The Pagosa Ranger District of the San Juan National Forest’s trail crew, in partnership with the Pagosa Area Trails Councils (PATC), many other volunteer groups and youth trail crews, have been able to clear 95 percent to 100 percent of the district’s trails in each of the last five years.
Our goal when the “Clear the Trails” campaign started in 2019 was to get all Pagosa area trails cleared of the spruce beetle-killed trees that had been falling on our local trails at an epidemic rate. This goal of clearing 100 percent of the trails was achieved much sooner than originally planned.
The work of clearing and performing much-needed trail maintenance was accomplished by the Pagosa Ranger District trail crew, the Southwest Conservation Corps, American Conservation Experience, and by members of local user groups such as San Juan Outdoor Club, San Juan Back Country Horsemen, DUST2, Pagosa Trail Riders, Phantom Trail Clearers and local outfitters, who contributed thousands of hours of volunteer labor.
Many of these trails are located in the Weminuche and South San Juan wildernesses, where cross-cut saws must be used instead of chain saws per the Wilderness Act of 1964.
The Pagosa Ranger District has 469 miles of summer trails, with 175 miles located in designated wilderness areas. Between 2019 and 2024, more than 30,000 trees were cleared from district trails.
Unfortunately, standing dead and weakened green trees continue to fall each year on the trails and likely will continue to do so into the foreseeable future, with more than 5,000 downed trees needing clearing from trails annually. Our goal is to continue to keep these trails clear and safe each year.
The Pagosa Ranger District and PATC have jointly applied for and were awarded Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) State Trail maintenance grants in 2019 and 2022.
Over $500,000 has been raised for the “Clear the Trails” campaign to hire trail crews and equipment.
These funds came from CPW State Trails grants and the cash matching portions were raised from local nonprofits, individuals, local government, businesses and local outfitters.
The grants and funds raised were critical to the successes realized thus far, without which we could not have come close to achieving our shared goals.
The Pagosa Ranger District and PATC are again in the process of applying for a 2025 CPW State Trails grant for $200,000 to continue trail clearing and maintenance.
The PATC’s goal is to provide a cash match of $100,000. This will provide $300,000 to meet our trail clearing and maintenance needs over the next three years.
Additionally, a Conservation Fund has been established through a partnership between the Wolf Creek Ski Area and the National Forest Foundation (NFF), where local season ticket holders can donate $5 that is matched by 50 percent by the NFF to be used for local forest conservation programs such as clearing dead trees on our national forest trails.
The PATC has set up a website for information on local trails at pagosatrails.org. It provides detailed trail descriptions with pictures and maps of trails in our area, plus current trail conditions, tips on Leave No Trace ethics and other helpful information. It also contains details on the “Clear the Trails” campaign and how you can help assist with the cause.
We invite you to check the website out and join us in our efforts to keep our local trails clear and safe, as well as conserve our local natural resources and wildlife, which are so important to our community and visitors alike.
