of the famous Colorado Fourteeners?
Argue? Get mad? Trespass?
For some who live around the Fourteeners, the answer is to organize.
The result has been the formation of the Mosquito Range Heritage Initiative, a consortium of widely diverse groups who have an interest in what goes on in the Mosquito Range.
There are concerns within the Mosquito Range that might affect a number of separate interests. Some in the area are concerned over recent efforts to re-zone mining land to become residential developments. They are afraid that long-used hiking trails that cross from mining land to state and national forest property will be closed, while wildlife experts fear breeding and grazing land will be lost to the many elk, moose, deer and other animals living in the area.
With these and other concerns in mind, organizers of the Mosquito Range Heritage Initiative began gathering representatives of governmental agencies, homeowners associations, towns, off-road vehicle clubs, non-profits, hiking and sport groups, historical associations, individuals and other organizations to discuss their very diverse interests and to exchange information.
Over the last several months, the group has mapped traditional trails, recreational areas, historical sites, wildlife habitat, mining areas and locations of rare plant life such as the globe gilia, known only to the Mosquito Range and Porter feathergrass, which is found in South Park and no where else in the world.
Since the recent issue of the brochure advising hikers to contact landowners before climbing the Mosquito Range fourteeners, stakeholders in the initiative have been planning talks and are soon to have a formal meeting to address the issue, though the date is currently uncertain.
Cara Doyle, one of the founders of the organization, said the group stands willing to help ease the conflicts of interests that arise over the use of the high country.
“If the owners are willing, perhaps we can build signs to identify private land up there, or distribute educational materials,” Doyle said.
Doyle added that the group is willing to help clean up or maintain historic trails.
“We will be having a work session on (Sunday) Aug. 28 and a planning meeting on Tuesday, Aug.16 at 10 a.m. at the Alma Town Hall, and we invite people interested in finding out about the Mosquito Range Heritage Initiative to come.”
<b>History</b>
Ever since the white man began looking for gold in “them thar hills,” disputes have surfaced over who should have access to the land and how it should be used.
When gold was found in abundance in the area of Buckskin Mountain in the early 1860s, miners flocked to the Mosquito Range as well as to other areas of Colorado’s Mineral belt that included an area roughly from Telluride to well north of Denver.
People slapped claims on 10 or 100 acres areas, depending on the type of mining they were doing. Later, silver was found at the very tops of Mount Bross and Mount Lincoln and claims soon covered the mountains.
Most of those claims are still in private hands, waiting for the mines to once again yield minerals or metals that will be worth the cost to remove them. The most recent conflict to cause a stir is the admonition in Forest Service brochures that hikers seeking to climb the four fourteeners located in the range are trespassing and should get permission from the owners of the land on the mountain tops before climbing them.
“We are swamped with calls,” said Park County Assessor Dave Wissel, whose office is listed as a source for the names of the owners of the mining claims.
With the popularity of four-wheel-drive autos, mountain bikes and hiking, the old roads and trails are once again as populated as when tourists in 1875 once rode horses or clambered in high-heeled boots to visit the mines on the “Top of the World.”
Now, the attraction of the views from the top of Bross, Lincoln, Democrat and Sherman conflicts with the worries the landowners have over the dangers trespassers might face if they should fall into one of the many mine shafts dotting the mountain surfaces.
