| Contacts: | Erin Curtis, Public Information Officer, (970) 244-3097 |
BLM Begins Construction on Two New Trailheads in Cactus Park
Grand Junction, CO --The Bureau of Land Management will begin construction today on two new trailheads in Cactus Park, inside the Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area.
The construction will be visible to visitors, with equipment on or near the roads. Officials say the construction should not interfere with the public’s use of the area.
Two new trailheads will be constructed, including one trailhead for hikers and horseback riders leading into the Dominguez Canyon Wilderness, and a second general parking area for visitors to Cactus Park.
When complete, the trailheads will include new signage, a new toilet, and designated parking areas. These new parking areas will provide better access to area trails, and encourage visitors to park in and travel over already-disturbed areas. Additional phases of the project will also create better delineation and protection for a unique geological feature in the area, the Gunnison Gravels Area of Critical Environmental Concern, which contains geologic evidence that the ancestral Gunnison River once flowed through the area. Another phase will include construction of a new hiking and equestrian trail into the wilderness from the trailhead.
“The new parking area will accommodate additional recreation use and provide a hard spot for vehicles to park on. That will help reduce the amount of damage done to the surrounding vegetation,” said Katie Stevens, interim manager for the Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area.
Work will begin first on the new trailhead into the wilderness, from which hikers and horseback riders can access Big Dominguez Creek and the scenic canyons, mesas, streams and waterfalls. The second phase will begin later in June, when construction begins on a trailhead and facilities providing access to the Tabegauche Trail and Nine Mile Hill, both of which are open to off-highway vehicles (OHV) and mountain bikes.
For more information on projects and related closures in the area, visit the Grand Junction Field Office website, http://www.blm.gov/co/st/en/fo/gjfo.html.
Encompassing nearly 210,000 acres of BLM-administered public lands on the western slope of Colorado, the Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area is one of the BLM's 16 National Conservation Areas in the West. National Conservation Areas are part of the BLM's National Landscape Conservation System, a unique network of special places that serve as scenic showcases for the conservation, protection, and restoration elements of BLM's multiple use mission. These treasured landscapes make up more than 27 million of the 253 million total acres of western public lands managed by the BLM in the western United States.
The BLM manages more than 245 million acres of public land, the most of any Federal agency. This land, known as the National System of Public Lands, is primarily located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The BLM also administers 700 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2011, recreational and other activities on BLM-managed land contributed more than $130 billion to the U.S. economy and supported more than 600,000 American jobs. The Bureau is also one of a handful of agencies that collects more revenue than it spends. In FY 2012, nearly $5.7 billion will be generated on lands managed by the BLM, which operates on a $1.1 billion budget. The BLM's multiple-use mission is to sustain the health and productivity of the public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. The Bureau accomplishes this by managing such activities as outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, mineral development, and energy production, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources on public lands.
2815 H Road Grand Junction, CO 81506