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kgeary@summitdaily.com
Over the past month, the town of Breckenridge has been debating the fate of one of its most cherished nature preserves.
At an April 9 meeting, Breckenridge Town Council was asked to contemplate the government’s role in preserving Cucumber Gulch Nature Preserve and whether recreational access should continue to be permitted in the area, which has already suffered environmental setbacks due to human-caused impacts.
Council decided at its May 14 meeting to continue to allow recreational access to the area, while still ensuring some preservation efforts be followed through on, following a month of discussion and input from community members.
Now a small portion of the Toad Alley Trail, which bisects the nature preserve, will be realigned near the base of Peak 7 at Breckenridge Ski Resort, and it could happen as soon as this summer. The other option would be to decommission the existing portion of the trail that bisects the gulch and have it pop out at Peak 8 instead of Peak 7, taking that recreational access away from the nature preserve.
While this realignment was the one favored by the community, it doesn’t fall in line with what environmental experts recommended.
Former Open Space and Trails manager Anne Lowe described staff and environmental experts as being “really worried” about the negative impacts brought to Cucumber Gulch over the past two decades.
Many of these impacts are human caused, and environmental experts have said there’s no way to reverse them, though they can be minimized going forward. Lowe previously expressed that staff favored the decommissioning of the trail based on feedback from environmental experts.
Analysis done by environmental experts found that the location of the Toad Alley Trail has threatened the biodiversity in the area, namely causing habitat fragmentation and impacts to hydrologic flow.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials have said the boreal toad, an endangered species, will likely never return to the area and that reintroduction of the at-risk species likely won’t happen. Officials also noted that the elk population in that area has seen a severe decline over the past few decades.
Some of the largest concerns are in regard to the area’s wetlands.
Brad Johnson with Johnson Environmental Consulting largely explained at an April 22 Open Space Advisory Commission meeting that the wetlands in the area are both resilient and unique, noting they withstood a fairly substantial fire back in the late 1800s.
Johnson said the realignment is the second-best option between that and decommissioning the trail. He said the realignment of the small portion of the trail near Peak 7 is a step in the right direction though. The realignment would spare the wetlands nearby, which serve as headwaters for other wetlands in the area.
“That’s a source for all the down gradient wetlands. It’s at the top of the system and any impacts to it ripple through the system,” Johnson said.
Town staffers are looking to honor the sentiment of the community, which is keeping recreational access through the gulch, while also preserving the gulch as much as possible.
Community development director Mark Truckey walked council through some of the protection efforts created by staff at the May 14 meeting. Staff proposed removing trail structures in the area that prohibit water flow. They said this is especially important on the westernmost portion of the trail. Staff also proposed more analysis on how snow compaction impacts the area since the Breckenridge Nordic Center’s uses it for cross-country skiing.
Council discussed striking the balance between allowing recreation and ensuring meaningful preservation efforts.
Mayor Kelly Owens brought up a question many have asked in regards to continuing to allow recreational access to the gulch: What about bikes?
Council member Jay Beckerman, who is on the Open Space Advisory Commission, said from experts and staff “there was a unanimous recommendation to not allow bikes on Toad Alley and to make it pedestrian only.”
Many council members agreed with this along with a recommendation to keep groups recreating in the area limited to six to eight people. Council member Todd Rankin mentioned the concept of having more enforcement in the area to ensure that it does not get overwhelmed by human impact.
“Talking about this idea of management and enforcement, I like the idea of having rangers out there,” Rankin said, noting the importance of enforcement when it comes to not overwhelming the area.
Council also favored the recommendation to prohibit recreation during dusk and dawn, which are times that have been identified as sensitive to the local wildlife.
The plan is to continue to honor the seasonal trail access and only open the trail for recreation use after early July.
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