I attended the U.S. Forest Service’s “open house” regarding the Frisco Backyard Fuels and Recreation Project, and I read the documents on the Forest Service website. 

Are the Town of Frisco and Forest Service really going to clearcut parts of 1,250 acres of forest adjacent to Frisco in the area of Peaks Trail, Rainbow Lake, Miners Creek, Ophir Mountain and Mount Royal? The plan is referred to as fuels treatment in the scoping notice. But thereafter, the documents designate the many areas for “clearcutting.” As well, we have already witnessed that “fuels treatment” means clearcutting. Look at the large swaths of clearcutting already done around Rainbow Lake, the Peaks Trail, on Ophir Mountain and on Gold Hill.

Everyone wants to reduce threats of spreading wildfires. Fire breaks make sense. Doesn’t clearcutting cause grasses and weeds to grow, making it more likely that a wildfire will spread? The destructive Marshall fire on the outskirts of Boulder County started and spread through dry grassland.

People use these forest areas for recreation and exercise, but they also go into the forest for solace and peace. I fear Frisco’s plan for “improved recreation” will instead result in more roads and paved areas and people experiencing the area as a backyard. These areas are not a “backyard.” It’s a forest and should remain a forest.

The notice of this project was insufficient. It was in tiny print under legal notices in the Summit Daily News and then we only have until May 15 to comment. Can’t we hold up here and give sufficient notice to the public and take time to get more input and participation from the public?

Editor’s note: Numerous articles about the plans in Frisco’s Backyard have been published in Summit Daily News since July 2022.