East Vail Bighorn Sheep: Why Trees Above Booth Creek Were Cut

Who were the stacked log piles above Katsos Ranch for? If you drove the North Frontage Road or walked toward the Booth Creek Trailhead after late June, you saw a slope that looked different from the one you knew. There were hand-cut stumps, neat piles of timber and, farther west, machine work in Spraddle Creek. The Town of Vail posted on June 23, 2026 that the work was "already visible above Katsos Ranch and the Booth Creek Trailhead."

Officially it's called the Booth Creek Fuels Reduction Project. The agencies paying for it describe a second purpose in plain terms, though. The money and the planning behind this summer's cutting were built around the Gore Range bighorn sheep, which spend the winter on these same south-facing slopes. The herd usually shows up in November. That makes this fall the first time it will come down to a winter range that has been both legally protected and physically reworked for it.

What the crews left behind

The Town's June notice lays out the scope. Crews were hand cutting and piling in the Booth Creek drainage and machine cutting and piling in Spraddle Creek. The notice said the work would extend west toward the Town of Vail Public Works property. More than 250 acres were expected to be treated in 2026, inside a full project area of about 3,000 acres. Before this summer's push, the partnership had already finished about 100 acres on Forest Service and Town land.

The Spraddle Creek piece is the most machine-heavy part. The White River National Forest said crews would use feller-bunchers and skidders on 86 acres known as "Unit 104." They would cut all standing dead, diseased and downed timber plus all mature lodgepole pine, and leave mature Engelmann spruce, subalpine fir and aspen. Eagle-Holy Cross District Ranger Leanne Veldhuis described the reasoning behind taking out the lodgepole:

"The work reduces current fuel loading and also mimics the natural stand-replacing fire that lodgepole pines trees are adapted to, allowing healthier and more fire resilient stands to regenerate over the long-term."

That explains the pattern you see from the road. Lodgepole comes out, while aspen and spruce stay standing.

Why a sheep cares about a missing lodgepole

Colorado Parks and Wildlife is a funding partner, and the money shows where its interest lies. According to Vail Daily's March 16, 2026 report, CPW won $300,000 from the state's Auction Raffle Program and the Town of Vail committed another $100,000 through an intergovernmental agreement. CPW scheduled the work from May 2026 to June 2027, split into nine units, for a total cost of nearly $400,000. Two days later, the paper reported that the Vail Town Council had unanimously approved the partnership.

The plan's goals, as Vail Daily summarized them, read like a list of what a bighorn needs from a hillside:

• Restored shrublands, grasslands, aspen stands and forest areas used by wildlife
• More visibility and longer sightlines, so sheep can spot predators
• Better movement corridors between seasonal ranges
• Protection for the Upper Gore Creek watershed

Sightlines are the point. Bighorn rely on seeing a threat early and getting onto steep ground, and dense dead timber blocks that view. The plan calls for about 548 acres of hand-crew cutting that will benefit more than 1,200 acres of bighorn range. That's more than twice the cut acreage, because opening one slope improves the view across the ones next to it.

The herd needs the help. In 2019 a wildlife biologist told the Town the latest count was 41 sheep, down from 125 in the 1990s. Vail Daily reports that those numbers are what pushed the Town to look at restoring habitat in the first place. No newer count has been published, so 41 is the most recent figure available.

The ground changed hands first

This summer's cutting builds on a land decision that came before it. The former Booth Heights parcel, once proposed for housing, is now part of the Town-owned Vail Bighorn Preserve. The Eagle Valley Land Trust says the final conservation easement was signed September 30, 2025, and permanently protects 146.9 acres of bighorn winter habitat in East Vail. The land trust describes the preserve as four Town-owned parcels on the north side of the North Frontage Road and lists public access as "None."

According to Vail Daily's 2025 coverage of the easement, the terms bar development and recreation along with landscape changes that would harm habitat, while still allowing wildfire mitigation and requiring habitat management.

In order, then: in 2025 the Town made sure nothing would be built on the herd's winter range. In 2026 it started changing what grows on the surrounding slopes. The Town's June notice doesn't say whether crews worked on the preserve parcels themselves. What it does confirm is work on the hillside above Katsos Ranch and Booth Creek, which is the same stretch of East Vail where the sheep spend the winter.

November on the frontage road

Vail Daily reporting has long described the Gore Range herd moving back into East Vail in November as snow builds up, heading for sunny south-facing slopes. One account puts the arrival in mid-November. CPW says bighorn breed in November and December, with activity peaking in early December. So the weeks right after the sheep arrive are also the most active weeks of their year.

The rules for watching them are short:

1. Use binoculars or a long lens. CPW advises viewing wildlife from a safe distance with optics instead of moving closer, and backing off if an animal looks nervous.
2. Don't feed them. CPW says intentionally feeding bighorn sheep is illegal in Colorado and carries a $100 fine.
3. Keep dogs on a short leash. CPW recommends a six-foot leash on trails and no contact between dogs and wildlife. Town, Forest Service and CPW officials have also asked East Vail hikers to leash dogs and turn around instead of walking toward sheep.
4. Stay off the preserve. It has no public access, so seeing sheep from the road doesn't mean you can walk onto the protected parcels.

The interstate is a real danger to the herd. RealVail reported in 2020 that three bighorns had recently died in I-70 collisions, and that the Town and CPW were putting up temporary fencing to keep sheep off the roads.

Getting to Booth Falls while the lot is closed

October hikes into this drainage have another wrinkle this year. The Town closed the Booth Lake Trailhead parking lot on May 31, 2026, and said the closure "will extend through the fall." Drop-off, pick-up and the trailhead restrooms stayed open. Parking in the surrounding neighborhood, Booth Creek Park and the Vail Mountain School lot is not allowed, and cars there get towed. The Town hasn't posted a reopening notice.

The Town's free East Vail bus does the job instead. Its 2026 route stops at Booth Falls, Pitkin Creek, Lupine/Bighorn Road, Columbine/Bighorn Road and Bighorn Park. The current schedule runs June 8 through mid-December, and the timetable covers 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. Only service dogs are allowed on the bus, so anyone heading out with a dog will need a ride to the drop-off.

Spraddle Creek Road stays open to non-motorized use beyond Vail Stables. The Forest Service says the road will be rehabilitated once the work is finished. The Town asks anyone in the work areas to stay at least 250 feet from operating equipment.

What the piles are waiting for

The stacked timber is still sitting on the slope for a reason. The Forest Service says the Spraddle Creek piles "will be allowed to dry and then burned under winter conditions." Last season's White River National Forest burn plan required enough snow cover, good weather and approvals before any ignition, and project notices went out through Forest Service channels and county emergency managers. As of early October, no 2026–27 burn dates have been announced for Booth Creek or Spraddle Creek.

CPW's schedule runs through June 2027, so there's more cutting ahead before the project wraps up. Vail Fire & Emergency Services lists Wildland Battalion Chief Paul Cada as the project contact, at 970-477-3475.

I've watched East Vail's hillsides through nearly two decades of winters, and I'm glad to talk about how the Bighorn Preserve and this habitat work fit into the neighborhood around them. Reach out to Adam Bartlett to request a free Vail Valley market consultation, whether that's a question about your own East Vail property or the slopes above it.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.