Last minute USFS changes to Mad Rabbit has Steamboat Council revisiting $1.6 million pledge

The final plan approved by the Forest Service alters the adaptive management plan, a move that now has CPW opposing the project.

Steamboat Springs City Council will revisit a $1.6 million contribution to the Mad Rabbit Trails Project after the final version of the project approved by the U.S. Forest Service included changes to an adaptive management plan that state wildlife officials now say they cannot support.

When council approved spending the last of the city’s 2A Trails funding on Mad Rabbit in December, Colorado Parks and Wildlife had recently dropped their longstanding objection to the trails project. The agency even penned a letter of support for the trail network on Rabbit Ears Pass because of the adaptive management the two agencies had drafted together.

But the plan approved last month includes numerous changes that seem to cut CPW out of that plan. According to wildlife officials, changes include dropping language that described the importance of collaboration with CPW, removing a planned wildlife study focused on elk populations, shortening time between construction phases built in to allow for adaptation, and removing CPW as the agency charged with observing elk distribution in the project area.

The Colorado Department of Natural Resources copied City Council on its April 21 letter to the Forest Service asking for “meaningful communication” with the agency about why the plan was “altered without notice.”

While City Council was in line to approve a supplemental budget appropriation later this month that would officially allocate the trails funding to the Forest Service, City Manager Tom Leeson said that line item had been pulled from that agenda. In a 5-2 thumbs-up vote Tuesday, City Council agreed to schedule a discussion for how to proceed on Mad Rabbit funding for one of their June meetings.

According to a letter from Colorado Department of Natural Resources Executive Director Dan Gibbs to the Forest Service, communication about Mad Rabbit between the two agencies ended sometime following Steamboat Council’s decision to fund the project. When the Forest Service finally approved Mad Rabbit in April, a key wildlife study that was to be conducted by CPW was no longer part of the management plan.

Gibbs said they asked to see the updated plan on April 3, but didn’t receive a response. The Forest Service provided official sign-off on Mad Rabbit later that day.

“The USFS had made substantive changes removing meaningful, essential components of the Adaptive Management Plan that had previously been agreed upon between the State and the USFS,” Gibbs wrote. “This violates the trust and confidence embodied within the Cooperating Agency agreement and objection resolution process.”

Almost every city council member said they had local discussions about Mad Rabbit during their council reports on Tuesday, including with Local District Ranger Michael Woodbridge.

Council did not take a straw poll on whether they would reverse their initial vote on Mad Rabbit Funding, a vote from Dec. 3 that fell 5-2 with Council President Gail Garey and Council member Brian Swintek in the minority. Garey insisted that since the plan presented to them prior to the December vote included a different adaptive management plan, Council had to meet again even if they still wanted to allocate the funding.

“Council predicated its approval of the funding… with the inclusion of the adaptive management plan. The adaptive management plan has changed,” Garey said. “At the very least, if we were to move forward, we would need to have a whole new hearing,”

City Attorney Dan Foote would later say that is not necessarily the case, and Council is not required to do anything, but Foote’s clarification came after Council had agreed to revisit Mad Rabbit.

“You could choose to have a hearing and invite everyone, but there is no sort of legal requirement for that,” Foote said.

Still, Garey noted that Woodbridge had cited the partnership with the Forest Service extensively when requesting the funding from the city.

"This is a big issue for our community, and we need to understand what changed and why it changed," Garey told The Yampa Valley Bugle on Wednesday morning.

On Tuesday, it appeared at least one member initially in support may be having second thoughts. Council member Dakotah McGinlay said the adaptive management plan was an important part of her voter to approve Mad Rabbit in December.

“One of the important things that I think changed is that in the adaptive management plan, there is no requirement for the Forest Service to collaborate with CPW,” McGinlay said, who pointed to cuts at the Forest Service made by the Trump Administration. “They don’t have a wildlife biologist, they’re not required to work with CPW. … I’m not sure I could continue to support it as it stands currently.”

Council member Amy Dickson said she simply wanted to approve the funding later this month as they had decided to do in December.

“How do I say it nicely? I don’t want to get involved with their infighting at all,” Dickson said.

Council agreed to schedule a meeting for sometime in June to further discuss the trails allocation to Mad Rabbit.