A parking lot and entrance point are being built to provide public access to a parcel of Bureau of Land Management land south of Summit Lake.
The gravel lot is located off County Road N, west of the intersection of Road 35.6, and was built to accommodate vehicles with horse trailers. Construction is expected to take up to two weeks.
The lot and access point opens up 2,800 acres of BLM land for hikers and horse riding, said Connie Clementson, BLM Tres Rios Office field manager.
The area is designated as non-motorized, and non-mechanized, meaning no bicycles.
“Foot traffic and horseback riding are the uses for that area,” Clementson said.
The BLM heard from horseback riders who said they wanted a place to ride without the disruption of mountain bikers, she said.
There are no designated trails, and trail building is not planned. The area will have a seasonal wildlife closure from Dec. 1 to April 30.
Users are reminded to not trespass on private property that surrounds the BLM parcel.
The parking area will include a kiosk with information on the area, regulations and recreation uses. The lot was located in a way to preserve the viewshed from nearby neighbors, Clementson said.
Opening up public access to the BLM parcel of land involved an extensive effort and collaboration between Montezuma County, the BLM, and recreationists.
The area has been unavailable for public use for decades because it is hemmed in by private land, which blocked nearly all public access except for private landowners.
Previous and current county commissioners and staff worked for years to find a public access solution to the BLM land south of Summit Lake.
Previous county commissioners changed the red-signed private roads adjacent to the Summit Ridge BLM lands to green-signed public roads, based on subdivision plat language that stated the roads were for public use.
A potential point of access was scrapped after land surveys revealed the county road easement missed touching BLM land by mere inches.
The final solution came in 2020 when it was discovered County Road N could be extended a short distance along a non-exclusive subdivision easement that abuts the BLM land.
Once a legal access point was found, BLM officials conducted a planning process and approved the parking lot and public entrance.
“The main goal was to get people to their public lands, and we could not have done it without the collaborative efforts with Montezuma County and users in our area,” Clementson said. “It is a wonderful area to go and hike and ride horses.”
jmimiaga@the-journal.com
