Reminder - CSU Watershed Access Policy meeting tonight:
Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2007
6 to 8 p.m.
Leon Young Service Center
1521 Hancock Expressway

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Colorado Springs Utilities is undergoing a public process to come up with a
formal Watershed Access Policy. This policy will dictate where you will
have access on CSU land.

This impacts numerous parcels of land throughout the City and County,
including , as with the Forest Service Management Plan above, the South
Slope of Pikes Peak. In addition, it covers the North Slope (Catamount
Reservoirs), Waldo Canyon, portions of the East Slope of Pikes Peaks (St.
Marys Falls region among others), Rampart Range Reservoir, etc. So biking
can be heavily impacted by any policy they enact.

There was even a recent Gazette article on the issue on Dec. 12, 2006 (front
page of the Metro section).

The draft policy (the policy, along with other information, can be found at
http://www.csu.org/about/projects/watershed/ and basically lays out three
zones (1-3) with varying levels of access. Zone 1 = no public access, Zone
2 = trail corridor access only, and Zone 3 = limited public access.

At the first public meeting in November, a map was displayed (it is posted
on the site shown above) in which the entire South and Eastern Slopes of
Pikes Peak were Zone 1 (no access), including not only CSU land, but large
swaths of National Forest land as well. There was essentially no Zone 2
(only a very small parcel directly West of the Pikes Peak summit).

Scott Campbell of CSU has stated that the map was misunderstood and
frustrating to those at the 1st meeting and that it is being revised for the
2nd public meeting. The revision will supposedly zone only CSU land (not
National Forest) and he also has stated that the placing of Zone 2 corridors
is ongoing and that all "accepted use" trails on CSU property will have Zone
2 corridors around them. However, CSU does manage National Forest Land, so
they still might restrict access on land coincident with the first map but
just not tell you that during the public process because it is separate from
the Watershed Access Plan (I'm not a cynic!).

However, it is up to us to ensure that the trails we love are Zone 2 and not
simply leave it up to CSU to define "accepted use." For example, he stated
that official (numbered, like 701 for example) Forest Service Trails are
"accepted use," as is Barr Trail, but that we shouldn't expect "social"
trails to become Zone 2.

Questions abound, such as how these Zones will be enforced (what if someone
accidentally wanders into a Zone 1 region because they followed a "social"
trail that they have no way of knowing isn't "accepted use"), why they don't
start with most regions as Zone 3 (limited public access) and restrict the
zoning on these regions as need/use/problems/etc. dictate (in other words,
leave it open unless sufficient reason exists to restrict access, not the
other way around as they plan to - they admitted that it was a good
question, but they wouldn't answer it), how much protection do our
reservoirs really need (if they are remote, or, at the opposite extreme
heavily trafficked (lots of witnesses), one would assume that restrictions
would be minimal), how vulnerable are the reservoirs (that you will never
get an answer to), why not use this opportunity to see if there are
additional trails that could be designated as "accepted use" and designated
Zone 2 (I was explicitly told that this will not be happening - there is a
process by which you can submit a trail to see if they can designate it as
Zone 2, but I wouldn't hold my breath - after all, they define "accepted
use" and it is likely not in their best interest to provide access to
anything other than the bare minimum of "accepted use" trails), etc.

They plan on presenting the final Plan to the Utilities Board (City Council)
on April 21st, but at this point they don't plan on having a final map (they
see the map and the Access Plan as two separate concerns). It has been
stressed to them that they need to include the map in the Plan, but we'll
see if that occurs. If it isn't included, then they might not have a public
process for the map (for actual designation of Zone 2 trails that can be
accessed versus inaccessible ones).

So it's up to you - if you have a favorite trail that you'd like to protect
or gain access to, try to make the meeting(s) or send in comments.

The meetings are :
Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2007 & Thursday, Feb. 22, 2007
6 to 8 p.m.
Leon Young Service Center
1521 Hancock Expressway

Or email comments to both:
Scott Campbell
Water Services Division Manager
scampbell@...

&

Lisa Rosintoski
Issues Management Manager
lrosintoski@...