ASPEN, Colo. (AP) — Following a U.S. Forest Service ruling, officials have announced that the White River National Forest can start implementing a system to limit backpackers in heavily visited hot spots of the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness.
The Aspen Times reports the U.S. Forest Service on Tuesday heard two citizen objections to the proposed Wilderness Overnight Use Management Plan.
The Forest Service required minor clarifications to the plan to address how backpackers would be limited and at what numbers, but gave officials the OK to implement it.
The plan calls for three phases, the first of which is creating a reservation system for a limited-entry overnight permit in the Conundrum Hot Springs zone.
The next phase will be limiting backpackers at one time on the popular Four Pass Loop. The third phase will be limits for overnight visitation at Capitol Lake.
