Here's the preliminary press release from the USFS:
Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forest
Pawnee National Grassland
News Release * News Release * News Release
Release: Immediate Contact: Maribeth Pecotte 303-541-2503
Jenny Creek Trail, Yankee Doodle Lake Get Face Lift
August 23, 2006
Boulder, Colorado – Yankee Doodle Lake lies in a picturesque basin high up along Rollins Pass Road, in the Roosevelt National Forest. The area has attracted visitors since the historic Boulder Wagon Road first traversed the area (and probably earlier). In 1903, David Moffat began to build the Moffat Railroad, which crossed the Continental Divide at Rollins Pass. When the Moffat (railroad) Tunnel was completed in 1928, the railroad abandoned “the hill route” and pulled up its tracks, leaving behind a perfect auto touring route.
Modern-day visitors come with their hiking boots, bicycles, jeeps, motorcycles and ATV’s to explore the high country. They find meadows crossed with tire tracks, breached road closures and, due to its remoteness, an area largely free of official presence. All of that is about to change.
The Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests, Boulder Ranger District is working with volunteers from the Rising Sun 4WD Club on a restoration project to restore wetland areas near Yankee Doodle Lake and along the Jenny Creek Trail four-wheel drive (4WD) road. The aim of the project is to improve wildlife habitat and fisheries in the Jenny Creek drainage, while maintaining legal motorized access.
The Rising Sun 4WD Club has adopted Jenny Creek Trail 4WD Road, and they are enthusiastic about helping the Forest Service manage this road. They are providing up to $2,500 worth of materials, supplies and labor for this project, and volunteers from their organization will haul the supplies and contribute manpower.
Work in the area has already begun. Forest Service employees have spent more time in the area this summer than usual. More tickets have been issued for driving on closed roads, driving off of designated roads, and for causing unreasonable damage to vegetation. New gates were installed at the top and bottom of the closed Boulder Wagon Road route; and an excavator has been scarifying compacted wetland soils in preparation for revegetation. The volunteer project begins this Saturday, August 26, with the installation of post-and-cable vehicle barriers. The barriers are intended to keep vehicles on designated routes and prevent future motorized trespass into the sensitive wetland areas. On September 2, the revegetation portion of the project will get under way with Forest Service staffers and volunteers transplanting sedges, willows and grasses into the wetland areas.
More volunteers are needed for the revegetation portion of the project (on September 2). If interested, or for more details, contact Terry Savery at 303-245-6414 or by e-mail at:
tsavery@fs.fed.us
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