2018 State of the Rockies Report Western Forests in the Anthropocene Research • Report • Engage 2017-2018 State of the Rockies Project Acknowledgments The Colorado College State of the Rockies Project would like to thank the following individuals and groups for their generous contributions to help support summer research, publication of The State of the Rockies Report, monthly speakers, and student activities. Chip Collins ‘77 and Annie Childs ‘78 The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Jane E.S. Sokolow ‘72 and Edward Ames Helen and Horst Richardson The Colorado College State of the Rockies Project Research • Report • Engage The Colorado College State of the Rockies Report, published annually since 2004, is the culmination of research and writing by a team of Colorado College student researchers. Each year a new team of students studies critical issues affecting the Rockies and the American West. Colorado College, a liberal arts college of national distinction, is indelibly linked to the Rockies. Through its Block Plan, students take one course at a time, and explore the American West as classes delve into the intersections between humans, politics, culture, geography, natural sciences, and more. Students’ sense of place runs deep; their environment is their classroom. They ford streams and explore acequias to study the multifaceted issues of water; they camp in the Rocky Mountains to understand its geology; they visit nearby oil fields to learn about energy production and hike through forests to experience the biology of pest-ridden trees and changing owl populations. Colorado College encourages a spirit of intellectual adventure, critical thinking, and hands-on learning, where education, discovery, and life intertwine. The Colorado College State of the Rockies Project dovetails perfectly with that philosophy, providing research opportunities for CC students and a means for the college to engage meaningfully with the region we call home. The State of the Rockies Report fosters a sense of citizenship for Colorado College graduates, revealing how the nuances and subtleties of the natural world define the very challenges that these graduates will spend their careers solving. 2018 State of the Rockies Report Western Forests in the Anthropocene Editor Jonah Seifer State of the Rockies Project Specialist With special thanks to: Matt Cooney, Colorado College GIS Technical Director Santiago Guerra, State of the Rockies Project Faculty Mentor Walt Hecox, Founder of the State of the Rockies Project Cyndy Hines, State of the Rockies Project Program Coordinator Miroslav Kummel, State of the Rockies Project Faculty Mentor Steve Weaver for his annual contribution of the cover photo Letter from the Editor 4 By Jonah Seifer, State of the Rockies Project Specialist Managing the Masses: 6 Recreation Management on Pikes Peak By Hannah Rider, 2017-2018 State of the Rockies Student Fellow Ring the Peak: 20 Overcoming Political and Physical Trail Development Challenges By Wileen Genz, 2017-2018 State of the Rockies Student Fellow A Quantitative Approach to Living Sustainably with Wildfire 54 By Alex Harros and Matt Valido, 2017-2018 State of the Rockies Student Fellows When Forever Comes, We Will Be Here: Cultural Resource 73 Management and Indigenous Peoples of the Pikes Peak Region By Nathan Goodman, 2017-2018 State of the Rockies Student Fellow 107 2016-2017 State of the Rockies Project Contributors The dawning of the Anthropocene was a keystone across the state, nation, and world continue to suffer the moment in Earth’s natural history. This era was so named traumatic loss of cultural resources: ceremonial sites, by the International Union of Geological Sciences because ancestral burial grounds, sacred objects and more. These it marks the start of when human activities became the losses are driven by unjust, colonial attitudes held by gov- dominant influence on the environment. While a discreet ernment agencies and private industries alike, and reflect start-date for the Anthropocene has yet to be determined the central tenet of the Anthropocene: significant and definitively, the hallmarks of this monumental period are detrimental human impacts which are entirely avoidable. plainly visible. Anthropogenic climate change, driven by modern society’s ongoing dependance on carbon-based In the pages of this report, you will find meticulously fuels, is the most easily identified marker of this era. Other prepared, collaborative research which investigates the detectable phenomenon, some more subtle than others, most fundamental elements of each of these challenges. include the integration of plastics into the strata of Earth’s The 2017-18 State of the Rockies Student Fellows have geologic story, the presence of refined radioactive materi- channeled their intellect, curiosity, and sensitivity into als in our atmosphere and soils, and the beginning of what illuminating the objective truths, nuances, and injustices biologists call “Earth’s Sixth Mass Extinction,” to name a which define their chosen