Agencies try to police trails in Colorado

Written by United Press International

Sunday, June 14, 2009

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.

Experts say both bikers and drivers of off-road vehicles are becoming an ecological problem, especially when they start cutting their own trails through the woods.

Under new rules, some trails will be closed to off-road vehicles and to cyclists, limiting them to hikers and horseback riders. Forest visitors will be required to stay on authorized trails.

Violators face $250 fines.

Source: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/06/14/Agencies-try-to-police-trails-in-Colorado/UPI-81961245014883/

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“During the past decade, I have personally had six out of seven elk hunts ruined by the careless intrusions of ATV operators. This epidemic has forced me to abandon one prime hunting area after another, only to encounter the same situation elsewhere. The shameful part of this picture is that the overwhelming majority of these ATV’ers are young and healthy, not decrepit or physically challenged. Maybe these riders would be more respectful of other people's outdoor experience if they knew we could ID them."

- Bill Sustrich, Colorado Backcountry Hunters and Anglers