National Forest Service takes control of a new Colorado 14er

The Forest Service has a new 14er in Colorado. 

The Conservation Fund has moved Mount Democrat over to the Pike National Forest, ending a thorny access issue that has haunted the popular Mosquito Range 14er for years.

“It’s so exciting. This takes care of a big issue for us,” said Jason Robertson, the acting supervisor for the Pike-San Isabel National Forests. 

John Reiber sold the 289 acres atop Mount Democrat to The Conservation Fund in September. The owner of mining land spanning three 14ers in the Mosquitos above Alma had closed access in previous years, citing concerns that hikers injured in the old mining structures on the peaks could sue him.

For years Reiber was the most vocal of a growing group of landowners fearing lawsuits from hikers, climbers, cyclists, anglers and other recreational visitors allowed to access private land for free. For decades landowners were protected by the 1977 Colorado Recreational Use Statute. But lately more landowners like Reiber have been closing access, saying the statute needs to be amended after a 2019 federal appeals court decision that awarded an injured cyclist $7.3 million after he crashed on a washed out trail that the landowner knew was damaged. 

Reiber in 2021 closed his land along the popular Decalibron Loop, which accesses three 14ers, and again this year in March. His attorneys told him he was “rolling the dice” by allowing 14er hikers on his land. This summer he reached a deal with the local community, trail builders and hiking groups that asks hikers to sign an online waiver using a QR code posted at the trailhead. 

In September he sold 289 acres on Mount Democrat to The Conservation Fund, which planned to sell the land to the Forest Service once the agency lined up funding with the Land and Water Conservation Fund. That funding came through this month.

The Land and Water Conservation Fund has uses about $900 million a year from offshore oil and gas royalties to buy and protect land. The Forest Service spent $202.7 million from the Land and Water Conservation Fund in fiscal 2023 for land acquisition involving 25 projects in 21 states. 

The project list for 2023 included $3.4 million for the Pike and San Isabel National Forests, $1.2 million for the Rio Grande National Forest and $3.2 million for the San Juan National Forest. That was a big year for Colorado forests. In fiscal 2022 the state’s national forests did not receive any LWCF support for additional acres, In 2021, the LWCF delivered $8.5 million for the White River National Forest’s acquisition of Sweetwater Lake in a deal that also involved The Conservation Fund. 

The Land and Water Conservation Fund Forest Service acquisition project list for 2024 includes $4 million for the San Juan National Forest, which is hoping to acquire 160 acres near Pagosa Springs. 

A portion of the $3.4 million for the Pike and San Isabel National Forests went toward Mount Democrat. Robertson said the rest is going toward “multiple pieces of high-elevation land to improve access in our high country across the Pike National Forest.”

“We will have more information, like Mount Lincoln, coming soon. We have good things coming our way,” he said. 

Reiber retains ownership of acres leading to the top of Mount Lincoln, another 14ers on the Decalibron Loop, which draws between 20,000 and 25,000 hikers a year. Those hikers support businesses in Park County towns like Alma and Fairplay. Reiber said without legislation that increases protections for landowners in the Colorado Recreational Use Statute, he will close access to Mount Lincoln next summer. 

That legislation is coming. Four lawmakers — Rep. Brianna Titone, an Arvada Democrat, Rep. Shannon Bird, a Westminster Democrat, Sen. Dylan Roberts, an Avon Democrat and Mark Baisley, a Republican from Woodland Park — have signed on to support the legislation that will amend the Colorado Recreational Use Statute, known as CRUS. “I am very confident we can get a fix through that is meaningful,” said Anneliese Steel, a lobbyist with the Fix CRUS Coalition of 39 businesses and local governments supporting adjustment to the Colorado Recreational Use Statute.