Aspen orgs attempt to save Indy Pass experience with $18,000 contract

Recent U.S. Forest Service staffing cuts have impacted mountain communities interfacing with public lands across the country — including Aspen.

The Independence Pass Foundation, with support from the Aspen Chamber Resort Association and Pitkin County, is now working to fund a vault toilet gap in land management to maintain visitor experience, visitor safety, and environmental stewardship up Colorado Highway 82.

Under President Donald Trump’s administration, the USFS lost the ability to create a contract with private companies for the pumping and cleaning of vault toilets. In Aspen, this contract has historically been made with American Land and Leisure to clean and stock restrooms on Independence Pass every day, according to Independence Pass Foundation’s Executive Director Karin Teague. 

“The public will feel a reduction in the services that they’ve enjoyed in the past,” Teague said. “That’s what happens when you cut funding and staffing to the people charged with taking care of our public lands. It’s a real shame, but the Independence Pass Foundation felt strongly that we were not going to let the toilets be closed for the season, which was certainly under discussion.”

Instead, the Independence Pass Foundation has entered into its own contract with American Land and Leisure to the tune of $18,000, the cost of which will pay for the cleaning and stocking of three sets of toilets on the Pass — The Grottos trailhead, Upper Lost Man trailhead, and the summit of Independence Pass — three days a week. The contract will begin when Independence Pass opens and end when it closes. 

“We will be on the hook for that total amount,” Teague said. “We’re hoping for further partnerships, but at the end of the day, we’re the ones who signed on the bottom line and we will see the contract through. It’s a big hit for a small organization.”

ACRA Vice President of Destination Marketing Eliza Voss said she is currently assisting with trying to find community partners to help fund half of the cost. 

“Our concerns are ecological damage alongside public health implications if we were not able to have the public access vault toilets available on Independence Pass,” Voss said. 

Alycin Bektesh, strategic communications manager for Pitkin County, confirmed that Pitkin County will be contributing to the pumping of the vault toilets throughout the summer.

“The County has been a financial partner to ensure the waste is removed as needed annually since they were installed on Indy Pass,” Bektesh said. “This will occur again this year.”

While the main contract will enable the toilets to remain open, Teague emphasized that the drop to three days from the historic daily maintenance could still pose problems.

“The toilets at the summit historically have been cleaned and stocked every single day, and that’s been necessary because of the sheer volume of use up there,” Teague said. “We’re not able to get more than three days a week, and frankly couldn’t afford to pay it.”

The Independence Pass Foundation is trying to fill the other four days by rallying volunteers as the primary source of service to pick up trash and stock toilet paper. 

“We’ve worked on Independence Pass in the past when there weren’t toilets available, and it was not a healthy situation,” Teague said. “There was a lot of environmental degradation happening.”

“Hopefully people realize the importance of funding public lands and how important that is for our communities and our residents and visitors,” Voss added. 

And vault toilets aren’t the only gap Teague sees going forward. She warns that without USFS staff monitoring fire bans during droughts, wildfires could become an even bigger risk. 

“If you don’t have boots on the ground and eyes on the place, those are things that could get missed,” Teague said. “There are real consequences. The Independence Pass Foundation is going to try to be on the Pass as much as we can this summer, but there’s no substitute. It’s a very real loss and I think it’s important that our community knows that.”