{"id":2457183,"date":"2020-04-15T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-15T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=324361"},"modified":"2020-04-15T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-04-15T06:00:00","slug":"leash-your-dog-on-smuggler-for-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/leash-your-dog-on-smuggler-for-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Leash your dog on Smuggler (for now)"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/coronaoutdoors-atd-032520-1-2-1024x682.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/coronaoutdoors-atd-032520-1-2-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/coronaoutdoors-atd-032520-1-2-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/coronaoutdoors-atd-032520-1-2-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/coronaoutdoors-atd-032520-1-2-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/coronaoutdoors-atd-032520-1-2-2048x1363.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"><figcaption><strong>A woman walks her dog with her mouth and nose covered on Smuggler Mountain Road in Aspen on Tuesday, March 24, 2020. (Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times)<\/strong><br \/><em>Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Until the COVID-19 pandemic passes, all dogs must be leashed on trails in the Aspen area and Pitkin County starting immediately.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">That was the word Tuesday from Pitkin County commissioners, who made the decision to close three specific trails that allow off-leash dogs under verbal command because of worries about possible human-to-human contact that dog entanglements might provoke.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cIt\u2019s really about social distancing,\u201d Commissioner Patti Clapper said. \u201cIn my mind, it\u2019s something we need to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Still, rules allowing off-leash dogs on Smuggler Mountain, the Hunter Creek Cutoff Trail and an approximately mile-long section of the Jaffee River Trail in Woody Creek will be reinstated once the virus recedes, she said.<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\">\n<div class=\"row at-donation at-donation-mobile p-0\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AT-logo-white.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AT-logo-white.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/at-banner-paypal.jpg)\" class=\"col-xl-8 p-3 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/donate\/?utm_source=article&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_campaign=donation&amp;utm_term=&amp;utm_content=mid-article\">Donate<\/a><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cI want people to know this is not forever,\u201d Clapper said. \u201cIt\u2019s an interim step because of the coronavirus issue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">And while at least one commissioner said he\u2019d received a complaint from a resident, county Open Space and Trails Director Gary Tennenbaum said rangers haven\u2019t seen many problems on local trails with social distancing or with out-of-control dogs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing (is) an increase of use,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re not seeing issues with enforcement.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">An \u201cincrease in use\u201d is a bit of an understatement, however, according to Open Space statistics.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">In fact, since Gov. Jared Polis closed ski resorts March 14, use of the most popular trails in the county has nearly doubled, Tennenbaum said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cAccording to trail counters, March 2020 saw 11,000 more visits than March 2019,\u201d he said in a memo to commissioners. \u201cFor perspective, March (2020) visits at Smuggler Mountain and Arbaney-Kittle outpaced total visits for peak tourist season in July 2019.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Smuggler Mountain received 7,712 visits in March 2019 and 9,352 visits last month, while Arbaney-Kittle in the Basalt area saw 2,355 visitors in March 2019 and 4,173 users last month, according to the statistics. The Rio Grande Trail saw the largest increase in users, from 6,493 in March 2019 to 11,670 last month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Open space rangers will post signs with the new leash changes, Tennenbaum said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Commissioners voted to strike a paragraph from the original draft of the ordinance, which cited \u201ca report\u201d indicating that animals \u201cincluding dogs\u201d could pass on the virus. No evidence of transmission by or to dogs or cats has yet been found.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Subhead\">County retrains workers to process emergency cash<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Pitkin County transferred employees from other departments shuttered because of the coronavirus and retrained them to help process the hundreds of emergency cash assistance applications it has received from residents, county Manager Jon Peacock said Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The 32 employees began working Monday on the more than 1,200 applications the county has so far received from residents who lost their jobs, he said. About 60 were processed Monday, he said, and they hoped to process between 80 and 100 more Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe\u2019re really starting to hit our stride and get these dollars on the street,\u201d Peacock said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">So far, county employees and volunteers from Aspen Skiing Co. have processed 359 applications affecting more than 650 people, and handed out and average of $968, he said. The county has an extra 40 people now working on approving applications.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Pitkin County commissioners have so far allocated $850,000 to COVID-19 relief efforts, with another $150,000 held in a separate emergency fund. That money will last through April and into May, \u201cbut maybe not through May,\u201d Peacock said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">He has previously warned that commissioners likely would have to contribute more money to the emergency assistance program.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">However, Peacock noted that Aspen city councilors recently put millions toward relief efforts, and also said private donations \u201care starting to pick up.\u201d Some of those donations have specifically been earmarked for emergency cash assistance, Peacock said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe will be giving credit and well-deserved thank-yous\u201d in the near future, Peacock said Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Subhead\">Airport committee to present recommendations to BOCC<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">After more than a year of examining what Aspen\u2019s new airport should look like, three members of the main committee in charge of the effort will present recommendations Thursday to the Pitkin Board of County Commissioners.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The virtual meeting will take place at 4 p.m. and can be viewed by going to Pitkin County\u2019s website at pitkincounty.com and clicking on the icon that says \u201cWatch Meetings.\u201d Only written comments \u2014 which can be emailed to <a href=\"mailto:info@asevision.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">info@asevision.com<\/a><i class=\"fas fa-external-link-alt\"><\/i> \u2014 will be accepted at Thursday\u2019s meeting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Commissioners initially wanted to receive the recommendations and public comment at the same time and were looking to book a larger room like the Doerr-Hosier Center at the Aspen Institute for the meeting. However, the COVID-19 pandemic occurred instead, and threw a wrench into those plans.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Commissioners will take public comment on the airport recommendations in person at a later date. The county board will eventually make the final decisions on the size of the airport terminal and whether to widen the runway to accommodate larger planes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Tagline\"><a href=\"mailto:jauslander@aspentimes.com\">jauslander@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/leash-your-dog-on-smuggler-for-now\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A woman walks her dog with her mouth and nose covered on Smuggler Mountain Road in Aspen on Tuesday, March 24, 2020. (Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times)Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times Until the COVID-19 pandemic passes, all dogs must be leashed on trails in the Aspen area and Pitkin County starting immediately. That was the word Tuesday [&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":["post-2457183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-18 04:08:09","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\/2457183","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=2457183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2457183\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2457183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2457183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2457183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}