Recreation in Balance (RiB), a program that falls within Envision Chaffee County, is through many of its planning stages. Now, RiB team members are ready to begin collecting data throughout Chaffee County in an effort to mitigate the impacts of usage on natural areas.
Since its inception following last fall’s voting, the RiB task force has worked to develop a system detailing high-usage recreating sites throughout the county.
The graphic to the right displays the areas the RiB task force identified as campsites and recreation areas. After identifying the key areas, the task force rated them on a scale assessing each site’s ‘intensity of use’ and ‘potential impact on wildlife and natural areas’.
The RiB task force identified camping and recreation locations (in blue) throughout the county. (Per Envision Chaffee County)
“We’re seeing recreation grow at almost 20 percent a year in Chaffee County,” said Cindy Williams, co-lead of Envision Chaffee County. “What do we want recreation to look like in Chaffee County? Do we want growth at all costs? Or do we want to manage the user experience and keep it high quality?”
The graph identifies areas like North Four Mile, Browns Creek, North Cottonwood and South Cottonwood as high priorities. These are areas that have a high usage rate and may impact wildlife and natural landscapes.
RiB rated camping and recreaiton sites based on usage and potential impacts. (Per Envision Chaffee County)
To monitor these areas and collect data on usage rates, RiB is utilizing a smartphone application called the Recreation Impact Monitoring System (RIMS). Though RIMS was designed by representatives from numerous agencies, Julie Mach from Colorado Mountain Club spearheaded the effort.
RIMS will allow RiB to gather data on campsite traffic, fire rings, human waste, trash, trail erosion and other impacts of high usage.
“There’s going to be big decisions [made from this],” said Williams. “this is going to drive agency management plans in the county. We certainly want municipalities involved as we work through this.”
Kim Marquis, who also works with RiB and Envision Chaffee County, pointed out the importance of recreation to the local economy.
“Every summer, we have 100,000 people come here to climb our fourteeners,” said Marquis “These people are our tourists. Our businesses depend on them.”
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