Open Space Commission

Meetings

Members

  • Susie St. Onge, Chair
  • Jason Merritt, Vice Chair
  • Angela Dye
  • Yvette Henson
  • Laura Kudo
  • Sefra Maples
  • Roger Wickham
  • Joanna Kanow, Alternate

No vacancies currently exist on the Open Space Commission. Letters of interest can be sent to the Commissioner’s office via email - Email the Commissioner’s Office or for more information, please call (970)728-3844.

Staff Liaison

The Parks & Open Space Director is the staff liaison for the Open Space Commission.

Mission Statement

The San Miguel County Open Space Commission seeks to protect, conserve and enhance lands important for open space, recreation, natural habitat, agriculture and scenic beauty throughout San Miguel County for this and future generations.

No one group can meet this mission; therefore, the County Open Space Commission works cooperatively with regional landowners on a volunteer basis and in partnership with land trusts, community organizations and associations, along with local, state and federal government agencies. The Open Space Commission is composed of a diverse group of volunteers who represent all areas of the County.

Trails Statement

The San Miguel Open Space Commission seeks through our mission: 'to protect, conserve and enhance lands important for open space, recreation, natural habitat, agriculture and scenic beauty throughout San Miguel County for this and future generations'.  Based on recent discussions and concerns regarding heavily impacted areas of the east end, the Telluride region, and San Miguel County in general, we encourage action as necessary to protect and sustain our trails and open spaces throughout the County.   

The San Miguel County Open Space Commission recommends there not be any advertising, or social media posts from public entities promoting any remote, unnamed, or heavily impacted County trails.  We recommend only officially established trails be mentioned in published tourist information of any kind.  Specifically, since there is not a bridge yet at Ingram Creek, we recommend the Bridal Veil Trail not be mentioned or promoted for the 2021 spring or summer season, due to high impact usage in 2020. 

The San Miguel County Open Space Commission supports the recent coordinated regional effort toward an emphasis on educating, communicating, and enforcing 'Leave no Trace' practices, along with trail etiquette.  We support the development of a unified regional map that describes and advertises only established mapped trails within our region for visitor information. We believe this map should be developed jointly by all regional public entities concerned. 

Helpful Documents

Open Space Commission Work Plan

Open Space Commission Work Plan page