It has been a chaotic couple of weeks in the area and we have up to date information on what is open, what is closed, maps, orders, and volunteer opportunities!1. Open or Closed?

At the top of everyone’s mind … what is open and what is closed?

The good news, the Preserve is OPEN! Despite some signage to the contrary it is open. We’ve worked witht the USFS to correct the signage and post maps. You do need to steer clear of Mt. Herman Rd – the machinery working on the road can throw rocks and debris 200+ feet – so stay away from the road. USFS 715 “Stoopid Trail” is closed where it turns SW in the SQ corner of the preserve. We have placed a sign there – that leads you into the closure – stay out or risk a ticket.

The bad news, Mt. Herman Rd and everthing West of Red Rocks Rd to Palmer Lake and then West on 322 to Rampart Range Rd is CLOSED. There was a new order in place as of Friday closing this section.

Why: So that the Forest Service can finish cleaning up the fire line on Mt. Herman Road – they are using masticulating machines and feller bunchers and they are also removing all the logs from the Mt. Herman Rd fire line. This will continue for several more days at the very least, maybe a couple of weeks. We hope that it will re-open after that but we have no firm date or commitment from the USFS yet. If we get one we will let you know.

Please have a look at this zoomed in map of our area from the latest USFS closure order.

Full map and closure order (Adobe PDF Reder required), these are somewhat large, be patient:

Waldo Canyon Fire Area Closure Order 12-08

Waldo North Closure REVISED map

A list of other regional openings and closings is at the end of this email/post.

2. Fire

We still have high fire danger so be aware. The recent rains have not changed the fire danger.

3. Shooting Range Update

After FOMP volunteers cleaned up over 60 (yes 60!) bags of trash and debris from illegal shooting on Mt. Herman Rd the FS then cleaned up just as much 2 days later and closed parking and roped off these areas. There was approximately 2 acres total sutdown to shooting in areas that are not safe to shoot in the first place. Social ranges that were on the top of ridgelines with not backstop were closed down. Much, muc more remains to be done to make Mt. Herman Rd a safe place for other recreational users as some of the remaining social ranges have been utterly destroyed and shooters are shooting uphill with stray and ricochet bullets landing in Limbaugh Canyon still as well as on the Mt. Herman hiking trail. We continue to work with the USFS to try and make the Mt. Herman corrider a safe place again. The illegal shooting is just that – illegal and unsafe. It is in areas where shooting is allowed unfortunately many (and it appears a majority) of the recreational shooters on Mt. Herman Rd choose not to follow the rules of the USFS and are destroying trees and other resources as well as creating very dangerous situations for themselves and others. FOMP’s BOD continues to work with the USFS for good solutions for all parties including recreational shooters.

4. Monthly Trail Work Session Information

FOMP==== List of Known Open / Closed Regional Trails ====

Thanks to David Wagner for putting this list together – we will try and update it as he provides updates and eventually make it a seperate post on www.fomp.org

Open: