FLOOD10327

• County: Eagle
• Community: Eagle
• Stream Name: Eagle River
• Title: Eagle River Watershed Plan
• Date: 1/1/1996
• Prepared For: Eagle Community and Eagle County
• Prepared By: National Park Service
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Flood Mitigation/Flood Warning/Watershed Restoration

Eagle River. Many areas adjacent to the river
and tributaries are privately owned and public
access is not permitted, or there are riparian,
wetlands or floodplain areas that are sensi-
tive to disturbance and are not appropriate as
public access sites.

Recommended Actions

1. IMPROVE EXISTING PUBLIC
ACCESS SITES

This action would involve evaluation of
all the existing access points available to
the public to determine if they are meet-
ing the demand for boat launching, fish-
ing trails, parking, trash collection, etc.
Improved and maintained facilities will
help reduce the impression of over-
crowding by reducing litter, reducing the
amount of time that large groups are at
a particular access points, and improve
the overall recreation experience (exist-
ing access sites are shown on the map
at the end of this chapter).

While there are several improved access
sites, such as the BLM campground near
Wolcott and the County Fairgrounds in
Eagle, there are several locations, partic-
ularly along the Eagle River, where the
public gains access to the river but there
are no improvements to accommodate
the use or the terms of use are not clear.
Examples of this type of access point are
the State Land Board properties at Dowd
Junction (known as Cliffside or River
Run) and at Squaw Creek. Some of the
"un-official" access points may be appro-
priate for improvement and others may
be unsuitable for access because of safe-
ty, trespass or environmental conflicts.
The following inventory of access sites
identifies several "un-official" access
sites that are in need of improvement or
in some cases, relocation.
In regards to public lands sites, particu-
larly Colorado Division of Wildlife lease

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sites, it is recommended that short and
long terms plans for the management
and improvement of those leases be
developed.

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2. CREATE NEW AND APPROPRIATE
PUBLIC ACCESS SITES

There are several areas where it would
be desirable to create additional public
access to the Eagle River and tributaries.
For example, there are relatively few
public access points available in the area
between Vail and Edwards, which is the
most densely populated portion of the
watershed. As another example, estab-
lishment of a public access site for
Gilman Gorge would reduce the trespass
problems onto the Eagle Mine property.
By creating appropriate new access
points, recreators can be dispersed along
the river and tributary corridors, thereby
spreading out use pressure and improv-
ing the quality of the experience. Leases,
easements and purchase when funds
allow, should be pursued.

3. IMPLEMENT RIVER ACCESS
IMPROVEMENT GUIDELINES

This action recommends improvement
guidelines for both existing and new,
proposed access sites, whether on pri-
vate land with public access provided
(Le. a development) or on public land.
The scale and applicability of these
standards will vary.

1. Preserve site character, using envi-
ronmentally sensitive site selection
and facility construction techniques.
While dispersion of access will ease
crowding, within the access points
themselves every effort should be
made to concentrate and mitigate
impacts. The riparian zone should
be preserved using guidelines out-
lined in Chapter 6: Wildlife and