SUMMIT COUNTY — Three of the area's most popular national forest camping areas will be closed all summer, and three others will open late, once beetle-killed trees have been removed.

Prospector (107 sites), Lowry (24 sites) and Blue River (24 sites) campgrounds all have suffered from pine beetle attacks and will be closed until the Forest Service can remove dead trees.

Peak One and Pine Cove campgrounds will open on a delayed basis, and Sapphire Point may also open late, said Rick Doak, a recreation specialist with the White River National Forest.

On the bright side, the Heaton Bay campground (89 sites) will re-open this year. All the campgrounds at the north end of the county, around Green Mountain Reservoir, will be open for the season.

Out of 385 camp sites in the heart of Summit County, 155 will remain closed this summer. The campgrounds scattered around Green Mountain Reservoir have a total of 120 sites.

Doak said the Gore Creek campground (29 sites), just west of Vail Pass, will also be open this summer.

“The beetles moved a little faster than we had anticipated,” Doak said. “We had hoped to keep some of these campgrounds open through the summer,” he said. But aerial surveys this winter showed the damage to be widespread in the affected areas.

In a press release, Doak said the limited number of contractors and limited Forest Service resources thwarted efforts to get the campgrounds open for the summer.
The agency's main concern is public safety. The beetle-killed trees are susceptible to blow-downs.

“We are very concerned with the public's safety when it comes to the dnager posed by these dead trees,” said acting White River National Forest Supervisor Cal Wettstein. “but I also want people to know we are doing everything we can to mitigate the problem and get the campgrounds open as soon as possible,” he said.

The Forest Service is exploring the use of experienced prison fire crews to get the dead trees cut and removed, Wettstein said.

Tree removal is already under way at the Pine Cove and peak One campgrounds. Several other timber contracts to be awarded in the next few months should cover the work at the other affected campgrounds, Doak said.

“The Dillon Disrict is fortunate,” Doak said, suggesting that the local area is ahead of curve when it comes to treating beetle-killed trees. A large-scale environmental study around Dillon Reservoir set the stage for speedy tree removal once the contracts are awarded, Doak said.

Trees killed by pine beetles will be a huge safety concern for at least the next 10 years, Doak said, urging people to be careful, not just at campgrounds, but while recreating anywhere near beetle-killed lodgepole stands.

Call the U.S. Forest Service Dillon Ranger District for the latest campground information at (970) 468-5400.


<i>Bob Berwyn can be reached at (970) 331-5996, or at bberwyn@summitdaily.com.</i>