Decision on snowfly protection expected in month

Bobby Magill

A decision on the legitimacy of several environmental groups' request to use the Endangered Species Act to keep the Poudre Canyon's rare Arapahoe snowfly alive could come within 30 days.

The environmental groups, including the Save the Poudre Coalition and other national organizations, this week filed an emergency petition with U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar asking the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the snowfly, possibly affecting a popular trail in Young's Gulch and a major trail-building project in Elkhorn Creek south of Red Feather Lakes.

The Fish and Wildlife Service is supposed to respond to the environmentalists within a month, agency spokeswoman Valerie Fellows said Thursday.

But, she said, "nobody here has seen the petition you're talking about."

If the snowfly receives protection, it could affect cycling and dog-walking in Young's Gulch and could threaten the Margaret-Molly-Moon trail-building project in Elkhorn Creek.

The groups said in their petition this week that extensive dog-walking, hiker and cyclist traffic in Young Gulch is degrading the water quality in the gulch enough to drive the tiny snowfly nearly to extinction.

The environmentalists claim a large number of defecating dogs and throngs of hikers and cyclists are wreaking havoc with the ecosystem in Young's Gulch, even though the snowfly hasn't been spotted there in more than five years.

However, Young's Gulch sees less traffic compared with other popular trails in the region.

According to U.S. Forest Service estimates, about 6,200 people use the Young's Gulch trail annually. The trail to Grey Rock, the most popular trail in Poudre Canyon, sees 8,030 people annually, whereas more than 13,600 people are estimated to hike to Mills Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park annually.

Environmentalists also are trying to temper the impact of the Margaret-Molly-Moon project in Elkhorn Creek, the only place the snowfly has been seen in recent years.

The project is designed to disperse human use of about 12,000 acres south of Red Feather Lakes. The area has been ravaged by illegal all-terrain vehicle use through wetlands, poorly built and marked trails, and insufficient trailhead parking space, according to Forest Service documents.

The Forest Service approved a plan last year to build new trails, parking lots, trailhead facilities and other projects to more efficiently manage recreation there.

The environmentalists' petition claims the Margaret-Molly-Moon project will allow pollutants from the new parking lot to run into Elkhorn Creek and threaten the snowfly. They also fear additional horse excrement from a rise in the number of horses the project could invite into the Elkhorn Creek drainage could further damage snowfly habitat.

Forest Service spokeswoman Reghan Cloudman said agency officials cannot comment on how the project might be affected by the snowfly petition.

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Source: http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20100409/NEWS01/4090323/Decision-on-snowfly-protection-expected-in-month

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