During its joint work session held on Monday, July 28, the Archuleta County Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) and Pagosa Springs Town Council heard an update from members involved in the Pagosa Area Recreation Coalition (PARC), as well as about the results of a recent community survey.
Bob Milford and Pagosa Springs Recreation Supervisor Amanda Gadomski briefed the BoCC and council on where the PARC is in its process and highlighted key findings from the community survey.
Milford explained that PARC began about a year ago with a grant awarded from Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s regional partnership initiative.
Milford mentioned that Great Outdoors Colorado has announced it will contribute $50 million over the next five years to 21 regional partnership initiatives across the state.
Milford also indicated that the consulting firm PARC is working with — SE Group — is planning to hold community meetings in September and October to get “more input from everybody.”
Gadomski reviewed results from the recent surveys, explaining where were two rounds of surveys that generated approximately 1,400 responses from people living inside the PARC’s boundaries, which includes all of Archuleta County, and parts of Mineral, Hinsdale and Southern Ute areas.
She noted that more than 50 percent of the survey responses came from residents living in the Pagosa Lakes Property Owners Association area, with a lot of respondents indicating they recreate three to four times a week.
Gadomski mentioned that the top activities included hiking, walking and running in the summer, with 60 percent using town parks and trails.
She explained that top winter activities include skiing and snowboarding, snowshoeing and Nordic skiing.
Gadomski also noted that approximately 1,000 respondents indicated they recreate on U.S. Forest Service land, and 800 indicated they recreate on town property.
She went on to explain that when asked about the vision of where recreation is going within the PARC boundary, some common things that respondents want to see included respecting and protecting nature and natural resources, youth programs, multiuse trails, a recreation center, and local discounts.
In regard to the conservation vision, respondents expressed the importance of fire mitigation, wildlife corridors, shared stewardship, overdevelopment and leave-no-trace practices, according to Gadomski’s presentation.
“The Town of Pagosa [Springs] is kind of leading with having excellent to good amenities, which is where a lot of our parks are,” Gadomski said, explaining that is what respondents indicated when asked about the current recreation experience and amenities in the community.
She also explained that PARC wanted to understand barriers that people are facing when accessing recreation opportunities, noting that the biggest barrier to indoor activities is that they are cost prohibitive.
The biggest barrier in accessing outdoor recreation opportunities seems to be crowdedness, Gadomski indicated.
She explained that “most people” want to see more multiuse paths and nonmotorized trails, along with other outdoor winter activities such as ice skating and ice hockey opportunities.
Gadomski mentioned that the need for mountain bike-specific trails and more aquatic options were also common responses.
According to Gadomski’s presentation, some of the positive things recreation users have noticed over the past three to five years in the community include disc golf and pickleball court improvements, added restrooms and shaded pavilions, as well as river access and signage improvements.
Some negatives identified by respondents included crowding of areas, trash, disregard for regulations, impacts on natural resources, winter reliability, trail conditions, restrooms and user conflicts.
When asked what areas are important to consider with recreation management, 70 percent of respondents indicated that they want to protect natural resources and wildlife, Gadomski mentioned.
Three maintenance locations were also identified through the survey responses — the Turkey Springs area, Pagosa Peak area and Coyote Hill, according to Gadomski’s presentation.
The survey then asked about funding sources, with respondents ranking “increasing a lodger’s tax” as the highest preferred option, Gadomski explained.
She noted that the option ranked the second highest was a sales tax increase.
Gadomski then spoke about the possibility of forming a recreation district, explaining that “people are unsure,” mainly because they want more information on what that would entail.
“But, it seems overall there is support for how we could form a rec district within the PARC boundaries,” she said.
Gadomski mentioned the area has a strong volunteer base, with 29 percent of respondents indicating they already volunteer in the community and 41 percent indicating they are interested in volunteering.
She also explained that more than 25 percent of respondents indicated they are willing to pay more than $5 a month to support conservation, and maintain and improve recreation opportunities.
Gadomski also noted PARC has identified issues “that we can solve just by working together,” using the example of having portable toilets at trailheads instead of pit toilets because the Forest Service does not have enough money to service pit toilets as frequently as needed.
Council member Madeline Bergon commented, “I’m really glad there’s an organization out there getting all of the agencies in the same room to talk.”
Commissioner Warren Brown commented that he hopes Mineral and Hinsdale counties are at the table “and they’re coming with a check book, not just a, ‘You guys go ahead and figure it out and we’ll use it,’ because that does seem to happen a fair amount for our region, that the town and county lay out the money and the other communities benefit from it, which I’m all good with, but they need to participate in some level.”
He commented that contributions could come through in-kind donations or monetary contributions, stressing the importance of other entities actively participating and contributing whatever resources possible.
“Because this community cannot handle it all for all of these groups,” he added, noting his appreciation for PARC’s work.
Council member Leonard Martinez commented that he appreciated the consideration of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, stating that it has resources, but “they’re going into funds on the East Coast.”
He explained that the Southern Ute Indian Tribe may want to contribute similar investments to something locally.
clayton@pagosasun.com
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