Colorado

Amy Hamilton

Less than a mile out on a dirt road west of De Beque, most signs of civilization fall away, opening up miles of unobstructed views. Adobe hills dot the landscape, and sandstone formations create curious hourglass pinnacles.

It’s here where De Beque Mayor Dale Rickstrew and about 20 folks from a local all-terrain riding club recently rode toward the popular Coon Hollow area, a beloved spot where they believe their access may be limited in the future.

Charlie Meyers

Colorado's struggle to solve the nagging problem with off- highway vehicles seems a lot like trying to fix a faulty faucet. Every time you think it's solved, it springs another leak.

When the legislature passed HB 1069 last year, giving the Colorado Division of Wildlife authority to write citations for driving vehicles in violation of public lands regulation, most of us thought the issue was on its way to being solved.

John Fitzgerald

When my wife and I purchased our home in Summerwood, Highway 6 was still two lanes and only the Oro Grande Trail and a few seldom-used side trails existed across from us at the base of Tenderfoot Mountain. Occasionally, an off-road motorcycle or two would ride from the cemetery trailhead and disappear into the back country, returning sometime later to load up and go home. That was the “historical use” of Tenderfoot by motorcycles.

Over the last eight to 10 years, the number of off-road vehicles has multiplied dramatically, and consequently so has the level of activity from the cemetery trailhead. Additionally, the motorcycles have created a plethora of loop trails on and in the vicinity of the landfill property, including the wetland area, and many if not most ride these loops directly across from us for hours, bombarding our homes with their roaring noise.

Bob Berwyn

DENVER, June 14 (UPI) -- Federal agencies have been forced into playing traffic cop between hikers and off-road vehicle riders in Colorado's crowded national forests.

More than 27 million people head for the woods in Colorado every year, and White River National Forest near Aspen gets more traffic than anywhere else in the country.

Officials with the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management say the biggest problem is the huge numbers of off-road vehicles, The Denver Post reported Sunday. There were 11,700 registered in the state in 1991, and there are now more than 132,000. Mountain bikes are also a problem.

Durango outfitter Sandy Young was leading a string of horses up the San Juan National Forest's Hermosa Creek Trail when she heard the buzz of dirt bikes and knew she'd better pull the horses to the edge of the path.

"I could see 'em coming, and I was shouting, 'Whoa! Whoa!' But dirt bikers and mountain bikers, they just keep their nose to the trail," Young said. "He was just a few yards away when he saw me and stopped, but the biker behind slammed right into him."

April Reese

As the weather warms across the West, thousands of off-highway vehicles are warming up as well, preparing for another season of riding the vast web of roads and trails traversing federal lands.

But as the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management begin placing restrictions on off-highway vehicle (OHV) use, such motorized travel will become more restricted just as the popularity of the sport skyrockets.