Long Draw Road to temporarily close again

Long Draw Road, located near the top of the Poudre Canyon, will be closed at noon on July 31 and is expected to reopen on Aug. 22. July 29 is the last night to camp in the area.

The road had reopened during July, but is closed once again to allow more expedient work to take place on the hazardous tree removal project. The closure includes the road and 500 feet on either side of it. It is important to obey all signs and closures.

Hazardous tree removal continues to take place. Many pieces of heavy machinery and logging trucks are on and along the road. Some of the equipment used can throw chunks of wood and rocks up to 500 feet, posing a serious threat to those in the area. The entire project includes the cutting of approximately 80,000 trees due to tree mortality from the mountain pine beetle infestation.

The road is expected to reopen after the three-week closure. However, work will still be taking place and visitors should expect delays up to 30 minutes when traveling the road and parking may be limited. Camping will only be allowed at the Long Draw and Grandview campgrounds once the area reopens.

Information on the status of roads is available on the Canyon Lakes Roads Status website at www.fs.usda.gov/goto/arp/roads. For other recreation information on the Canyon Lakes Ranger District, please call the Visitor Information Center at 970-295-6700 or follow the district on Twitter @usfsclrd.

It is also important for folks to make safety the top priority when heading into the forest. Live and dead trees can fall without warning, especially with the abundance of saturated soil throughout the forest. Be sure to know weather conditions before heading out.