§539q Hermosa Creek Watershed Protection

Summary

The law creates the Hermosa Creek Special Management Area of about 70,650 acres near Durango, Colorado, and says how it must be run. City means Durango, County means La Plata County, Secretary means the Secretary of Agriculture, State means Colorado, and Special Management Area means the Hermosa Creek Special Management Area. The area must be managed to protect its watershed, wildlife, cultural, scenic, recreational, and other listed values. The Secretary must allow only uses that help those purposes and follow the National Forest Management Act and other laws. Motorized or mechanized vehicles are allowed only on roads and trails the Secretary names, except snowmobiles and other oversnow vehicles can be used when there is enough snow and under conditions set by the Secretary. Grazing that existed before December 19, 2014, can continue under applicable law. In the part called East Hermosa, no new permanent or temporary roads or renovation of nonsystem roads are allowed, and commercial timber harvest is banned except for byproducts from ecological restoration. The law does not stop possible development of a water-storage reservoir at sites identified in the Colorado Water Conservation Board reports (Statewide Water Supply Initiative, pages 17–20, November 2004; Colorado Dam Site Inventory, page 27, August 1996). Federal land in the area is withdrawn from public land entry, mining claims, and mineral leasing, subject to rights existing on December 19, 2014, and except for two parcels labeled A and B. Ski area permits and their operation are not affected. The Secretary can do vegetation, wildfire, insect, and disease work as needed. A long-term management plan must be created within 3 years after December 19, 2014, with public input and provisions for recreation such as skiing, biking, hiking, fishing, hunting, horseback riding, snowmobiling, motorcycle and off-highway vehicle use, snowshoeing, and camping. Trails and water rights in place on December 19, 2014, remain valid. The law also designates about 461 acres as the Molas Pass Recreation Area and allows snowmobile use there during adequate snow cover on designated routes and areas under federal law. The Molas Pass Wilderness Study Area is moved from the Bureau of Land Management to the Forest Service and must be managed to keep its wilderness potential. About 82 acres of BLM land shown on a May 5, 2014 map must be conveyed to La Plata County, without payment, when permit COC 64651 (09) dated February 24, 2009, expires and the County agrees, with the County paying conveyance costs and subject to reversion if the County stops using the land for public purposes. The Interior Secretary may also convey certain BLM lands to the City, County, or State under the Recreation and Public Purposes Act or by exchange. Maps and legal descriptions for all these actions must be prepared soon after December 19, 2014, kept on file, and made public. The State keeps its fish and wildlife authority. The law does not create buffer zones around these areas and does not limit military low-level overflights, flight testing, or the creation of military airspace or training routes.