Why did the fish cross the road?

If you’re planning a late-summer mushroom hunt or Hermosa Creek ride, be forewarned. The Hermosa Park Road, aka FR 578 – the one that parallels Purgatory’s backside – will be closed Aug. 19 – Sept. 13 so crews can replace culverts to accommodate reintroduced native Colorado River Cutthroat trout.

The closure will run from where the road crosses Sig and Relay creeks, on the east end, to the Upper Hermosa Trailhead, on the west end. Although the road will be closed to motorized traffic, foot and bike traffic will be allowed to go around the construction, via the Cutthroat Trail, which borders the road. However, these users should be prepared for creek crossings (i.e. bring a change of socks) and possible short delays. 

The new culverts will help connect fragmented habitat for the fish, which were reintroduced via a joint effort of the San Juan National Forest and Colorado Parks and Wildlife. The two entities have worked cooperatively for years to return the cutthroat to their native waters in the Hermosa drainage. In 2020, CPW stocked an estimated 4,000 cutthroat fingerlings and an additional 475 mature cutthroats into the upper reaches of Hermosa Creek. In addition to habitat loss, the native fish had been overfished and outcompeted by other trout species nearly to the brink of extinction over the last 100 years.

Today, the decades-long effort has resulted in the longest continuous stretch of waterway for the native Colorado River Cutthroat in the state.

CPW notes construction could have an impact on hunters as well, and hunters should keep this in mind when applying for 2024 licenses. 

For more information on the project, contact San Juan National Forest Fish and Wildlife Program Manager Clay Kampf at clayton.kampf@usda.gov.