WSP06571 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

o u J ~2 County economic grovth Is regarded as desirable. Changes in the ecanOQlc component balance are seen as inevitable but they should be gradual. E. RESOURCES The Piedra River corridor is only a small part of the entire valley. However, it is important to gain perspective of the entire reaource base of the valley to better understand the role the river corridor assumes with respect to the economic and environmental considerations for the local area, region and state. Outdoor Recreation: A vide variety of outdoor recreation opportunity is available In the Piedra Valley. Activities include camping at developed sites or baCKpacking, hiking, fishing, hunting. picnicking, horae riding, anQWQObiling, off-road vehicle activities. and white vater boating. The river corridor contributes to the bulk of the fishing, hiking, backpack camping and white water boating uses. The river corridor, vhile not being the primary area for hunting, is generally used as access routes and locations for the hunter camps. Within the Piedra Valley there are ten developed campgrounds, One picnic ground and one boat launch site, The theoretic seasonal capacity for the developed sites is 212,000 visitor days. Current capacity is 1,055 persons at one tlme. Only four of the developed campgrounds and the picnic area are located in the river corridor. The capacity of these develop~ents in the corridor is 230 persons at One time. ViSitor use On National Forest lands are estiNated each yesr and reported in the Forest Service's Recreation Information Management System. Table II shows a summary of past reported use totals for all activities. Historical use trends in the river corridor have ahovn a small but steady iocrease each year. it is expected that this trend will continue and perhaps be accelerated by increasing d~and for white water recreation. The use could also increase at a higher rate each year on account of the greater exposure of the river to the public through Wild and Scenic Rivers designation. TABLE II S~~RY OF REPORTED RECREATION USE (Visitor Days) Year Total Forest Use Totsi Piedra Valley Use Percent of Forest U,. Eatl_ted. Riv..r Corridor Use 1975 1976 1977 1978 l,5lo9,JOO 1,556,800 1.501,200 1,832,400 235,100 242,700 264,900 326,200 15.2 15.8 11.6 11.8 98,000 98,400 99,200 101,300 *Corridor use is estimated because the RIM syste~ does not carry the river corridor as a separate recreation element. ~ilderoess: The upper Middle and East Forks are segments of the river corridor located in the Weminuche Wilderness. The river corridor affects 5,100 aCres of the 391,489 aCre Wilderness. The proposed Weminuche Wilderness ~nagement Plan contsins provisions which are more restrictive than management provided for under the Inter-depart~ental management objectiv..s for wild rivers. The proposed w~inuche Plan directs that should a wild and scenic river designation attract in- creased users to the detri~nt of the wilderness resource and values, user levels will be controlled. Reported use figures are not available for the river corridor within the ~eminuche because the RIM system heretofore did not consider the corridor as a specific recreation element. By sub- tracting the uses and activities reported for the Weminuche that are known to be outside the corridor, the estimated use approximates 1,900, 2,000 and 2,900 visitor days respectively for 1975, 1916 and 1971. The proposed Wilderness Management Flan, utili~ing a system of recreation management units and carrying capacity WQuld limit use of the river corridor in the future when it reaches appro~i- =stely 5,000 visitor days for both the ~ddle and East Forks. ~ildlife: The Pledra .alley contains moSt species of wildlife found at compsrable elevatloos throughout the State of Colorado. Principle non-game apecies include beaver. marten, mink, coyote, bobcat and a host of other small mammals, birds of prey, reptiles and song bitds. 1-'