— Fishers Peak State Park

Fishers Peak State Park a year old and what a first year it has been!

Editor’s Note: This is a regular monthly column from Colorado Parks and Wildlife about the creation of Fishers Peak State Park near Trinidad by a career park manager.

Local and state dignitaries were on hand as Gov. Jared Polis used an oversized pair of scissors to cut the ribbon and open Fishers Peak State Park on Oct. 30, 2020, in Trinidad, as seen in this file photo. Fishers Peak became Colorado's 42nd state park and the event marked the beginning of an intense master planning process for the property. Photo courtesy Colorado Parks and Wildlife / Bill Vogrin

TRINIDAD, Colo. – Recently someone reminded me that the one year anniversary of the ribbon cutting of Fishers Peak State Park was upon us.

Indeed, on Oct. 30, 2020, Gov. Jared Polis traveled to Trinidad and was joined by state and local dignitaries to cut the ribbon on Colorado’s 42nd state park.

On that memorable day, I had the honor of handing Gov. Polis the first Daily Vehicle Park Pass ever sold at the new park. The governor also led the first official hike in the park from our only trailhead. It was muddy but that didn’t stop the governor or the news media assembled from documenting the historic day.

Due to the raging COVID pandemic, the audience was small and we all wore masks. Instead of hugging and shaking hands, we awkwardly touched elbows. Still, it was an energized and hopeful event.

And it didn’t matter that we only opened about 250 acres of the park to public access (we called it our Sneak Peek at Fishers Peak) and only had three short trails to offer along with some picnic tables and a large parking lot. Everyone was excited.

That event kicked off a very productive, albeit challenging, year for those of us involved in the planning and development of these remarkable 19,200 acres.

It’s been so busy that the anniversary was nearly lost on me. So I paused to consider the past 12 months and think about what we had to celebrate. Turns out, there’s quite a bit.

In fact, one of my first thoughts was: How did we get so much done in just one year?

And I wondered how we’re going to get everything we are now planning for the park done including a Visitor Center, new trails, camping and interpretative areas, parking lots and so much more.

From the outside looking in, it may not look like much has happened at Fishers Peak State Park. We still have only a modest, 250 acres of land for the public. We still have only a couple of miles of trail to hike. And dogs and mountain bikes are still not allowed.

A fundamental benchmark for a project like this is user satisfaction. Since opening day, we have seen steady, faithful use of the park. Based on our user surveys, outspoken community support and my chance meetings of our first-year park visitors on the trail, I find that folks are still excited and engaged in our super-sized project.

What our visitors don’t see is the multiple teams of highly dedicated professionals from many different disciplines who have been working tirelessly to learn about and plan for the thoughtful development and protection of these rugged hills.

Earlier this year, as the snow melted off of the park, our small team of planning consultants hit the ground running, actually hiking, across hundreds of miles on the park. Kevin Shanks of landscape architects THK Associates, Bill Mangle of the natural resources consulting firm ERO, and Tony Boone of Tony Boone Trails, have become my second family in the past year.

As often as I could escape from the office, I tagged along with them, eager to cover new ground. It has been our quest to find the best places to bring our future park visitors, and to uncover those areas that need the most protection. Each outing was an adventure, either marked by a fascinating find or a perilous brush with certain death (or at least some obstacle that made us all late for dinner).

Throughout the year, our core public outreach team, advised by CDR Associates, has led multiple conversations with numerous stakeholders, Native American tribes, interest groups, and the general public. I have had both the duty and pleasure to participate in each of these conversations.

From the scientists to the tribal representatives to the recreationists, the common thread we see in all of these groups is the desire for the wise planning of recreation on this special property, and the careful protection of the cultural and natural resources we are finding out here.

Through their explorations, research, and stakeholder conversations, our planning team has chiseled out impressive and exciting concepts for trails, camping and interpretive areas on the property.

Details will be revealed in the coming months. But I can’t wait to tell everyone that we have identified possible routes for 20-25 miles of additional trail that are slated to be built in the next couple of years. Those trails promise to take park visitors through diverse forests, into quiet meadows of wildflowers, to surprising sandstone features, and of course, to epic, hard-earned vistas.

Along with the progress, we have of course seen some setbacks. Most notably were the flooding rains of late May, which washed away much of the Sneak Peek opening we so diligently carved out in record time.

After being closed for three weeks during repairs, Fishers Peak Trailhead was once again open to the public mid-June, and has since seen steady upgrades, including a paved entrance and parking area.

Since the original team that made Colorado’s 42nd state park possible – The Nature Conservancy, Trust for Public Land, GOCO, the City of Trinidad and Colorado Parks and Wildlife – countless other teams have come together to plan and build this park, including local volunteers, students and instructors; contractors, engineers and local utilities; local business owners, elected officials and neighbors of the park.

Thankfully, the internal Fishers Peak State Park team has grown this year. Recently, I hired Charlee Olson, our first official full-time park ranger, and Tom Sciacca, our first park resource technician. These two are absolutely aware of the great responsibility they have signed up and have enthusiastically embraced their new roles.

While we celebrate the addition of Charlee and Tom, we sadly mourn the sudden passing of one of my closest teammates from Day One of the Fishers Peak project: Mike Trujillo, Area Wildlife Manager for Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

I had the pleasure of working with Mike for eight years, including the past three years of intense compromise and collaborations in the planning and management of Fishers Peak State Park.

Mike played a crucial role in the design and implementation of the many quality hunting opportunities at our newest state park. Unforgettable elk, deer, bear, mountain lion and turkey hunts have occurred at Fishers Peak since 2020 under the guiding hand of my kind-hearted buddy Mike. His absence now weighs heavily on our hearts.

For me, looking back on the events of the past year reminds me of great gains, great losses, and great expectations for the future.

None of the gains and progress at Fishers Peak State Park would be possible without the steadfast support and funding from Gov. Polis, the leadership of Colorado’s Department of Natural Resources, and the engaged and nimble leadership of Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

It is because of their focus, commitment and drive that I now have the privilege of going back to work imagining a second year at Fishers Peak State Park.

PHOTO CAPTIONS
All photos are courtesy of Colorado Parks and Wildlife