Rocky Mountain National Park staff are seeking the public’s engagement and input on the park’s long-range Day Use Visitor Access Strategy. “We are eager to continue engaging with our stakeholders and connect with park visitors from near and far, to help identify shared values, clarify key issues, and begin to develop potential management strategies to help the park prepare for our long-term day use strategy” said Park Superintendent, Darla Sidles. “We hope to hear from current park visitors as well as those who have told us they no longer visit Rocky Mountain National Park because of crowding and congestion.” Public comments are invited for sixty days beginning May 21 through July 19, 2021.   
 
Rocky Mountain National Park has experienced a 44 percent increase in visitation since 2012. Rapid growth in day use visitation and changing use patterns in the park have degraded natural and cultural resources, diminished quality of the visitor experience, increased visitor and staff safety concerns, and created a heavy strain on the park’s facilities and ability to perform daily operations. The purpose of the Rocky Mountain National Park Day Use Visitor Access Strategy is to provide visitor access in a way that enhances the protection of the fundamental resources and values for which the park was created. The goal of the process is to identify strategies that will help protect park resources, offer varied opportunities for high quality visitor experiences, enhance visitor and staff safety, and coincide with the park's operational capacity. 

FORT COLLINS, Colo.  (May 4, 2021) -- Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests and Pawnee National Grassland managers are exploring new strategies to help visitors have safe and enjoyable outdoor experiences this summer while protecting wildlife, clean water and healthy forests. From selling passes online for the most popular developed recreation areas to shifting some of the most visited areas to day-use only, National Forest managers are planning for another very busy recreation season amidst an ongoing worldwide pandemic.

“For outdoor recreationists, the most important message this year is to ‘Know Before You Go,’ said recreation program manager Erich Roeber. “Just like you might plan a family vacation or research a product before purchasing, public lands visitors really need to do their homework this year before they head out on an adventure. Otherwise, they might show up somewhere and realize they needed to buy a pass in advance, or book a reservation, or that they can’t camp in the same exact place where they camped last year.”

2020 brought a 200% increase in outdoor recreation across Colorado’s northern Front Range, with a large number of first-time visitors seeking an escape from the constraints of social distancing. This resulted in long lines and wait times at welcome stations, overflowing parking at trailheads, and cars parked unsafely for miles along county roads, obstructing roadways.

To reduce crowding at welcome stations, restrooms and parking areas this year, the Forest is developing a timed-entry pass system for Mount Evans and Brainard Lake. While the project is still in development, all pass sales will occur online on Recreation.gov and passes are expected to be available to purchase beginning in late May. Mount Evans is tentatively scheduled to open June 4 and the Brainard Lake welcome station is tentatively scheduled to open June 11.

Outside of developed campgrounds, National Forest visitors created thousands of new campsites as they pulled off roads and damaged resources, trampling vegetation and compacting soils with tents, campers and vehicles. Visitors built hundreds of new rock campfire rings and negatively impacted municipal water supplies with human waste and trash.  

To help some of these trampled places heal, the Forest is working closely with local county officials to target a few areas for temporary “day-use-only” designations this year. Recreation staff will use the opportunity to explore more sustainable options for managing these places into the future.

2020 was also a bad year for human-wildlife interactions as bears entered campsites and tents in areas where visitors hadn’t properly stored their food. To help keep Colorado’s wildlife wild and reduce unwanted encounters, the forest is collaborating with Colorado Parks and Wildlife in developing food storage requirements for visitors across the Forest.

Most notably, 2020 was a year during which human-caused wildfires burned 25 percent of the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests, devastating communities, destroying homes and taking lives. The Forest and our communities are still healing from these fires. Recovery is expected to take years. As soon as the snow melts, Forest personnel will be heavily focused on assessing and stabilizing the burned areas; and the burned areas are expected to remain largely off limits to the public until critical life-safety road and trail stabilization needs can be addressed.

Unfortunately, much of Colorado is still in some degree of drought, ranging from severe to exceptional. While precipitation has improved this spring, it may not bring enough moisture to prevent large logs and trees from catching fire easily. Due to this danger, compounded by the increase in visitors, the Forest is working closely with its state and local partners to determine the best time to implement fire restrictions as temperatures warm up. Regardless of when fire restrictions go into place, the public is urged to be extremely cautious with all potential sources of ignition this year.

More information will be shared in the weeks to come as the Forest works with its community partners and public lands neighbors across the northern Front Range and Grand County to finalize these plans.

In the meantime, get the most accurate recreation information by checking official Know Before You Go resources on the local National Forest website and elsewhere. In addition to weather forecasts and road and trail conditions for the area, visitors should be sure to research how to buy passes, how to find campsites, and whether campfires are allowed.
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Please be safe out there this summer. #CareforColorado and #RecreateResponsibly

Beginning May 16 through September, major road construction will occur again on US 36 inside of Rocky Mountain National Park. The work will take place on a 3-mile section of US 36, just west of Bear Lake Road junction to east of Deer Ridge Junction. Beginning on May 16, this section of road will be closed nightly from 7 pm to 7 am, Sunday nights through Friday mornings. There will be no nightly closures on Friday and Saturday nights.   
When the road reopens each morning at 7 am to traffic, motorists should expect delays and a rough surface. Bicyclists and motorcyclists should avoid this section of road this summer and enter the park through the Fall River Entrance.   
Sections of asphalt will be removed and a new surface will be installed.  Many curves will be reconstructed to bring them into compliance with federal highway standards.   
Upper Beaver Meadows Road will also be inaccessible during nightly closures.   
For further information on Rocky Mountain National Park, please visit www.nps.gov/romo or call the park’s Information Office at (970) 586-1206.