The Pitkin County Open Space and Trails department on Thursday formally released its draft management plan for the Smuggler Mountain open space above Aspen.
Public comments on the draft plan will be accepted until Sept. 12. The plan can be viewed and comments made at www.aspenrecreation.com.
The plan describes how the 235 acres on Smuggler Mountain was brought into the public domain through the years, including a joint $15 million purchase of 170 acres by the county and the city of Aspen open space programs in 2005.
The plan does little to change the current use of Smuggler Mountain and the “enormously popular” Smuggler Mountain Road, which is used by more than 400 people each day to exercise and walk their dogs.
One thing the plan will change is it will allow dogs off leash, at least on an experimental basis. While that is a common occurrence today, it is still technically illegal to let dogs run free on Smuggler Mountain Road.
The new plan, if adopted, would allow dogs off leash as long as their owners maintain “voice and sight control” over their pets. The draft rules state that dogs must be in sight of their guardians, they must “respond the first time the guardian commands the dog to come,” owner must still carry a leash for their dog or dogs, and they can have no more than two dogs under their control at a time.
Owners must also “carry and use dog waste bags, which may not be left along the trail,” according to the draft plan.
Dogs must be leashed on the Smuggler Loop and Hunter Creek Cutoff trails, and “all animals that represent problems, are aggressive or vicious, that jump on other people (however friendly) and dogs that will not stay on the roadway, are some examples of dogs that must remain on leash at all times,” the plan states.
There will be two public meetings on the draft plan for Smuggler Mountain. The first is on Monday, July 28, at 5:30 p.m. in the Rio Grande meeting room, and the second is on Monday, Aug. 11, at the same time and place.
