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Dylan Anderson

Final approval for Mad Rabbit is expected soon. Could funding to build the trails be funneled elsewhere?

Opponents of the trails project are pushing for Steamboat Springs City Council members to use available 2A Trails funding within the city limits.

While there isn’t a date for when the final environmental assessment for the Mad Rabbit Trails Project will be released just yet, it is coming soon.


More than a decade after Steamboat Springs voters approved a plan to fund trails including some once envisioned to connect the Mad Creek area with Rabbit Ears Pass, the plan has seen quite a bit of change. It has also stirred quite a bit of controversy, pitting those looking for more places to hike and bike in the Yampa Valley against those who fear new trails will have negative impacts on wildlife.


Delayed for a time by the lack of a District Ranger in Steamboat and more recently as forest officials waded through dozens of objections to the plan, the final environmental assessment is expected before the end of the year, according Michael Woodbridge, the District Ranger for the Hahns Peak/Bears Ears Ranger District in Steamboat Springs who is the deciding official on Mad Rabbit.


But just as Woodbridge is getting ready to give the Mad Rabbit environmental assessment his final OK, funding for the long-visioned plan — Steamboat’s 2A for Trails ballot measure passed in 2013 — may be funneled elsewhere.


A discussion at Steamboat Springs City Council last month revealed a new narrative from opponents of the trail project. While they still oppose the project due to potential impacts on wildlife, that battle seemingly ends with the final environmental assessment decision. Now, opponents are pushing City Council members to prioritize new trails within the city over trails beyond city limits like Mad Rabbit.


“Figure out how to target this remaining 2A trails fund towards either expanding the Core Trail, or the Core Trail and the connectors in the overall urban network,” said Larry Desjardin, president of Keep Routt Wild, which has staunchly opposed Mad Rabbit. “I think you have heard from a lot of the community, of people who voted for 2A thinking they’re going to get [the] Core Trail being funded.”


In that Aug. 13 work session, some members of Steamboat Springs City Council indicated they may agree with that line of thinking and may not be willing to spend 2A funds outside of the city limits — a decision that, if made, means the Mad Rabbit project is likely left empty handed for now.


“We get so much [public comment] about spending money outside of the city limits on this Mad Rabbit issue,” said Council member Michael Buccino. “Of the money that is left remaining, I’m leaning more toward funding things within the city limits, but I’m not 100% sold on that.”


One of the key trails residents say they want built is an extension of the Yampa River Core Trail to the south, a trail segment that has been deemed “not feasible” by the citizen committee appointed by council to review potential trails.


The city doesn’t have the needed easements for this southward extension and hasn’t pursued them for several years. The anticipated cost to build the trail if it was feasible also far exceeds the $2.2 million in 2A Trails funding available. Still, council members asked that city staff reach back out to the appropriate land owners about easements before they make any final decisions with trail funding.


“I’m not ready to throw in the towel on the Core Trail south,” said Council President Gail Garey.


In total, the city has requests to build feasible trails worth $5.9 million, with $4.3 of that being for three trails within the city limits. Of the 17 trails that have been deemed feasible, 14 of them are part of Mad Rabbit, with an estimated cost of $1.6 million.


Steamboat City Council has final say for how to spend 2A Trails dollars. If council opted not to fund Mad Rabbit trails, Woodbridge said it wouldn’t kill the project, just slow it down.


“If that money did not go to the Mad Rabbit Trails Project, then we would be looking for other funding opportunities, grants and other funds that we have access to,” Woodbridge said. “It doesn’t kill the project, we’d still have the decision on the books, but it could mean a slower implementation potentially.”


Laraine Martin, the executive director of Routt County Riders, told Council in August that the “thousands” of supporters of Mad Rabbit will not give up.


“The advocates, such as Routt County Riders and many others in this community, are going to make these trails happen,” Martin said. “If city council eventually turns against funding any of them, you are actually exclusively serving [to make] our jobs harder. It will take longer, it will take years, but we will do it.”

 

When is the final Mad Rabbit decision coming?

Initial scoping for Mad Rabbit began in 2018, with the preliminary proposal for trails being shared the following year. That 2019 plan already scrapped many of the trails from the initial proposal, making it so the project no longer would connect Mad Creek and Rabbit Ears Pass.


After delay because there was no district ranger in Steamboat, the draft of the environmental assessment released by the Forest Service in 2022 included 52 miles of new trails, removal of 36 miles of unauthorized, user-created trails and improvements to half a dozen trailheads on Rabbit Ears Pass.


After a public comment period, Woodbridge released the draft decision notice for Mad Rabbit with his finding of “no significant impact” in August 2023. This included some changes from the draft environmental assessment — three fewer miles of trails, changes to planned trailheads and a window each spring when the area would be closed to recreation to limit impacts on elk calving.


That led to what is known as the objection period, where people who had commented earlier in the process are allowed to state their concerns about the plan. Those concerns were then considered by a Review Official, in this case Russell Bacon, the Routt National Forest Supervisor. In December, Bacon gave Woodbridge instructions for how to address objections in the plan.


“There is a bunch of stuff in there, clarify this, add some language on that,” Woodbridge said. “One of the bigger points was to create an adaptive management plan in coordination with [the Colorado Department of Natural Resources and Colorado Parks and Wildlife.]”


Woodbridge said he planned to meet with Bacon at the end of August to review the changes he made to the plan. From there, Woodbridge said the plan needs to be communicated up the chain of command in the U.S. Forest Service.


