If the following article disturbs you as much as it did me then, please send your thoughts and/or comments to Cat Luna, Recreation Planner, Boulder Ranger District, 2140 Yarmouth Ave., Boulder, CO 80301, call (303) 541-2508, or e-mail cluna@fs.fed.us.
As a responsible OHRV enthusiast who not only believes in the TREAD LIGHTLY doctrine but also cleans up after others who are not as responsible, I think we need to get our concerns posted also.
Out of the ruts
Off-road restrictions in Left Hand forest welcome
April 22, 2005
The city of Boulder recently wrapped up a six-year effort to create a Visitor Master Plan to govern use of its 43,000-plus-acre open space system. Why? Because millions of annual users - whether hoofed, shod or clawed - inevitably contribute to the gradual degradation of sensitive lands.
But if you think feet have an impact, imagine how wheeled, motorized, thousand-pound vehicles can tear up the land. When recreationalists piloting off-road vehicles roar into fragile public lands, the damage they leave behind can be devastating: mauled hillsides, shattered ecosystems, foot-deep tire ruts, and waterways choked with stirred-up sediment.
And as more Americans have turned to little-regulated "off-roading" as a recreational pursuit, that devastation is spreading at an alarming rate. Many U.S. Forest Service managers say this threat to the land surpasses that of wildfires.
So we're pleased to see that the Forest Service's Boulder Ranger District has begun to craft plans to better manage ORVs on lands in the western parts of Boulder County. In particular, we're encouraged by a bold new proposal to restrict ORVs from some of the most popular, and most sensitive, areas of the Left Hand Canyon Off-Highway Vehicle area.
Under a proposed action developed by the district, a network of unofficial trails on Fairview Peak would be permanently closed to ORV use. Carnage Canyon, a preferred site for "rock crawling" - jeeps, four-wheel all-terrain vehicles and motorcycles grinding up steep escarpments - also would be off-limits. And the plan would restrict ORV use to designated areas and prevent the creation of connector trails, notably between Left Hand and Boulder County's Heil Ranch open space.
The Fairview closure is eminently sensible. The area lies between a designated ORV area to the south and a Habitat Conservation Area to the north. Motorized traffic has never been officially allowed there, but insensitive recreationalists have taken to using old fire lines across this vital elk migration corridor.
Carnage Canyon rock crawlers have stripped the area of vegetation, causing minerals and sediment to run into the streambed. The proposal would designate another, less-sensitive area for rock crawling further west.
Off-road enthusiasts may howl about losing access to areas they've used, sometimes for decades. But the evidence of the damage they've caused is sobering, and the proposed action will continue to allow use in less sensitive areas.
The Left Hand proposal is part of the Forest Service's belated, but welcome, effort to rein in destructive activity in Colorado's "urban front corridor." The problem has been increasing for years with little action, but forest managers know that it can't continue at the expense of ecosystem health.
But even if these rules are adopted - the Boulder Ranger District is accepting public comment until April 29 - will there be money to enforce them? In recent years, funding for recreation management has been shifted to wildfire programs. And while the threat of fire is real, most managers say ORV damage poses a greater, more immediate threat.
To comment on the proposed Left Hand OHV action, readers may write to Cat Luna, Recreation Planner, Boulder Ranger District, 2140 Yarmouth Ave., Boulder, CO 80301, call (303) 541-2508, or e-mail cluna@fs.fed.us.
Given the damage that irresponsible off-roaders have caused, they have only themselves to blame for the Forest Service's crackdown. The land, and the public, will be better off with these and other restrictions we hope to see in the future.