{"id":2446563,"date":"2019-07-21T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-07-21T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=309737"},"modified":"2019-07-22T09:20:39","modified_gmt":"2019-07-22T15:20:39","slug":"forest-ranger-leaves-aspen-backcountry-better-than-she-found-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/forest-ranger-leaves-aspen-backcountry-better-than-she-found-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Forest ranger leaves Aspen backcountry better than she found it"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery p402_hide\" readability=\"6.354609929078\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-309737-460\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/07\/schroyer-atd-061419-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/07\/schroyer-atd-061419-1.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Aspen-Sopris Ranger District\/courtesy photo | The party scene at the Conundrum Hot Springs use to attract up to 300 people on summer weekends, as shown by this undated photo. The Forest Service implemented an overnight visits management plan in summer 2018.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-0.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"10\">\n<p><strong>The party scene at the Conundrum Hot Springs use to attract up to 300 people on summer weekends, as shown by this undated photo. The Forest Service implemented an overnight visits management plan in summer 2018.<\/strong><br \/>Aspen-Sopris Ranger District\/courtesy photo<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2019\/07\/schroyer-atd-061419-1.jpg\" alt=\"The party scene at the Conundrum Hot Springs use to attract up to 300 people on summer weekends, as shown by this undated photo. The Forest Service implemented an overnight visits management plan in summer 2018.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/forest-ranger-leaves-aspen-backcountry-better-than-she-found-it\/?#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/forest-ranger-leaves-aspen-backcountry-better-than-she-found-it\/?#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText DropCap\">Campers and backpackers are urged to leave the sites where they stay on public lands in better shape than when they found them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Aspen-Sopris District Ranger Karen Schroyer took that concept and ratcheted it up several notches.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">When Schroyer transfers out of her post July 25, it will be with a legacy of leaving the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness in better shape than she found it five and a half years ago.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Schroyer headed a team that implemented an adaptive management system to protect some of the most outstanding places in the White River National Forest from getting loved to death.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote p402_hide\" readability=\"1.5\">\n<blockquote readability=\"6\">\n<p>\u201cI think the district as a whole is resilient and that the land is in really good shape.\u201dKaren Schroyer<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Gone are the free-for-all parties at Conundrum Hot Springs where overflow backpackers plopped down where they wanted. Soon there will be limits on how many backpackers can camp on any given night along the scenic stretches of the Four Pass Loop.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI think the district as a whole is resilient and that the land is in really good shape,\u201d Schroyer said. \u201cBut there are these pockets of impact that we know we have to address, like on the Four Pass Loop.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">When she took the post in 2014, Schroyer said she was \u201cbombarded\u201d with information about how bad conditions were in the backcountry because of people camping in inappropriate places, leaving behind trash and refusing to properly bury human waste. Some of the people visiting the special places in the White River National Forest didn\u2019t want to do their part to care for them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cAt that time it was so disheartening, watching what our wilderness rangers were going through and knowing it was not part of their job description to have to bury people\u2019s poop and carry out their garbage,\u201d Schroyer said. \u201cThat was very frustrating.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cBut I\u2019ll tell you what, since we got the plan signed and approved and we have a tool now that we can make those management changes with, it\u2019s a lot more positive future. I think we all feel that way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">In layperson\u2019s language, the 2017 management plan sets thresholds on use and triggers in ecological conditions that allow the Forest Service to make changes without going through additional extensive reviews. Conundrum Creek Valley was on the extreme end of those changes. A permit system was implemented in 2018 that allows camping only in designated, dispersed sites reserved in advance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">A similar system is likely to be implemented in 2021 on the Four Pass Loop, which includes such popular destinations as Snowmass Lake and West Maroon Pass.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cOn the Four Pass Loop, we\u2019re not going to set up designated, dispersed sites,\u201d Schroyer said. \u201cWe\u2019re just going to create zones where a certain number of people can camp each night.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Schroyer stressed that Mother Nature deserves most of the credit for the high quality of health of the forest in the Aspen-Sopris Ranger District.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cLook at Basalt Mountain after a year (since the Lake Christine Fire) and the new growth there,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The Forest Service gets an assist for its management policies, she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Schroyer came to the Aspen-Sopris District after working for the Forest Service in Southern Utah. She is leaving to become deputy forest supervisor in the Mount Hood National Forest in Oregon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">She said it was a \u201cgreat honor\u201d to work in the Roaring Fork Valley and a tough decision to move on.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIt\u2019s been an emotional roller coaster thinking about leaving here the last six weeks,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The Roaring Fork Valley\u2019s relationship with federal land management agencies is extraordinarily good \u2014 unlike any she\u2019s experienced or heard of, she said. She called the Roaring Fork Valley an \u201cincredible bubble\u201d to work in.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThe amount of support we get, both financial and moral, from the public is incredible. During the furlough, the amount of support we got from this valley didn\u2019t happen across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Sometimes, she said, the Forest Service was unable to take advantage of the support.