Fourmile-area snowmobilers advised of closures requiring alternate routes
Closures include sections of Fourmile Road and Sunlight to Powderhorn Trail
Ray K. Erku/Post Independent
The White River National Forest is enacting several road and trail closures for snowmobiles and other vehicles in the Fourmile area south of Glenwood Springs for public safety due to the ongoing logging operations, according to a Wednesday news release.
Fourmile Road (Forest Road 300) will be closed to all vehicles, including snowmobiles, at the gate about one-half mile above the snowmobile parking area, right after the road passes through last year’s aspen cutting where skiers typically park to ski Williams Peak.
“The high amount of snow this year means the plowed road beyond this gate is very narrow,” Aspen-Sopris District Ranger Kevin Warner said in the release. “With up to 20 heavy trucks using the road each weekday, the closure is needed for public safety.”
In addition, the first two miles of the Sunlight to Powderhorn Trail will be closed because that section crosses areas where logging will occur, the release states.
Snowmobilers can use alternate routes such as the Fourmile Trail and the Pipeline Trail to travel around both closures and resume travel on the Fourmile Road/Sunlight-to-Powderhorn Trail, the Forest Service advised.
Two logging projects are underway in the Fourmile area, intended to improve forest health, the release states..
An aspen regeneration project across four areas totaling 109 acres is occurring east and south of Fourmile Park. “Clear-cutting and removing mature aspen stimulates their root system to vigorously regenerate,” the release states. “Felled trees are chipped on site and trucked to the biomass plant in Gypsum.”
Additionally, a spruce-fir regeneration project is underway farther up Fourmile Road in the Countyline area. There, small one half to 2 acres patches of spruce-fir are being cut from seven units totaling 823 acres. The logs are being trucked to a mill in Montrose.
“This work will help ensure the long-term health of forests in this area by creating size and age diversity,” Warner said. “The work will also improve wildlife habitat.”
For information about the closures and other user impacts, call the Aspen-Sopris Ranger District, 970-963-2266, or visit https://www.fs.usda.gov/whiteriver.
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