Mountain is just fine the way it is, panel says

Pikes Peak is fine just how it is.

That’s the conclusion reached by a committee formed last month by U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn to examine making the mountain a national monument or some other federal designation.

It took the committee just two meetings to decide to leave the status of the peak alone. It then disbanded.

While being a national monument — a status enjoyed by 70 other landmarks, including Devils Tower and Mount St. Helens — could bring in extra visitors and offer additional protection for the peak, the committee determined it would come with too many strings attached.

Colorado Springs Vice Mayor Larry Small, a committee member, said the designation would have jeopardized popular events such as the Pikes Peak Hill Climb and the Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon, and the operation of the Pikes Peak Highway.

“All the things we’re enjoying today would be put in jeopardy if that would become a national monument, and we just thought it wouldn’t be worth the risk if we continued to pursue it.”

Plus, he said, the city has enough on its plate, including the court-ordered paving of the Pikes Peak Highway, at a cost of $1 million a year.

The idea arose from conversations between Lamborn and Terry Sullivan, president and CEO of Experience Colorado Springs at Pikes Peak, the visitors bureau. Sullivan was interested in finding money for a new Summit House, which is slowly sinking into the tundra.

About 500,000 people a year drive, hike or ride the Pikes Peak Cog Railway to the 14,115-foot summit.

While national monument status has been used in some places to preserve natural resources or protect areas from development, Lamborn said he backed it as a way to boost tourism and possibly get money for the Summit House.

The exploratory committee formed Sept. 21 to look at all possible federal land designations, including national monument.

At its second meeting Oct. 5, after presentations by the U.S. Forest Service, which owns the land, and the National Park Service, committee members learned of the many land use and environmental restrictions on activities at national monuments.

“There was some value in discussing it,” Small said Tuesday. “After we evaluated all the uses that might be associated with it, we concluded pretty quickly there was no reason to continue pursuing it.”

Pikes Peak is on federal land, is not threatened by development and the summit is a national historic landmark. Small said he felt that was enough.

In an Oct. 8 letter to Lamborn’s office, Small wrote, “We prefer to leave things as they are on the mountain for now.”

Lamborn, in a statement released Tuesday, said the committee was “developed to engage all stakeholders to review funding mechanisms to assist with the needs associated with maintaining and improving infrastructure and tourism opportunities for the mountain.”

“However, due to some issues which were unable to be resolved at this time, the exploratory committee will not be moving forward,” he said in an e-mail released by his office.

Asked if Lamborn’s office will pursue national monument status, Lamborn spokeswoman Kristen Hainen wrote in an e-mail, “It never intended to.”

“The purpose was to create a dialogue about options. And the national monument idea was only one potential option the exploratory committee was looking into.”

CONTACT THE WRITER: 476-1605 or scott.rappold@gazette.com