Forest Service urges people to stay off San Juan forest roads
Flooding has left roads, trails and other infrastructure damaged or impassable across all three districts, and the forest supervisor says search and rescue may not be readily available.
The San Juan National Forest is strongly discouraging travel on its roads after last weekend’s flooding, and is asking visitors to put off or cancel trips into the forest until conditions improve.
KSJD reported the release on Monday. According to the station, the Forest Service said the flooding has left roads, trails and other infrastructure inaccessible, severely damaged or impassable, that the full extent of the damage is not yet known, and that unsafe conditions are present across all three of the forest’s ranger districts. One of those, the Dolores Ranger District, covers the country north and east of Dolores that Montezuma County residents use most.
The forest supervisor’s stated reason for the warning was not only the state of the roads. He told the station that rescues may not be readily available, because search and rescue resources in the region are in high demand.
No end date was given. The Forest Service asked people to postpone or cancel forest trips until conditions improve.
What this does and does not cover
The advisory is about national forest roads and trails. It is separate from the state highway network, which the Colorado Department of Transportation reports at cotrip.org, and from the county roads Montezuma County has been repairing since the weekend.
The weather service’s flood warning for the Mancos River near Mancos runs until Wednesday morning and describes minor flooding; a second warning, on the San Juan River from the Four Corners downstream, runs to 5:15 p.m. Thursday. Both show on the alert bar at the top of every page on this site while they are active.
The Current has not been able to read the Forest Service’s release directly; the account above is KSJD’s. The forest’s own notices are posted by the San Juan National Forest, and the Current has described the supervisor by title rather than printing a name it has from a single source.
For an emergency, call 911.