#Devils backbone loveland colorado for free#
#Devils backbone loveland colorado free#

You can go as far - or not - as you wish. In some short steeper sections, there are rock steps. Parts are narrower and at an incline - either across the trail, or changes in elevation up and down as you progress.

Weather can change quickly so consider taking a light jacket or extra layer. A walking stick or poles may be worth considering, along with water. Be conservative - some expend too much time and energy going out, and don't turn back soon enough. So we have to have revenue to meet those expenses.It is walkable, just mind your pace, and realize that you are at altitude, which can have a significant effect on some people. “But to maintain our open spaces and to provide for the staff that patrol and provide spaces, and to cover the costs and expenses as we steward public lands, it costs money.

#Devils backbone loveland colorado free#

“This was a hard decision to make, and we wish that all of our open lands and spaces could be free for everyone,” Shadduck-McNally said.

#Devils backbone loveland colorado for free#

She also emphasized that there are options for seniors, veterans and people with low incomes to buy discounted passes, along with a program that she was instrumental in implementing that allowed day passes to be checked out for free at the library like a book. “A lot of the sales tax, if you look at the ballot language, is for specific things, and it’s not to cover the maintenance at our open spaces and parks, there’s just not enough to do that,” said Larimer County Commissioner Jody Shadduck-McNally. Much of the costs associated with the area’s open spaces are paid for by sales taxes, but that money is insufficient to keep the paths on those areas from breaking down, county officials reported. Livingston said he also worries that county residents are losing a place to experience the outdoors for free. Do you support Larimer County adjusting user fees to ensure maintaining levels of service with facility maintenance and replacement and providing continued existing and future new recreational opportunities?” “The resulting decrease in funds would affect the level of service provided to visitors and result in fewer new facilities, deterioration of existing facilities, and fewer new open space properties to support public recreation. “If the County elects to not adjust user fees, fewer dollars will be available for land or facility maintenance and infrastructure replacement at Larimer County parks and open spaces,” one survey question read.

Ross Livingston, a marketing research consultant who served on the Open Lands Advisory Commission for the city of Loveland from 2012 to 2020, has argued before the Board of County Commissioners as well as in an op-ed in the Reporter-Herald that the survey should have been done by an outside marketing firm rather than internally.

Some residents have taken issue with the new fee though, arguing that the survey used to gauge public opinion on the new fee biased respondents to support it. Two-thirds of the respondents were annual permit holders, and over half said that they visit natural areas in the county at least 16 times per year. The results of the survey, presented to the commissioners during a work session in September, indicate that 77% of respondents approve of a fee at Devil’s Backbone. The fee is part of a broader package of rate increases approved by the Larimer Board of County Commissioners earlier this fall meant to keep up with rising maintenance costs at the county’s various open areas.Ī public involvement survey indicated broad support of the plan, according to an internal survey by the Department of Natural Resources. 1, in a move intended to raise revenue to fund upkeep costs at the popular hiking destination. A new $10-per-car daily use pass for Larimer County residents who do not have an annual pass to the county’s open areas will be required at the Devil’s Backbone South Trailhead on Jan.