No construction work will take place this year for the proposed Mad Rabbit trails project while officials from the U.S. Forest Service and state agencies work to provide clarity and specific or additional explanations to address 15 instructions issued by Forest Supervisor Russell Bacon.

Acting Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest District Ranger Don Dressler told Routt County Commissioners last month that he is part of the small group that is reviewing an Adaptive Management Plan with staff from the Colorado Department of Natural Resources and Colorado Parks and Wildlife. The collaborative process is planned for completion in late summer or early fall, Dressler told the commissioners on April 22.

“I think we have a reasonable path forward to get them resolved,” Dressler said. “It is actively being pursued to a resolution.”

“It’s getting close,” Dressler said. “There are just a few points of detail that need to be negotiated out to the comfort of all parties. We are actively working on that process.”

The Adaptive Management Plan process and the 15 overall instructions were outlined in a letter sent Dec. 11, 2023 by Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest Supervisor Bacon to people who had submitted objections to the project. The 15 instructions must be addressed before a decision notice on Mad Rabbit can be signed, according to the letter. The letter can be found online at FS.usda.gov/project/mbr/?project=50917 under the Objection Files tab.

One of the 15 points noted, “I also instruct the Responsible Official to provide additional discussion within the Decision Notice, to include clear rationale and justification, for the dismissal of alternatives considered but not carried through into analysis.”

Another point instructed the responsible official to “include the Colorado Roadless Rule in the Decision Notice under the Findings Required by Other Laws and Regulations section and include a narrative on how the project is consistent with the Colorado Roadless Rule.”

Another point noted, “I instruct the Responsible Official to review and consider the post-hunt elk population data from 2022, and information regarding the severe winter die-off, and identify and incorporate any necessary changes in the effects analysis for elk.”

Nonprofit Keep Routt Wild in its May newsletter explained that the Forest Service rejected all objections submitted to the Mad Rabbit project. On August 11, 2023, District Ranger Michael Woodbridge released the Mad Rabbit Trails Project Environmental Analysis, Draft Decision Notice and Finding of No Significant Impact for the objection process.

Forest Service officials said the objections raised for Mad Rabbit fell within the general categories of National Environmental Policy Act adequacy, violations of the Colorado Roadless Rule and National Forest Management Act, effects to wildlife particularly elk and elk habitat, and recreation and user group conflicts.

The Mad Rabbit proposal for trails mostly in the Rabbit Ears Pass and Rocky Peak areas would authorize the construction and improvement of approximately 49 miles of new non-motorized and motorized trail as well as rehabilitation and closure of approximately 36 miles of existing unauthorized non-system trails. The project would implement a restricted-use area designation that would restrict non-motorized wheeled vehicle use on National Forest system land across the entire project area to designated roads and trails when there is less than an average 12-inch snow depth.

The project would implement changes to trailheads including creation of two new summer trailheads along U.S. Highway 40, reconfiguration of the Ferndale Day Use Area to increase parking capacity, and the addition of summer amenities to four existing winter trailheads along U.S. 40. The proposed action would close the trailhead and trails in the Ferndale area and Trail 14 area from May 15 to June 30 each year to lower impacts to elk calving areas

The Forest Service letter in December explained that “the selected alternative was determined to adequately address the purpose and need for action as identified in the Environmental Assessment to provide designated and sustainable trail-based recreation opportunities in consideration of other resources on approximately 127,124 acres of National Forest system lands.”

According to the Keep Routt Wild newsletter: “In theory, a well-written and implemented Adaptive Management Plan would monitor and keep project impacts from exceeding the ‘no significant impact’ levels assumed in the final approval document for Mad Rabbit. Chief among these are insignificant wildlife impacts and retaining Colorado roadless values. In practice, adaptive management plans may fail to deliver the protections promised if they are not structured with appropriate monitoring, resource metrics and thresholds for management response and enforcement.”