Paint Mine Protection: Officials Consider Crowd Control in Rare Landscape East of Colorado Springs

Officials have outlined concepts aimed at protecting a rare and colorful landscape east of Colorado Springs that has been under siege during the pandemic years.

For about 24 years, El Paso County has managed Paint Mines Interpretive Park based on “a multitude of plans, reports and baseline studies,” says Ross Williams, county park planner. He is now coordinating a master plan for the geologic plains area near Calhan.

“Twenty-four years ago, there was no social media, there wasn’t this huge desire to go out,” Williams said.

In recent years, Paint Mines has been “crawling with people,” as he puts it. Parking lots have filled up, cars have lined the adjacent road, and Instagram has shown people leaping over hoodoos and other fragile formations of multi-colored clay that Indigenous peoples are said to have sought out 9,000 years ago.

Following the recent wave of violence, land managers have noted damage and vandalism.

“We need to get going,” the county thought, Williams said, “because everybody knows this place now.”

Under a $200,000 contract, Denver-based DHM Design spent this year analyzing the park for concepts presented at a recent open house — concepts meant to control crowds. Paint Mines is expected to visit nearly 71,000 people in 2023.

Renderings from the open house showed a 73-space paved parking lot, significantly expanding the gravel lot that visitors filled. The lot is part of a proposed “grand plaza of interpretation,” with a visitor center and educational signs.

Under the proposal, signs would be installed throughout the park, also indicating areas for restoration and erosion mitigation.

“The most problematic trails are the ones where people don’t know where they end,” said Ashleigh Quillen of DHM Design. “So they end up continuing on and climbing over formations that are really tricky.”

The idea is “to help guide people to where they should be and where they shouldn’t be,” she said.

The renderings show chain-link fences and mesh fencing delineating the paths. Quillen also showed walkways that would keep people off sensitive soils, as well as stone steps similarly designed to prevent erosion.

Not everyone is happy with these concepts.

“It bothers me,” said Mike Pach, who has a contract with the county to run photography workshops in Paint Mines.

“These additions will “essentially ruin the whole scene,” Pach said, also questioning whether the low barriers would effectively prevent people from climbing onto the rock.

He said he would like to see more staff and security on the ground: “I would rather our money be spent that way than putting what I consider to be unnecessary things inside the park.”

The question of financing was immediately raised by open house attendees. Williams said the costs of the proposed concepts were uncertain without final plans and engineering work.

Susan Davies, executive director of the Trails and Open Space Coalition, asked if damage and vandalism continued at Paint Mines. Williams said yes.

“My question then would be: If we find that this price is too high and we continue to see this degradation, are there other ideas about how to protect it?” Davies asked.

Underfunding the county parks department has been one of Davies’ main arguments over the years. While county parks benefit from sales tax revenue across the Front Range — from Douglas to Jefferson to Larimer counties — El Paso County has no such program. (The equivalent is the city of Colorado Springs’ Trails, Open Space and Parks program.)

“If (the county) can’t handle it, if they don’t have the resources, then maybe they need to step aside,” Davies said.

She mentioned the nearest national monument, Florissant Fossil Beds in Teller County. “Could it be a monument? A protected place, with resources, a place that people can still visit, but with adequate funding?”

Palmer Land Conservancy holds a conservation easement over sections of the Paint Mines — a policy document that requires geology to be protected during recreation.

Paint Mines represents “this incredibly difficult tension” between conservation and recreation all over the world, said Rebecca Jewett, president and CEO of the Palmer Land Conservancy.

Jewett carefully considered the question of the county’s future management of the park.

“I will say this,” she said. “If it gets to the point where the values of the conservation easement are not being met, we take that responsibility very seriously. And we will discuss with the county how we can address that.”

While acknowledging Davies’ question about resources, Williams said initial funding could be spent on “low-hanging fruit” among the proposed concepts – protective barriers before a more expensive reception centre, for example.

Protective measures are underway, he said, referring to a donation from Lyda Hill Philanthropies for fencing, trail closures and revegetation. During summer weekends, educational guides will be on site, Williams added.

The county considers the paint mines “extremely important,” he said. “There are very few places like this.”

The Paint Mines are similar to the Badlands of South Dakota and the Painted Hills of Oregon, but they present unique challenges, Williams said. “The Paint Mines are a very dense site near a very populated area,” he said.

He assured attendees at the recent open house: “No matter what happens… our 100 percent goal is to preserve this site. It’s far too important for us to devote financial resources to this project not to do it.”

The county plans to hold another open house in the coming months, at which time a draft master plan could be presented. The hope is to finalize the document by the end of this year or early next year.

The county is collecting feedback from a survey posted on a project webpage: tinyurl.com/3bs46x5d.