Map of the Fourmile area highlighting road closures.

Fourmile-area snowmobilers advised of closures

Closures include sections of Fourmile Road and Sunlight to Powderhorn Trail

U.S. FOREST SERVICE PRESS RELEASE
February 8, 2023

The White River National Forest is enacting several closures to snowmobiles and other vehicles in the Fourmile area for public safety due to logging operations.

Fourmile Road (FSR 300) will be closed to all vehicles, including snowmobiles, at the gate about a half-mile above the snowmobile parking area. This is right after the road passes through last year’s aspen cutting, where skiers typically park to ski Williams Peak.

“The high amount of snow this year means the plowed road beyond this gate is very narrow,” said Aspen-Sopris District Ranger Kevin Warner. “With up to 20 heavy trucks using the road each weekday, the closure is needed for public safety.”

In addition, the first two miles of the Sunlight to Powderhorn Trail will be closed because that section crosses areas where logging will occur.

Snowmobilers can use alternate routes such as the Fourmile Trail and the Pipeline Trail to travel around both closures and resume travel on the Fourmile Road/Sunlight-to-Powderhorn Trail.

Two logging projects are underway in the Fourmile area to improve forest health.

An aspen regeneration project across four areas totaling 109 acres is occurring east and south of Fourmile Park. Clear-cutting and removing mature aspen stimulates their root system to vigorously regenerate. Felled trees are chipped on site and trucked to the biomass plant in Gypsum.

Additionally, a spruce-fir regeneration project is underway farther up Fourmile Road in the Countyline area. Here small (05.-2 acres) patches of spruce-fir are being cut from seven units totaling 823 acres. The logs are being trucked to a mill in Montrose.

“This work will help ensure the long-term health of forests in this area by creating size and age diversity,” Warner said. “The work will also improve wildlife habitat.”

For information call the Aspen-Sopris Ranger District, 970-963-2266, or visit the website.