From Zane, in Clear Creek County; July 23, 2008
My family lives in Clear Creek County at the foot of Hick’s Mountain and we have often enjoyed this amenity and support the idea of preserving the natural beauty of this area. However, the Master Plan offers the following recommendations for the Hick’s Mountain park land (by way of its categorization as a Conservation/ Wilderness Park):
• Considers its primary role as scenic backdrop or a natural resource only.
• Proposes to identify and close social trails into the park and recommends that any trails be obliterated.
In other words, the stated goal of the Master Plan is to eliminate human activity in the Hick’s Mountain Park.
Page 2 of the Master Plan states, “What an unforgivable irony, civic leaders noted, it would be to lose the priceless beauty of the mountains to development or be denied recreational access.” I cannot see how the drafters of the Master Plan can reconcile their position on human access to the Conservation/Wilderness Parks with the above mission statement.
In my area, access to Hick’s Mountain is being actively prevented by surrounding private land owners, not as stewards of the public land, but as part of the formation of enclaves for gated communities that “wall off” the rest of the public from what is supposed to be a public resource. The Master Plan recommendations as currently drafted only assist them in this effort.
I would ask the City and County of Denver to consider public land (all of it) as just that and encourage rather than block public access. The best watchdogs for the preservation and protection of the remote or less accessible properties will be the people that will make the effort to explore these areas (if access is blocked, who will be watching?). The Master Plan should promote public easements into the Conservation/Wilderness Parks rather than actively prevent access.
For reply to this comment, see Reply on Conservation/Wilderness Parks.
1 comments:
I agree with SLW. I am a resident of the Evergreen area near Hicks and Witter Gulch. Parks like Forsberg and Hicks hide anecdotal history that should be noted and preserved. For instance, I'd bet that the Foundation Board Members don't realize that on Hicks there is the ruins of what appears to be a significant hunting lodge. About 4 hand-build log cabins.
The mining history on Hicks and in Forsberg is worth mentioning. The area was once well known for semi-precious stones and minerals like smokey quartz, garnet, and mica (mined by Coors).
These areas are outdoor museums for those of us that are willing to walk through the forest. I would consider a moratorium on construction in the area before I would consider closing parks like Hicks and Forsberg. I fully respect the rights that landowners around Witter Gulch and Hicks and will continue as I would expect the same. But I will not respect the restrictions to DMP sites like Hicks and Forsberg.
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