The nearby Weoo Wilderness celebrates 50 years in 2025, but it faces more threats than ever. You're watching the Local News Network brought to you by Happy Pappy Pizza and Wings and Sky Casino. I'm Connor Shrieve. Congress established the Weoo Wilderness in 1975. It expanded under the Colorado Wilderness Acts of 1980 and 1993 to become the Centennial State's largest designated wilderness area at 499,771 acres. San Juan Mountains Association Director Stephanie Weber says it's a gem.

We've got the Chicago Basin, but beyond that, you've got the Grenadier and you've got, you know, things like the Rio Grande pyramid, and there are just some astounding landscapes in there.

The uch wilderness lies in the San Juan and Rio Grande National forests bisected by 51 miles of the Continental Divide. It's the headwaters for five rivers, including the Animus river on the West and the Rio Grande on the east.

It's, it's a pretty special place when you think of who all is downstream of those headwaters. It's tens of millions of people. And so efforts to preserve that and care for that are paramount because it is unlike any other.

Unfortunately, 2025 has been tough on land management groups tasked with caring for public lands, like the uch. Federal funding cuts have led to large staffing shortages.

The Forest Service does a lot, so as, as their partner, we now do more. Their wilderness crew, they have three. Our wilderness crew is, is comprised of four, and fortunately they're, they're eager and, and strong and gung-ho and in a month's time, they've cleared well over a hundred trees from Trails.

Weber says, that leads to safety issues.

The, the reality though is people are scrambling over more trails and, and they may be seeing, you know, less than ideal trail conditions just because we don't have folks out there that can do everything that needs to be done

To make up for the lost funding. Weber says she spent a good part of the first half of the year raising money.

It doesn't seem like a sustainable solution. You know, we can do it this year. Looking ahead into future years, there are going to be some minds that need to come together to figure out how, you know, how we take care of these recreational amenities. Because the reality is, if we don't manage our toilets, the impact to our lands and our water is going to be significant.

In June, a proposed federal land sale was removed from the Republican budget. Bill Weber says, reaction to that proposal proves public lands bring everyone together.

I'd say the vast majority of people recognize the treasure of public lands and the need to preserve them for everybody. It doesn't matter, you know, interest areas, political background, whatever they recognize these are treasures and they're meant to be preserved.

Carver Brewing Company is selling Weu wit beer and dedicating $1 per pint to the San Juan Mountains Association. To donate or volunteer. Visit the SJMA website. For more information about this and other stories, visit Durango Local News. Thanks for watching this edition of The Local News Network. I'm Connor Shreve.