Colorado

Jessica Fender
The Denver Post

A State Parks subcommittee that in 2009 gave grant applicants hundreds of thousands of dollars more than they asked for has come under scrutiny as environmental groups, hunters and law enforcement agencies seek a share of annual off-road vehicle sticker fees.

The $3.2 million generated by annual ATV registration fees went mostly to federal land management agencies for motorized trail maintenance, signage, rider education and to purchase heavy equipment.

Trails officials say the grant overages — about $525,000 more than applicants sought — were unusual, but badly needed for the most trusted grant recipients to keep heavily traveled trails in good order.

The Colorado State Parks Board is meeting in Grand Junction on Thursday. It can expect some important business to come before it, including a resolution “in support of new criteria for the Colorado OHV grant program."

The Parks Board should adopt the ideas in that resolution. Hunters, anglers and anyone who enjoys outdoor recreation or the natural beauty of Colorado would be the better for it.

Jessica Fender

A State Parks subcommittee that in 2009 gave grant applicants hundreds of thousands of dollars more than they asked for has come under scrutiny as environmental groups, hunters and law enforcement agencies seek a share of annual off-road vehicle sticker fees.

The $3.2 million generated by annual ATV registration fees went mostly to federal land management agencies for motorized trail maintenance, signage, rider education and to purchase heavy equipment.

Julie Sutor

SUMMIT COUNTY — Dirt bikers and ATV users are busy coming up with a plan they hope will re-open the Summit County Landfill property to motorized use.

The Board of County Commissioners decided in August to close the area to off-road vehicles as of Jan. 1. The commissioners enacted the ban in response to noise complaints from nearby residents and extensive damage to wetlands in the area. On a summer visit to the landfill property, the commissioners saw scores of unauthorized trails that destroyed sagebrush and other vegetation.

Patrick Young

Off-road enthusiasts will face new limitations on national forest lands this year.

Under the new rules, motorized vehicles, with the exception of snowmobiles, must stay on designated roads and trails. Motorized cross country travel, or off-roading, no longer is allowed in the Lakes Landscape area, a giant swath of land northeast of Durango.

Off-road vehicles are getting their own playground on the San Juan National Forest. The San National Forest Service has enhanced motorized recreation opportunities in the Missionary Ridge and Middle Mountain areas.

In July of 2004, the Forest Service announced that it would be taking steps to reduce damage to public lands from off-road vehicles. The announcement came in response to huge growth in motorsports in just a few years and the appearance of more than 60,000 miles of renegade ORV trails on national forest lands throughout the nation. At the time, Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth proclaimed that ORV abuse was a top threat to national forests and ordered regional and local offices to confine ORV use to designated roads and trails and prohibit cross-country travel.

Paul Vertrees

On a recent hike to one of my regular backcountry fly-fishing haunts in Colorado, I discovered blight on the land.

Off-road vehicles (ORVs) had carved six-inch-deep tracks through a damp alpine meadow in the Pike National Forest southwest of Denver. Soil ripped from the ground by spinning tires washed into a nearby stream, dirtying it with sediment. A Forest Service "No Motor Vehicles" sign lay smashed on the ground next to the ugly tire ruts, scarring what would otherwise have been unspoiled backcountry.

The parks board oversees the Colorado Off-Highway Vehicle Program, which is administered through Colorado State Parks. On Friday, the parks board took no formal action on the proposals and asked for additional information.

We are writing you today to express our strong support of the OHV Program resolution that asks the Board to change the grant criteria utilized in the program in order to fund law enforcement and restoration in addition to trail maintenance.

As you know, there is a very broad coalition of Colorado sportsmen, hunters, anglers, outdoor recreationalists, law enforcement, conservationists, environmentalists, elected officials and others across the state who believe that our OHV program should focus on the “responsible management” of OHV use and its impact on public lands instead of being utilized almost exclusively for OHV maintenance.