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Volume 16, Number 22 | July 18-25, 2024
tC Turre
Finding the sweet spot
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Private Lands
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HILL TOP
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Cabin
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Sweetwater Lake in Garfield County remains a quiet getaway despite media attention surrounding its announced fate as Colorado’s 43rd state park. Neighbors fear that the Lake character of the Pa place could be spoiled by state management. Photo by Raleigh Burleigh
Sweetwater Lake proposed management plan invites feedback CR O Tr SS ail CR #1 EE 85 K 5
RALEIGH BURLEIGH Sopris Sun Editor
Winding up Sweetwater Road, north of Interstate 70 near Dotsero, nearly every home displays a yellow sign with “STATE PARK” circled in red and struck through above the words: “TRULY SAVE SWEETWATER LAKE.” Neighbors are making public their concerns as the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) solicits feedback on its proposed management and development project at Sweetwater Lake (www.fs.usda. k ee gov/project/?project=64047). Cr l l e rnuncomThe plan represents an Da mon partnership where Colorado Parks and Wildlife will manage the federal land under a 20-year lease. As part of the National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA) process, public input is solicited during this initial scoping
period by Aug. 5. There will be a second 90-day public comment period once a draft Environmental Impact Statement is released, likely this winter. “I feel like we’re at a good initial proposal here,” USFS Eagle-Holy Cross District Ranger Leanne Veldhuis told The Sopris Sun. “Comments received now will help us hone in on something better.” Veldhuis welcomes specific comments regarding site amenities and more. “We’re excited for the opportunities UT DEEP we haveTraiEat Sweetwater to hopel #203 1 fully do something of value that 17 provides amazing access and protects the site.” The road to this stage is as winding as the narrow, dirt one that straddles two counties and leads to the 488-acre property acquired by USFS in 2021.
Previously, the area was under private ownership and switched hands seven times over the course of 39 years, according to Adrienne Brink, owner of AJ Brink Outfitters. Since 1984, AJ Brink Outfitters has operated primarily on year-long leases, offering daylong and overnight horseback trips, rowboat rentals and rustic lodging. The company also ran a restaurant known for its pies Lake Cree and homestyle cooking for most k of that time. The restaurant was closed prior to the pandemic by investors seeking to sell the property and it remains closed due to a leaky roof and other deferred maintenance. “We’re perfectly willing to do what needs to be done to preserve it,” Brink assured of the building. It’s one of several that has sat vacant since USFS obtained the
sture
property with $8.5 million from Local trust soured in October Nursery the Land and Water Conservation 2021 when PastureGovernor Jared Polis Fund — a program that invests stood atop a rocky outcrop — offshore oil royalty money in now closed to the public — that government conservation proj- overlooks the lake, proclaiming ects. According to USFS, the the area Colorado’s 43rd state Sweetwater Barn/ Corral restaurant and most lodgings park. The announcement took Lake are too dilapidated for occupation. many by surprise, including the Hospital Pasture Over the course of her busi- Garfield County Commissioners ness, Brink has seen a parade of who supported the “Save the Triangle Parking not proposals for the land, includ- Lake” campaign, though Lot ing a water bottling facility and, financially. The Garfield County most recently, a private ranch that Commissioners then pushed for would have barred public access the highest level of review under and torn down the buildings. In NEPA for the project. ture Trail 2019, Eagle Valley Land TrustNa led a “When we as a community Overlook eetwater SW to protect the lake, we “Save the Lake” Sw campaign which were trying EE Cave TW AT Tra NATU [Eagle garnered $350,000 in community approached Valley] Land il # RE ER K 203 CROSS CREE 1 55 . 1A Trail #18 Trust with the intent donations and motivated Eagle it would not be County to pledge $500,000 toward developed,” explained Bill Stevens, the effort. The Conservation a fourth-generation member of UTE Trail DEEP Fund, with a headquarters in the Sweetwater community rais#203 1 Boulder, facilitated the purchase 16 ing the fifth. “I’ve seen Sweetwater and transfer to the USFS with the change over the years and the assistance of a $6.2 million inter- population grow a little bit, but est-free loan from Get Outdoors for the most part Sweetwater Lake Colorado — a program that allo- has remained a constant.” Stevens cates state lottery revenues. continued on page 5
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Williams Bunkhouse
Westlake
Gregg Cabin
Hartz Cabin
Sweetw
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Clayton
Yellow House
Boat House
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