“Our processes here require anything that is regional or national — of course this is more regional — those kind of issues have to be briefed up to our region and to the Washington [D.C.] Office,” Woodbridge said. “I don’t know how long that will take, we are hearing it will take six weeks or so.”


After that, Woodbridge can sign the final environmental assessment, giving the Forest Service authority to start building trails. Woodbridge said that could happen by the end of November.


“It won’t necessarily take until December unless something weird happens,” Woodbridge said

 

Extending the Core Trail

Caption: A cyclist uses the Yampa River Core Trail. (Courtesy/City of Steamboat Springs)


The 2A Trails projects date back to a ballot measure Steamboat Springs voters approved in 2013 that allocated a decade-worth of accommodations tax funding toward building a list of trails in a list known as the Trails Alliance Proposal. The total funding over the life of the measure is $5.1 million, and about $2.2 million of that money remains unspent.


While Steamboat voters did approve new language for how revenues from the accommodations tax can be spent in 2023, the $2.2 million left to be spent on 2A Trails is still governed by the original 1986 ballot language. This means while future accommodations tax dollars could be used on maintenance of trails, this funding needs to be used on new trails that are mentioned in the 2013 proposal.


The Trails Alliance Proposal included 47 potential projects, which have been evaluated by the 2A Trails Committee appointed by City Council. Of those, 14 were deemed unfeasible, 15 have been built and one more is currently under construction. The final 17 trails are awaiting funding, with 14 of those being included in the Mad Rabbit Trails proposal.


Extending the core trail to the south was part of the Trails Alliance Proposal, but has been deemed unfeasible by the 2A Trails Committee. There are no firm estimates for what it would cost to extend the core trail south, as there is no plan to build it currently. Still, Winnie DelliQuadri, the city’s special projects and intergovernmental services manager said it is “well beyond the funding available,” at the August meeting.  


“The last estimate that was done was eight years ago,” Parks Director Angela Cosby told council. “Realistically, we are probably looking at — and I’m going to give you a very wide range — $10 million to $20 million.”


Extending the core trail to the west is a priority for the city, but it was not part of the 2013 Trails Alliance Proposal, so it is not eligible for 2A funding.


Despite that, the city has been working to make that extension happen and construction could start as soon as next summer, according to Public Works Director Jon Snyder. When completed, the extension will take the core trail from where is currently ends near Snow Bowl to the Brown Ranch. Officials intend for this trail to eventually extend through the Brown Ranch, connecting it with neighborhoods west of the city.


While 2A Trails funds cannot be used on a westward extension under current ballot language, Desjardin with Keep Routt Wild suggested that City Council should send a new ballot question to voters to override the 2013 language and give them that authority. Others in public comment like residents John Spezia and Diane Brower each said they remembered the Core Trail being a significant part of the campaign for the ballot measure in 2013.  


“I am absolutely confident that that proposal would pass handily,” Desjardin said. “Maybe now in retrospect, those 2013 trails aren’t the highest priority that we have today.”

 

‘We will make it happen’

Martin, with Routt County Riders, argued that the current push for the Core Trail is just another organized effort from opponents of Mad Rabbit. The southern extension would be a “Core Trail to nowhere,” Martin said.


“People emailing you and harping on the Core Trail at this point in time have been requested to do so through a targeted campaign attacking these trail projects where funding already exists,” Martin said. “The Core Trail is being used right now as an excuse to submarine and destroy the funding for multiple use, single track trails.”


Since the Mad Rabbit project dates back to 2018, Woodbridge said he feels there is a lot of unknowns in the community and among members of City Council about what it is actually being proposed.


“There’s been a lot of information pushes by certain groups like Keep Routt Wild, pushing their agenda, so that’s what a lot of people have been hearing,” Woodbridge said, noting that the local non-profit has paid for advertising to oppose Mad Rabbit.


“It’s been going on for so long and there’s been so many iterations with it and changes over time as it has evolved, that unless you are really involved in it like me, you’re probably having a hard time knowing exactly what is and isn’t part of this project at this point,” he continued.


Woodbridge said there will be more changes in the final environmental assessment, including the adaptive management plan that the Forest Service worked on with state wildlife managers. In December, Bacon, the Routt National Forest Supervisor, gave Woodbridge his 40-page response to the various objections to his draft environmental assessment decision that needed to be addressed in the final assessment.


These required Woodbridge to give further review to factors like how the plan relates to Colorado Roadless Area rules, how he reviewed cumulative impacts of the project, how the current plan compares to an alternative proposed by Keep Routt Wild and how the plan addresses habitat for wildlife including elk and lynx, to name a few. In total, Bacon instructed Woodbridge to clarify, add to or further consider 15 different issues. Once the decision is final, Woodbridge said he is looking forward to working with the city to fund construction of Mad Rabbit.


“It’s of course up to the city with how that all goes, but we’d love to work with the city on that intent of the 2A funds,” Woodbridge said. “I have not gone to the city council and presented anything about Mad Rabbit, so there is probably a lot of unknowns from council members.”


Martin said once the plan is approved by the Forest Service, advocates like Routt County Riders are going to make Mad Rabbit happen.


“We will make it happen, please don’t make our jobs harder,” Martin said. “We are looking to make positive change and introduce people to transformative outdoor experiences, which is already happening on the trails that have been constructed.”


Top Photo Caption: A screenshot of a map included detailing plans for new trails on Rabbit Ears Pass as part of the Mad Rabbit Trails project. (U.S. Forest Service/Courtesy)

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