Telluride Mountain Club: Trail Committee on the Value of Regional Trails

11 Dec Telluride Mountain Club: Trail Committee on the Value of Regional Trails

 The Telluride Mountain Club (TMtC)’s Trail Committee celebrates its third year serving the Telluride area’s trail access and creation with a push to educate the community on its current initiatives and projects. Throughout 2014, the Committee has increased collaborative efforts with trail and land-related entities including the United States Forest Service (USFS), San Miguel Valley Corporation (SMVC), the Towns of Telluride and Mountain Village, and the Wilson Peak Land Exchange, to further Committee goals set to improve community trail access.

“We have learned from past groups’ wins and losses that one of the major keys to successfully moving forward with our initiatives and goals is to work with all organizations connected with our open spaces,” said Telluride Mountain Club President Tor Anderson. “We need to get all of the region’s stakeholders communicating about their trail plans and how we’d all like to see our area’s trail systems evolve.”

With this new outlook of collaboration established and relationships begun, the Committee moves forward in 2015 with a list of continued and new projects including:

• Assisting and providing input to the USFS towards the completion of the study, approval and construction of the Alta Lakes Trails as well as providing information on current trail building methods and manpower after approval process is complete.
• Creation of Telluride area and regional master trails plans, which improves connectivity of the existing trail system and identifies and prioritizes future trail construction and improvements.
• Work with  ERO Resources in completing a comprehensive  regional trail map (due out January 2015) and provide to community for public use.
• Sending five Committee members to Durango, CO for Volunteer Crew Leader training, per request of the USFS.

The Trail Committee, founded in 2012 by Gordon Reichard, was brought under the TMtC umbrella in 2014  to combine initiatives and common goals for the community’s trail access and maintenance efforts. The Trails Committee is a volunteer-based organization. To get involved, email Joe Schultz at ophirjoe@gmail.com.

About the TMtC Trail Committee:

The Trail Committee’s mission is to create, enhance and sustain a non-motorized, multi-use, world-class trail network in the Telluride region, by facilitating trail planning, construction, maintenance and education. In 2013, the Trail Committee was brought under the Telluride Mountain Club (TMtC) umbrella and currently serves as a TMtC sub-committee.

About Telluride Mountain Club (TMtC):

Originally conceived as an avalanche-education organization in 1985, the Telluride Mountain Club (TMtC) evolved towards access advocacy and promoting responsible, safe backcountry travel and recreation. For those that enjoy hiking, backcountry touring, climbing and/or exploring the San Juan Mountains, we encourage our alpine community to join TMtC to build a stronger, better and more cohesive group. For more information, visit telluridemountainclub.org.