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWhat makes that challenging here is everybody has great ideas and money and resources to support their ideas, but we don\u2019t always have the resources to support those ideas and sometimes those ideas aren\u2019t in line with what our priorities are, so it\u2019s tough,\u201d Schroyer said. \u201cWe want to be the good partner and we can\u2019t always be the good partner.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Schroyer earned praise from people outside the agency who regularly worked with her. Chris Lane, executive director of Aspen Center for Environmental Studies, said Schroyer brought many qualities that were critical to the success of the Forest Service in this region.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cShe brought a more definitive and intentional collaborative approach with all parties pertinent to our forests,\u201d Lane said via email. \u201cThrough her calm temperament, non-adversarial tone and leadership, she and her staff elevated the fine arts of collaboration, consensus building and the rarely executed task of listening to people was part of everything she did.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Schroyer and Forest Supervisor Scott Fitzwilliams helped ACES and its partners implement a forest health and restoration effort in Hunter Creek Valley, affectionately known as Aspen\u2019s backyard, he noted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWhat I appreciate most about Karen was that she truly cared in her heart, as well as through her professional actions, about the ecology, health and natural systems of our forests relative to extraction and other uses,\u201d Lane said. \u201cThis shows her ability to be more visionary and look at the long-term implications of decisions with our forests over short term financial gains for special interests.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI, for one, will miss Karen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Schroyer\u2019s five and a half years at the helm were anything but dull. The Lake Christine Fire dominated her time last summer. This spring and summer the district is dealing with epic avalanche debris. Bear-human interactions spiked during her first summer and led to the closure of backpacking camping sites around Crater Lake. The Aspen-Sopris Ranger District adopted a requirement that backpackers carry bear canisters for food and waste everywhere in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The agency also installed bear lockers at all its campgrounds. It also undertook \u201ca ton\u201d of education and outreach to encourage responsible human behavior.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIt\u2019s been a concerted effort and I feel like people are more responsibly recreating when it comes to food and bears,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">A growing population of moose could present the next challenge. Moose are regularly spotted in the popular Maroon Bells Scenic Area, where the Forest Service allows dogs on leash. Moose are \u201cincredibly annoyed by dogs,\u201d Schroyer noted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cDogs have to be on leash but that doesn\u2019t stop people from getting closer than they should to the moose when it\u2019s up there,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m very concerned that one of these days somebody is going to get very critically hurt. You can only educate so much. That\u2019s one of the things that a future district ranger might decide to take on, restricting dogs from that area.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Schroyer has been with the Forest Service since 1997. During an exit interview at the Forest Service\u2019s Carbondale office Wednesday, she said she had questioned her employment during the \u201cdark days\u201d after the chief, Tony Tooke, stepped down in March 2018 amid an investigation of sexual harassment charges against him. The resignation came on the heels of a PBS \u201cNewsHour\u201d series that revealed widespread sexual misconduct and several reports of rape within the agency.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Schroyer said since then she has witnessed vast improvement in the training Forest Service employees receive and a willingness to discuss issues.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe\u2019re having open, honest, difficult conversations that we weren\u2019t willing to do in the past,\u201d she said. \u201cIn the past we would just brush aside these difficult discussions or if something made us uncomfortable, we would just ignore it and turn our heads the other way, even with some serious, serious offenses, but we\u2019re not doing that anymore and I\u2019m really pleased to see that. We still have a lot of work to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">She said she is glad she \u201cstuck with it\u201d and didn\u2019t quit the agency after the 2018 sexual harassment issues.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI\u2019m really impressed with the employees of this ranger district and how they responded,\u201d Schroyer said. \u201cThey just dove in, every last one of them, and wanted to be part of the change. I think we\u2019re a stronger team because of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">She said she has been \u201chopeful\u201d over the past year by what she has seen in the agency.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI hope that we continue to highlight our problems as an agency, as well as some of the positive things we\u2019re doing, because I think that\u2019s the only way we\u2019re going to improve,\u201d Schroyer said. \u201cI will be honest with you: I feel incredibly fortunate that I have never in my career had any kind of sexual harassment or ever felt any kind of discrimination. I have worked for incredibly supportive supervisors and always felt I had opportunities to develop and move up in this agency. I know co-workers who haven\u2019t had those same opportunities and have suffered from some form of harassment in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Tagline\"><a href=\"mailto:scondon@aspentimes.com\">scondon@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/forest-ranger-leaves-aspen-backcountry-better-than-she-found-it\/?\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The party scene at the Conundrum Hot Springs use to attract up to 300 people on summer weekends, as shown by this undated photo. The Forest Service implemented an overnight visits management plan in summer 2018.Aspen-Sopris Ranger District\/courtesy photo Show CaptionsHide Captions Campers and backpackers are urged to leave the sites where they stay on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2446563","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-21 17:44:45","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2446563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2446563"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2446563\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2446596,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2446563\/revisions\/2446596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2446563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2446563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2446563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}