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← Mission 10 · Sweetwater Lake
MTJP CORPS · MORE THAN JUST PARKS ·10
Mission 10 · White River National Forest, CO

Sweetwater Lake

White River National Forest

The agency files it as “Sweetwater Lake Recreation Management and Development Project (SLDP)”

Timing

The agency stopped taking comments on September 23. What you find still counts: it backs the formal objections from people who did comment, it goes to the lawyers on the fight, and it is the story.

The sentence we think is wrong

“vehicle traffic is relatively light under existing conditions, and the parking area's capacity is limited to approximately five vehicles”

The agency wrote that in its own document, under 4.1.2 KOP 2 – Site Entrance to Sweetwater Lake. Nobody has been out to check it. A dated photograph either backs it up or ends it.

How you settle it

Go to the Sweetwater Lake entrance off County Road 150 and photograph the parking area at the old lodge. Show how many vehicles fit and how many are actually parked or driving in. A wide photo of the whole parking area with vehicles visible, showing whether only about five can fit and whether traffic is light.

The decision

The White River National Forest has released a Draft EIS for the Sweetwater Lake Recreation Management and Development Project, which would transfer day-to-day management of an 846-acre area to Colorado Parks and Wildlife under a 20-year Special Use Permit. The project would divide the lake area into eight recreational zones and create a new Forest Plan management area category allowing joint Fore

Read the whole thing, and write to the agency about it

How to record it so it counts

  1. 01Photograph the trailhead or access point with the vehicles in it. Count them and note the time and day.
  2. 02Photograph the pull-off camp spots outside any campground, the fire rings, and the worn paths that show people come here.
  3. 03Sit for a fixed time and count people passing and what they are doing.
  4. 04Write down what you know about how this place gets used across a year.
What would count
  • A vehicle count with the day and time. Weekends and weekdays both, if you can.
  • Fire rings and sites the document says aren’t there.
All of it, with the phone settings, in the field guide
Are you going?

Say yes or no. It tells the next person whether anyone has this ground covered, and it is the only way we know a request was answered rather than just read. You can change your mind any time, and nobody follows up.

Join, then say you’re going

Nobody has answered yet

Before you go
  1. Public land only. Plenty of land inside a national forest or park boundary is privately owned, and that is not yours to walk on. A gate or a closure sign means stop. Check the rules for the specific place you are going, because they differ.
  2. Don’t touch survey stakes, flagging, equipment or anything a crew left. Photograph it; leave it.
  3. Don’t approach crews, contractors or agency staff about the project. Don’t interfere with any operation.
  4. Wildlife at a distance. No drones in wilderness or anywhere they’re prohibited. Stay off closed roads and trails.
  5. If you’re not sure, don’t. Weather, terrain, water, fire and people are your call, and yours alone.

More Than Just Parks doesn’t direct where you go or what you do. Terms.