GILPIN COUNTY — Twenty-eight residents from the Mineral Acres Subdivision and adjacent properties in Gilpin County have signed a letter that has voiced their continued concerns after a US Army Black Hawk helicopter went down on the east side of Thorodin Mountain on August 25, 2026.

The letter has been sent to members of the Gilpin County Board of County Commissioners, the Colorado General Assembly, the Colorado Congressional Delegation, and the Office of the Governor, asking them to engage with the US Army on three specific commitments. 

The letter states, “First, the Army must remove the timber its personnel felled on Thorodin Mountain and  left on the ground. Second, the Army must perform a spill assessment and provide residents with a remediation plan. Third, the Army must restore the access road its heavy vehicles destroyed.” 

The residents want these actions done by November 30. This is because winter is coming and the work cannot be completed in the winter months. 

For two months no work has been done to clear the many downed trees, fix the road degraded from very heavy equipment that it was never intended to withstand, and properly deal with the contaminated soil. In these two months “residents performed independent soil testing confirming soil contamination four times over regulatory thresholds,” states the letter.  

The road is their lifeline and it needs to be repaired. The downed trees are a fire hazard. They are fuel. 

Addressing the environmental hazard the residents face, the letter states, “Runoff from the crash site drains directly into the watershed that feeds our wells and ultimately the water our families consume.”

The residents want action now. They want answers. They do not want their water contaminated. They want the trees and slash that were taken down by the US Army to be mitigated, and they want the road repaired. All requests are to keep them, their families, and the larger community safe.