Company hired to come up with plan

After years of applying temporary fixes to try to ease overcrowding at the Maroon Bells Scenic Area, a consortium of local caretakers is determined to come up with a comprehensive plan for management.

Pitkin County is teaming with the city of Aspen, U.S. Forest Service, Roaring Fork Transportation Authority and Aspen Chamber Resort Association to hire the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Volpe National Transportation Systems Center to complete a management plan.

Various management tools have been put in place in recent years to manage visitors and protect the natural resources near the Maroon Bells. A reservation system was implemented during the pandemic for shuttles traveling between the Aspen Highlands base area and Maroon Lake. Reservations are also needed to park. Traffic has been limited on Maroon Creek Road for more than 40 years.

More restrictions are already in the works. The Aspen-sopris Ranger District wants to implement a fee and reservation system for backpackers on the popular Four Pass Loop and other hot spots in the Maroon BellsSnowmass Wilderness. The scenic area is the gateway to the wilderness. A proposal to manage e-bike traveling on Maroon Creek Road will be unveiled later this month.

But a comprehensive plan is needed rather than a piecemeal approach, Brian Pettet, Pitkin County director of public works, told the county commissioners last week.

The center’s outline for its Maroon Bells project said it will come up a plan that will “address the impacts of increasing visitation by identifying sustainable levels of access to the Maroon Bells Scenic Area while accounting for local economic and other community impacts.”

Volpe’s plan is supposed to be ready by December 2023. It will cost $225,000, with the members of the consortium splitting up the expense.