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SUMMIT COUNTY - Seething frustrations over unauthorized motorized use on national forest lands could soon be resolved as the U.S. Forest Service prepares to release a long-awaited travel management plan for the White River National Forest.
The tension between motorized and non-motorized uses surfaced recently as U.S. Forest Service rangers put up signs around Tenderfoot Mountain to try and stem the spread of illegal trails that has displaced a resident elk herd, according to the Colorado Division of Wildlife.
Resource managers are concerned about impacts to wildlife, plants and water quality, while dirt bike and ATV enthusiasts feel like they're being singled out unfairly, and point to a lack of designated trails. Motorized recreation has exploded on public lands, not just in Colorado, but nationwide, with sales of off-highway vehicles tripling between 1993 and 2003, and public land managers have not been able to keep up.
That lag is apparent in Summit County, where the long-awaited travel management plan for the regional forest - intended to address use on a trail by trail basis - could help defuse some of the tension by establishing once and for all which trails are open to dirt bikes, Jeeps and ATVs, and which are set aside for hikers and cyclists.
Public land and resource managers believe that with careful planning and management they can find more room for motorized play while still considering impacts to the environment.
The WRNF travel plan was originally slated to be part of the White River plan revision, completed in 2002. But the complexity of travel management issues and the need to study hundreds of miles of user-created trails caused the Forest Service to create a separate process, leaving some skeptics wondering if the agency would ever finish the job.
Collaboration?
But Ken Waugh, recreation staff officer with the Dillon Ranger District, said last week that the plan will indeed be released in draft form this coming spring. During the summer, he plans to work with various user groups in the field to choose a final alternative.
That effort can't come soon enough for 20-year Summit County resident Tim Nixon, who rallied the area's motorized users a few years ago in anticipation of the travel management process, forming a group called Summit County Off Road Riders (SCORR). Nixon said as many as 100 people have turned out for past meetings, and he intends to rev up the group's efforts once again to make sure the Forest Service considers the needs of motorized enthusiasts.
Winter use is a concern for some locals. Snowmobile use has also been growing, and not everyone is convinced the Forest Service has a handle on it.
"I'm a little frustrated that there was not a lot of input on winter travel," said Breckenridge resident and backcountry enthusiast Ellen Hollinshead.
"We need to take another look at how much motorized use is out there," she said, mentioning the Golden Horsehoe, Pennsylvania Creek, Little French Gulch and Montezuma as areas of concern.
Waugh is ready to work with motorized groups and said some of the existing unauthorized trails could be designated as legal motorized trails. He said the Golden Horsehoe area, along with parts of the Swan River drainage and the Montezuma area represent the biggest potential niche for motorized use.
The travel management plan, as Waugh explained it, will be a two-step process, dealing first with the trails that have already been inventoried and then a trail-by-trail look at the remaining uninventoried trails.
"Everybody's got their favorite trails," he said. "But we have to make people realize this isn't a vote. We have to find a balance," he said, acknowledging that the Forest Service has a role to play beyond simply designating and signing trails. The agency must be more active in educating users about trail ethics, he concluded.
Bob Berwyn can be reached at (970) 668-3998, ext. 228 or at bberwyn@summitdaily.com.
The tension between motorized and non-motorized uses surfaced recently as U.S. Forest Service rangers put up signs around Tenderfoot Mountain to try and stem the spread of illegal trails that has displaced a resident elk herd, according to the Colorado Division of Wildlife.
Resource managers are concerned about impacts to wildlife, plants and water quality, while dirt bike and ATV enthusiasts feel like they're being singled out unfairly, and point to a lack of designated trails. Motorized recreation has exploded on public lands, not just in Colorado, but nationwide, with sales of off-highway vehicles tripling between 1993 and 2003, and public land managers have not been able to keep up.
That lag is apparent in Summit County, where the long-awaited travel management plan for the regional forest - intended to address use on a trail by trail basis - could help defuse some of the tension by establishing once and for all which trails are open to dirt bikes, Jeeps and ATVs, and which are set aside for hikers and cyclists.
Public land and resource managers believe that with careful planning and management they can find more room for motorized play while still considering impacts to the environment.
The WRNF travel plan was originally slated to be part of the White River plan revision, completed in 2002. But the complexity of travel management issues and the need to study hundreds of miles of user-created trails caused the Forest Service to create a separate process, leaving some skeptics wondering if the agency would ever finish the job.
Collaboration?
But Ken Waugh, recreation staff officer with the Dillon Ranger District, said last week that the plan will indeed be released in draft form this coming spring. During the summer, he plans to work with various user groups in the field to choose a final alternative.
That effort can't come soon enough for 20-year Summit County resident Tim Nixon, who rallied the area's motorized users a few years ago in anticipation of the travel management process, forming a group called Summit County Off Road Riders (SCORR). Nixon said as many as 100 people have turned out for past meetings, and he intends to rev up the group's efforts once again to make sure the Forest Service considers the needs of motorized enthusiasts.
Winter use is a concern for some locals. Snowmobile use has also been growing, and not everyone is convinced the Forest Service has a handle on it.
"I'm a little frustrated that there was not a lot of input on winter travel," said Breckenridge resident and backcountry enthusiast Ellen Hollinshead.
"We need to take another look at how much motorized use is out there," she said, mentioning the Golden Horsehoe, Pennsylvania Creek, Little French Gulch and Montezuma as areas of concern.
Waugh is ready to work with motorized groups and said some of the existing unauthorized trails could be designated as legal motorized trails. He said the Golden Horsehoe area, along with parts of the Swan River drainage and the Montezuma area represent the biggest potential niche for motorized use.
The travel management plan, as Waugh explained it, will be a two-step process, dealing first with the trails that have already been inventoried and then a trail-by-trail look at the remaining uninventoried trails.
"Everybody's got their favorite trails," he said. "But we have to make people realize this isn't a vote. We have to find a balance," he said, acknowledging that the Forest Service has a role to play beyond simply designating and signing trails. The agency must be more active in educating users about trail ethics, he concluded.
Bob Berwyn can be reached at (970) 668-3998, ext. 228 or at bberwyn@summitdaily.com.
