Ever since a federal appeals court in 2019 sided with a mountain biker who sued the federal government after crashing on an Air Force Academy trail, recreational access on private property in Colorado has been under threat.

Landowners have closed trails, and even entire mountains, fearing an injured hiker could sue them for millions. The appeals court decision left landowners unsure that protections in the venerable Colorado Recreational Use Statute are enough to allow people to recreate on their land. 

There’s an exception in that decades-old statute that didn’t mean a lot before the Air Force Academy decision: Landowners could be liable if an injured recreational user can prove a landowner’s “willful or malicious failure to guard or warn against a known dangerous condition.” 

Can a trail be a dangerous condition? How about an old mine? Or a bunch of wet rocks next to rapids? How many signs are needed to warn visitors? How often do landowners need to check those signs? 

A Colorado lawmaker is stepping up with a plan to amend the Colorado Recreational Use Statute with added protections for landowners whose attorneys are telling them to lock the gates or get ready to be sued.

Read more on ColoradoSun.com.