CARBONDALE, Colo. — Are you planning to camp overnight in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness in 2023? Be prepared to pay a new overnight fee.
“We have been hearing loud and clear that the public wants us to keep this area a premiere backcountry destination by getting a handle on this over-use and environmental damage,” said Aspen-Sopris District Ranger Kevin Warner. “This overnight permit and fee program is critical to giving us the resources we need to effectively manage, restore and protect this cherished area.”
Starting in 2023, the most popular areas of the wilderness area will require an overnight permit year-round. The fee is $10 per person per night from May 1 through Oct. 31. The rest of the year, the $10 fee is waived. This excludes children who are 16 years old and younger or approved school groups.
The permits can be obtained through Recreation.gov, which adds a $6 processing fee year-round, starting Feb. 15, 2023 for April 1-July 31. Permits for later dates will be released in June and then again in October.
The U.S. Forest Service announced it had approved the special recreation permit fee program on Friday morning. It noted that it only applies to the most heavily impacted areas of the wilderness area:
- Conundrum Hot Springs
- “Four Pass Loop” (including Crater Lake and Snowmass Lake)
- Geneva Lake
- Capitol Lake
These areas make up about 28% of the 181,535-acre Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness, the USFS said. If rangers notice more significant challenges in the wilderness area, the permits and fees may expand to include other areas.
The fees collected through this program will help manage and protect the wilderness destination, the USFS said, since overnight recreation in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness has quadrupled since 2006.
Such heavy use has led to "overcrowding, large amounts of trash and human waste, user conflicts, and large-scale environmental damage such as campsite soil and vegetation compaction, trail erosion, and loss of vegetation," the USFS said.
As outlined by the USFS, the fees from this permit program will aid in:
- Restoration and rehabilitation of heavily damaged natural areas and campsites
- Restoration of campfire scars, aeration of denuded bare soil and revegetation of sites with damaged vegetation
- Increased Wilderness Ranger field presence and visitor information service to provide on-site visitor education, promote safe wildlife interactions and provide local information and low impact camping practices
- Improved trails maintenance and clearing for access to permit areas
- Improved visitor experience through reduced crowding and conflict and assurance of opportunity to visit through the reservable permit
- Improved trailhead information, including design and installation of new trailhead informational kiosk signs, including new maps
- Improvements to interpretive and education services, visitor information maps and products
- Expanded visitor safety program, specifically expanding the successful bear canister check-out program (free to visitor)
- Trash and human waste management and removal in remote locations
- Expanded Human Waste Disposal Bags program-provided to the public at major Wilderness access points to improve sanitation of camping areas. The program has demonstrated success during the Conundrum Hot Springs pilot
- Expansion of existing volunteer and partner programs through increased capacity of field staff
Originally, the USFS had proposed the fee as $12, but following a public comment period in summer 2021, heard concerns from families about the price being too high. So the USFS dropped the fee down to $10 and exempted children under the age of 16.
Visitors who want to enjoy this wilderness area — which has 26 trailheads and 173 miles of trails — without paying a fee can still access 72% of the land at no cost. In addition, there are four other wilderness areas adjacent to the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness with comparable world-class mountains, lakes and camping opportunities, the USFS said.
The permit and fee program is separate from the Maroon Bells Scenic Area, which is outside of the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness.
