Rainbows leave paths of damage in forest

Charlie Brennan, Rocky Mountain News

Saturday, July 8, 2006

Now that the Rainbow Family is wrapping up its annual return to nature, the U.S. Forest Service is examining what it will take to return their campsite to its natural state.

Forest Service spokeswoman Denise Ottaviano said aerial photography of the countercultural campers' 4-square-mile settlement in the Hahns Peak/Bears Ears Ranger District of Routt National Forest revealed "40 to 50 miles" of newly improvised trails requiring restoration in the visitors' wake.

"It's shocking," Ottaviano said. "Now there's just this enormous trail system" in a previously pristine area.

At its peak, the Rainbow gathering, which officially ran July 1 through Friday, drew an estimated 15,000 free spirits from across the country.

The attendance figure, released by the Forest Service, is based in part on the estimated 3,100 cars, plus numerous vans and buses parked at the campers' settlement.

By Friday, their presence was down by about half, with the expectation that their numbers would continue to rapidly dwindle this weekend and beyond.

But, Ottaviano said, it will be weeks - at least - before the Rainbows are gone completely.

"There's a large number that will stay behind to help the Forest Service with the rehab, and there are a large number that will stay behind just to camp out because they are transient and really don't have anywhere else to go," she said.

It is expected, based on past Rainbow gatherings around the country - this was their 35th annual get-together and their third in Colorado - that some will seek short-term employment in the Steamboat Springs area in order to raise travel money, and inevitably, that some will be so enamored of their surroundings that they will settle there.

While Ottaviano voiced concerns about preliminary assessments of the environmental impact resulting from the Rainbows' visit, a more positive view was offered by Michael Zopf, director of the Routt County Department of Environmental Health.

"As far as we were concerned, they were good guests," Zopf said. "The environmental ethic that they live and that they practiced, at least in Routt County, was exemplary."

The Rainbow participants were never granted a special-use permit by the Forest Service due to concerns relating to high fire danger and safety questions stemming from the limited access to their chosen gathering site.

As a result, law enforcement issued more than 600 violation notices, including at least 298 for illegal occupancy and use, and at least 181 for drug-related offenses.

Another legacy of the gathering, according to Ottaviano, will be cars and dogs. She said the Forest Service is anticipating a number of broken-down or stolen vehicles will be left behind, and said that 20 to 30 lost or abandoned dogs have been rounded up.