Rocky Mountain National Park Announces Winter Pile Burning Operations On Both Sides Of Park10/26/2021 RMNP UPDATE - October 26, 2021  Pile burning in RMNP, photo courtesy of Rocky Mountain National Park Fire managers from Rocky Mountain National Park plan to take advantage of any upcoming wet or winter weather conditions to burn piles of slash generated from several fuels reduction projects and hazard tree removals. Slash from these projects has been cut and piled by park fire crews and contractors over the last two years and are now dry enough to burn. When fighting the East Troublesome Fire in 2020, firefighters were able to take advantage of previous and existing prescribed fire and hazardous fuels treatment areas that provided a buffer between the fire and the town of Estes Park. Prior hazard fuels projects aided considerably in stopping the fire from jumping Bear Lake Road and Trail Ridge Road. Years of hazardous fuels reduction projects and bark beetle tree removal on the west side were instrumental in the successful burnout operations around the town of Grand Lake and helped minimize structure loss in the main park housing area. Pile burning operations will only begin when conditions allow. The piles are in a variety of locations including areas near the boundary of the park with Allenspark, near Lily Lake, west of Deer Mountain, near Moraine Park Campground, in the Willow Park area off Old Fall River Road and on the west side of the park. The fuels reduction projects are designed to reduce significant accumulations of forest fuels that can generate extreme or problematic fire behavior adjacent to wildland urban interface. By reducing the potential fire behavior the wildland fire risk to firefighters and the public is significantly reduced. However, these projects are not designed as a stand-alone defense against wildfires nor are they guaranteed to hold a wildfire in the worst of conditions. Please do your part and complete wildfire mitigation on your property. To learn more about wildfire mitigation around your home visit www.firewise.org Safety factors, weather conditions, air quality and other environmental regulations are continually monitored as a part of any fire management operation. Prescribed fire smoke may affect your health. For more information see https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cdphe/wood-smoke-and-health. For questions about this project or information about Rocky Mountain National Park please call the park’s Information Office at (970) 586-1206 or visit www.nps.gov/romo  Pile burning in RMNP, photo courtesy of Rocky Mountain National Park
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 Trail Ridge Road is the country's highest continuously paved highway. Photo by Barb Boyer Buck RMNP UPDATE - October 25, 2021 Today, Monday, October 25, Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park officially closed for the season to through travel. Many popular driving destinations for this time of year including Bear Lake Road, Moraine Park, Horseshoe Park and the section of Trail Ridge Road along the Kawuneeche Valley, are all open.
Trail Ridge Road is not designed to be an all-season road, with 11 miles above 11,500 feet, few guard rails and no shoulders. Winter conditions of drifting snow, high winds and below- freezing temperatures occur above 10,000 feet. Weather permitting, Trail Ridge Road will remain open to Rainbow Curve on the east side of the park and to Milner Pass on the west side of the park. Eventually, those closures will move down in elevation for the winter season to Many Parks Curve on the east side and Colorado River Trailhead on the west side. Trail Ridge Road normally opens the last week in May, weather permitting. This year Trail Ridge Road opened on May 29. Old Fall River Road closed for the season to vehicles on October 4. Trail Ridge Road and Old Fall River Road will remain open to bicycles and leashed pets through November 30. Leashed pets and bicycles are only allowed on the road, not on side trails. On December 1, both of these roads will revert to "winter trail status" which means that bicycles and leashed pets are no longer permitted beyond the closed gates but pedestrians, snowshoers and skiers are. For more information about Rocky Mountain National Park, please visit www.nps.gov/romo or call the park’s Information Office at (970) 586-1206.  Photo of view from Old Fall River Road by Barb Boyer Buck on July 4, 2021 RMNP Update - October 4, 2021 Old Fall River Road closed for the season to vehicles today, Monday, October 4. The road will be closed to all uses through Friday, October 8, for park staff to conduct road maintenance and culvert replacement. Old Fall River Road will reopen temporarily to bicycles, leashed pets and walkers for Saturday October 9, through Monday, October 11. Starting, Tuesday, October 12, Old Fall River Road will close again to all uses for continued road maintenance through Friday, October 15. On Saturday, October 16, the road will reopen to bicycles, leashed pets and walkers through November 30. Leashed pets and bicycles are only allowed on the road, not on side trails. On December 1, the road will revert to trail status and bicycles and leashed pets will not be allowed on the road.
For more information about Rocky Mountain National Park please visit www.nps.gov/romo or call the park’s Information Office at (970) 586-1206. |
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