topics. This has been the es- few. sence of the Colorado College State of the Rockies Report since its first publication in 2004. The Anthropocene represents more than just these dramatic, global-scale challenges, however. It manifests Now in our 15th anniversary edition, I’m proud to right in our backyard: the American West, and in partic- continue this tradition of advancing public understand- ular, the Pikes Peak Region. Human impacts on western ing of natural resource issues in the American West. It is ecosystems has many faces, and a similarly varied set of a bittersweet moment however - as this will be the final fields must be drawn upon to understand and mitigate State of the Rockies Report - the last of 15 reports which these impacts. bear witness to the stellar efforts of Colorado College students, staff, and faculty over the past decade and a half. Record numbers of enthusiastic outdoor recreation- While this may be the end of a defining period in this or- ists flock to America’s outdoor spaces and public lands. ganization’s history, our work is not done.The State of the They hike, paddle, ski, and fish in pursuit of community, Rockies Project will live on under the exceptional leader- fitness, and the joy of conquering new challenges. Outdoor ship of Dr. Corina McKendry. The structure, format, and recreation has blossomed into an industry worth $887 bil- topical focus of our research will surely shift as it always lion, but despite growing awareness of the need for “Leave has, but the mission remains quite similar: “The State of No Trace” ethics, traces are indeed left. Local land man- the Rockies Project enhances understanding of and action agers constantly battle the effects of erosion, vegetation to address socio-environmental challenges in the Rocky trampling, degraded water quality, and other detrimental Mountain West through collaborative student-faculty effects of visitation. research, education, and stakeholder engagement.” Similarly, a century-long history of unnatural wild- When I consider the bright future of this program, fire suppression has left western forests in a precarious I fixate on one word in that mission statement: action. state. Dense and overgrown, today’s forests are especially Too often does high-quality research remain on paper, in prone to wildfires which can reach unprecedented, cata- journals, or online. Translating knowledge into action is strophic scales. Furthermore, the gradual encroachment of an art unto itself, and there has never been a better time to urban centers into these forested areas poses tremendous act: to seek balance and resilience for human and non-hu- risk to those who choose to live in this “wildland-urban man communities; to refine our personal commitment to interface.” This devastating dynamic was made painfully a better, more just world; and to be the change we want apparent in 2012 and 2013 when the Waldo Canyon and to see. Thank you for reading, and I hope the information Black Forest Fires took 4 lives and 857 homes in Colorado contained in this report catalyzes your personal passion or Springs. interest in addressing the myriad challenges we face today. Impacts on our forests are not only limited to natural Sincerely, systems, but also to the cultural landscape which non-In- digenous people rarely experience. Indigenous peoples Jonah Seifer, State of the Rockies Project Specialist 4 5 Managing the Masses: Recreation Management on Pikes Peak by Hannah Rider, 2017-18 State of the Rockies Project Fellow Introduction for completing the ring (Davies 2017). When this trail is completed, it will draw even more visitors to the area, and Rising high above the eastern plains of Colorado, will put even more pressure on the peak’s fragile ecosystem. Pikes Peak occupies a unique place in the interface between wilderness and civilization. While Zebulon Pike, the man The necessity of sound management is multifaceted contracted to explore this area of the Louisiana Purchase, due to the social and economic impacts of outdoor once thought it to be unclimbable, Pikes Peak is now the recreation. Recreation on public lands is an important most accessible fourteen-thousand-foot mountain in the economic driver in the West. According to Outdoor country. As a result, it is the mountain with the highest rate Industry Association’s economic report, Colorado outdoor of visitation in the U. S. (Pikes Peak America’s Mountain, recreation annually generates $28 billion in consumer 2016). In the past few decades, the demand on Pikes Peak’s spending, $2 billion in state and local taxes, $9.7 billion resources has been increasing. As more people move to in wages and salaries, and 229,000 direct jobs (Outdoor the Front Range of Colorado and demand for recreational Industry Association 2012). From estimates of visitors to opportunities increases, current management practices and Pikes Peak and estimates of user spending on recreation, infrastructure will not be able to keep up with the influx Pikes Peak generates around $117 million for the local of visitors.