Sweetwater Lake Working Group
The Forest Service proposes a 20-year special-use permit for Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) to develop and manage a park at Sweetwater Lake. The Working Group opposes approving that Proposed Action until emergency egress is shown to work and wildlife protections are made enforceable.
Draft EIS comments due September 23, 2026Start here
The original promise and the proposal
The original Save the Lake campaign helped secure public ownership. Its co-branded Eagle Valley Land Trust (EVLT) and The Conservation Fund (TCF) materials made habitat protection central to the case for donations. The public can now compare that message with the Draft EIS proposal.
The Colorado Sun reported historic use of about 31 people per day. The Proposed Action contemplates up to 250 people at a time—a substantially different scale of use for the lake and its access corridor.
Known for nearly five years
A September 23, 2021 planning memo listed raptors, winter range, county-road capacity and design, and road safety among issues already identified. The memo also records CPW funding, shared project files and work toward an interagency agreement. Separate 2021 CPW staff memoranda added specific raptor, ungulate, siting and seasonal-closure cautions.
Three threshold issues
CPW called emergency analysis “critical,” but the operational plan is deferred. Sweetwater Road—the proposed park's only route in or out—was blocked at multiple locations on August 30, 2026.
Review safety →02 / WildlifeCPW staff identified nest buffers, seasonal restrictions and sensitive elk and deer habitat years ago. Guidance and future planning are not enforceable permit terms.
Review wildlife →03 / AccountabilityThe public should evaluate the Proposed Action—not possibilities described after the Draft EIS was published.
Review accountability →Publish the analysis referenced in the DEIS for “ingress/egress for natural-disaster emergencies (e.g., wildfire) near the Project area.” If this does not exist, an analysis should be completed that addresses concerns cited in the DEIS which include wildfire, flood, debris flow, landslide/rockfall, road blockage, responder access, evacuation, notification, refuge and secondary access.
Commit to the Resource Stewardship Plan’s High-Priority recommendations including nest surveys, CPW’s 2020 raptor protection buffer zones, seasonal restrictions, enforceable closures, and adaptive-management triggers.
Commit to the Resource Stewardship Plan’s High-Priority avoidance/relocation of facilities in mapped winter and concentration habitat where feasible, and December 1–June 15 seasonal protections where facilities or trails remain.
Note: Any public safety analysis conducted as an SUP condition arrives too late for the NEPA process as identifying safe carrying capacity could alter design and management.
Support Save Sweetwater Lake
The Sweetwater Lake Working Group is raising funds to support the campaign to Save Sweetwater Lake, including the legal fund for counsel in the NEPA process.
Donate to the legal fundThe public record is open
Request a route-specific evacuation analysis and enforceable, project-specific wildlife protections in the decision and permit.