A 1-mile stretch of trail prompted conversation between the U.S. Forest Service and Keystone as residents continue to bring concerns to the town.

Before starting the discussion with U.S. Forest Service at a Aug. 26 Keystone Town Council meeting, residents, both of Keystone and other Summit County towns, expressed dismay over the realignment of Frog Trail near Keystone. Council members indicated they also received other concerns regarding the trail project outside of public comment. 

The Frog Trail is located on the opposite side of U.S. Highway 6 from the Snake River and is under the White River National Forest jurisdiction in the east zone of the Dillon Ranger District. It was a social trail up until around 2010, interim White River National Forest district ranger Amanda Wheelock said. Resident Patti Banks told the Summit Daily News it is a hidden gem of sorts used by Keystone residents. 

The U.S Forest Service’s project realigned the trail by decommissioning 1 mile of it and constructing around 2 miles of new trail in a location the agency determined to be more sustainable. The project did receive funding through the White River National Forest Ski Conversation fund, but the U.S. Forest Service’s website does not detail the overall project cost. 

Wheelock said the project stemmed from a National Environmental Policy Act evaluation process showing the trail was unsustainable. She said it went straight up against a fall line with a slope near water, and the agency identified a lot of erosion impacts. She said it’s difficult to upkeep areas like these and keep them adequate for recreation, and there were adverse impacts found to the water nearby. 

Additionally, she said a nearby neighborhood in the area complained to the agency about people passing through their private property to get to the trail. 

Council member Aaron Parmet raised concerns about the agency’s decisions regarding the project. 

“I believe you’ve been misinformed by someone. So there’s a couple of facts that folks have brought to me that I just think that you’re operating on information that has been provided to you that’s counterfactual,” he said. 

He said he wasn’t sure what the agency’s definition of “fall line” is, but that’s not what he feels is the situation at Frog Trail. He said there were no erosion issues, it was “erosively stable,” and there’s locals who can attest to that. He said the contractors working on the trails are the one causing problems on it.

He said he raised these issues on behalf of his constituents who are concerned, like Banks, who said she teared up when seeing what happened to the trail. 

He said the agency’s evaluation of the trail isn’t based in reality and wondered what her thoughts were on it. 

“My thoughts are that I have recreation managers on my staff who have 30 years of experience. I have hydrologists who analyze this project for impacts to wetlands, and found that there (are) no wetlands in (the area of the new trail segment). … I’m not sure what your training and hydrology or recreation management is, Aaron, but I trust my staff,” Wheelock said. 

“I don’t need a hydrology degree to know what a spring-fed stream looks like,” he responded. 

In terms of the communication issues raised by Parmet, Wheelock said the Forest Service isn’t required to do public outreach at all. She said they typically do for larger-scale projects with major impacts to an area, and this involves reaching out to stakeholders, like municipalities. She said the process for the Frog Trail began before Keystone became a town, which is in part why there were no public house events for the project. 

She said those on a particular email list regarding updates in the White River National Forest would have received an email about the project. Parmet said several people he knows on that email list, including himself, checked and didn’t receive the email regarding the project. 

After around 20 minutes of back and forth between Parmet and Wheelock, mayor Ken Riley made an impromptu motion to end the discussion about Frog Trail, which was moved and seconded by another council member.

Riley asked the town attorney if the discussion solely focused on the trails was permissible when it wasn’t an agenda item. The attorney said it was, and Riley invited other council members to ask any questions about the project they may have for Wheelock. Council members said they had no objection to ending the discussion and didn’t have any questions, and a motion was then made to end the conversation about Frog Trail. 

Riley said he valued a working relationship with the U.S. Forest Service and didn’t want to dwell on a project that started almost two years ago.