Alpine Loop Backcountry Byway Spatial Analysis and Mapping Project
View a Quicktime movie virtual flyover of mining claims within the area. Approximate file size: 4MB
The Alpine Loop region contains some of Colorado's finest scenery, recreational opportunities, historic resources, and high country wildlife habitat. The hard rock mining heritage of the area is evident in the numerous mining-era structures that fascinate visitors with their silent testimony to past struggles of the region's early pioneers. One of only two BLM designated Backcountry Byways in Colorado, the Alpine Loop and its surrounding public land playground draw visitors from around the nation. The Alpine Loop provides a wide variety of activities and recreational challenges in a rugged, high country setting. The area's recreational and scenic draw forms the foundation for the local economies of the gateway communities of Ouray, Silverton, and Lake City.
An unseen legacy of the mining past, however, is the seemingly haphazard configuration of patented mining claims – private inholdings that dissect the public landscape throughout the Alpine Loop area. The ultimate disposition of these mining claims holds the potential for profoundly changing the experience of future Alpine Loop visitors. Issues such as:
- threats to ongoing recreational access across private land;
- pollution and environmental liability concerns from abandoned mines;
- active and passive destruction of historic resources;
- and inappropriate backcountry development that impacts vistas, fragments habitat and stresses local infrastructure;
Conservation Priorities Processcould produce ramifications that ultimately impact the economic vitality of the region. The impact can be mediated by active participation in determining the future management of public and private lands in the area.
The Alpine Loop Spatial Analysis and Mapping Project seeks to analyze the Alpine Loop landscape, considering important natural and cultural resources along with the likelihood of development based upon building constraints. The aim of the Project is to provide a planning tool for area stakeholders as they consider the variety of land management options and the future of this magnificent region. The next logical step will be to craft solutions that work within the framework of landowner desires, local and federal government land management goals, and available financial and technical resources to manage the area in a way that preserves the Alpine Loop experience for future generations.
A variety of tools can be utilized to meet the needs of area stakeholders. Some tools can be implemented purely at a local government level, while others require federal government involvement. Tactics will likely vary in different portions of the Alpine Loop depending on local desires and resources. Acquisition of critical parcels from willing sellers and conveyance to the BLM or Forest Service is an option when concordant with local political sentiment and landowner objectives. Other options include zoning and reasonable land use regulations, land exchanges, conservation easements, and transfer of development rights to areas deemed more suitable for residential or commercial development. We recognize the important economic role of the construction and real estate industries in the area. They are as vital to the local economies as is recreation. We believe it's possible to find solutions that maintain the land stock that can be developed while managing the area to preserve its natural and cultural wonders. The landowners, the people who control these private inholdings imbedded in vast public land holdings, will need to be engaged and willing in order to implement best management practices.
Talk of land conservation tools, though, is premature at this point. This project's goal is to identify the distribution of natural and historic resources in order to effectively manage lands in the Alpine Loop area. Where things go from there depends upon the level of importance that residents of the areas around Ouray, Silverton, and Lake City place on preserving the Alpine Loop backcountry experience for economic reasons and for quality of life reasons. It's been said that planning is an optimistic act, one that says the future will be better than the past. The value of the scenery, recreational opportunities, historic resources and high country wildlife habitat along this Backcountry Byway are immeasurable and are worth saving.
| View south on Silver Street of business district, Lake City, Colorado; shows wagon road through town, terminus of a branch of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, a two-story bank (1877), Pueblo House Hotel (1884) on the left side of street, and several wooden false front structures on right including a grocery. This photo and the top banner are courtesy of the Western History/Genealogy Department, Denver Public Library. | Computer generated birdseye view of mining claims above Lake San Cristobal near Lake City. |