Ken Francis discusses the San Juan Skyway improvements at a gathering at Molas Lake.

DURANGO - Fort Lewis College is just one organization working to make Colorado’s already spectacular San Juan Skyway even more amazing.

At a gathering held on Tuesday, June 30 at Molas Lake Park near Silverton, CO, a couple dozen people came together to celebrate the $17.5 million in recent conservation and recreation improvements made along the Skyway.

Ken Francis, who heads FLC’s Office of Community Services, MC’d the event and introduced a few of the many responsible for the Skyway improvements, called the San Juan Skyway Land Conservation and Recreation Initiative.

The San Juan Skyway is a Colorado and nationally-designated scenic byway that runs from Durango to Mancos, Cortez, Dolores, Rico, Ridgway, Ouray, and Silverton before returning to Durango.

Among the projects included in this Initiative is the Galloping Goose Trail, west of Telluride. The trail takes its name from the hybrid gasoline-powered motor buses that ran on the Rio Grande Southern Railroad in the mid-1900s. Miles of trail and bridges have been constructed by San Miguel County along the abandoned rail lines.

Conserving open space is another focus of the Initiative. Near the towns of Ophir and Ouray, 291 acres of privately-owned mining claims were acquired as open space with the help of The Trust for Public Land. An additional 1,100 acre acquisition planned in the Ophir Valley was finalized June 22, 2006.

There is also a great deal of private land that exists along the San Juan Skyway. In an effort to preserve this land, much of it family ranches, the Montezuma Land Conservancy secured conservation easements on ten ranches in the Mancos and upper Dolores River Valleys. The agricultural, scenic and wildlife habitat resources of these 3,011 acres are now protected from development. 

Even the site of Tuesday’s celebration, Molas Lake Park, is a beneficiary of the Initiative. Owned and managed by the town of Silverton, the 137 acre Park now boasts 46 new or renovated campsites, improved roadways, new signage, enhanced cell phone transmission, and restored wetlands and shoreline, among other improvements.

The San Juan Skyway Land Conservation and Recreation Initiative is a model of how private landowners and different organizations can work well together and accomplish great things. Below is a list of the groups, organizations, towns and individuals who have contributed to the initiative.

Great Outdoors Colorado Colorado Department of Local Affairs Colorado Scenic & Historic Byways Program U.S.D.A. Farm and Ranch Protection Program David and Lucille Packard Foundation The Trust for Public Land Colorado Conservation Trust Colorado Conservation Partnership Gates Family Foundation Land and Water Conservation Fund San Juan and Uncompahgre National Forests Town of Ophir Town of Silverton San Miguel County Ouray City and County Montezuma Land Conservancy Black Canyon Regional Land Trust Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation

El Pomar Foundation Fort Lewis College Office of Community Services Edmund T. and Eleanor Quick Foundation William H. and Mattie Wattis Harris Foundation Wolcott Family Foundation Ballantine Foundation Telluride Foundation MAKI Foundation Intermountain West Joint Venture Montelores Habitat Partnership Program North American Waterfowl Conservation Act SW Water Conservation District Colorado Water Conservation Board Colorado Division of Wildlife Red Mountain Task Force Corporate and Other Private Donors