Silver Plume trustees review evidence of illegally cut road through Mountain Park; sheriff's report and state review pending

At their Nov. 11 meeting, the Silver Plume Board of Trustees reviewed county maps and photos documenting a roughly quarter-mile illegally cut road that slices through Silver Plume Mountain Park and adjacent private trust parcels, disturbing mine tailings and raising immediate environmental and public-safety concerns.

Town Clerk presented a packet from county Trails staff that included a map, survey markers and photos showing the freshly excavated route. The packet showed a newly formed, dotted road branching from the established 7:30 trail and cutting into areas marked as Silver Plume Mountain Park and privately held Taylor Kennedy trust parcels. The county's Trails staff documented the route and provided geo-tracking data used to create the map.

The clerk said a local resident sent a drone and that she observed a trailer carrying a mini excavator and a full‑size vehicle on the trail. The property owner, Eli Josephs, left a voicemail for the town attorney saying he was doing "routine excavation on his property," the clerk reported. Trustee Martin Gitlin warned of possible contamination, saying, "It's going to poison our water. It will poison our water."

County and state officials are reviewing the matter. The clerk said she had spoken with Jeremy Reinke of the Colorado Department of Reclamation, Mines and Safety (DRMS) and was put in touch with Russ Means, the active mines program director; DRMS confirmed no active mining permits exist on the mountain. The clerk also said she contacted a CDPHE contact who works with the EPA, noting the mountain is part of a Superfund site and that those agencies should be looped in. Officials are awaiting the sheriff's written report before deciding next steps.

Board members discussed possible interim steps, including ordering a vehicle gate at the trail base rather than placing boulders, and asked staff to continue efforts to obtain the sheriff's report. The clerk said the town, the Trust, the county and state agencies are coordinating and awaiting the formal sheriff's record to determine whether the matter will be handled as civil or criminal and what enforcement or remediation actions are appropriate.

The trustees approved the nomination of Randall McDonald to the Silver Plume Mountain Park Commission during the same agenda item; the commission appointment was approved unanimously.