The sundays post had an article on closures through out the state. Gunnison forest wants to close down 97% of unmarked trails. Yes, 97%. And some marked trails on top of that. Probably 90% of the trails around Pitkin, Taylor, and Tincup are not marked. Trails that have been around since the 1800's. Many that go to cool mines, ghost towns, overlooks, make loops, etc. They also noted that OHV registration has risen from 11,700 in 1991 to 132,166 this year. And received over $3 million for trail maintenance last year. Looks to me like they're going to use our registration money to close all the trails down.

Unfortunatly with the new travel management rules put in place by the USFS and that Colorado has adopted, the law now reads "Closed to OHV travel unless marked open" whereas in the past, the law was "Open unless posted closed". We are in a transision period where TiGER teams are now in the process of inventorying trails that did not make the first cut on the maps. The reason for this discombobulation is that the law was passed with out proper funding to ensure it was done correctly. Does that really surprise anyone when the goverment gets involved?

The increase in the number of registrations along with the increase in the annual fee is promissing in that it gives us more money to improve routes and access but we need more support at the legislative level. You can help with that by joining the Colorado OHV Coalition. They are the ones who work hard with the state legislatures to make sure that laws are passed that make sense and that we maintain the access we all have a right to.

By law, the money raised by the State Park Service can only be used to maintain and improved access so they can not use the money to just close trails. If you recall the issue this spring where an individual from a state agency tried to raid the funds, we (OHV users) persuaded the JBC to leave our money alone. Now some trails, such as at the Rampart have been closed because they impact some sensitive areas and the entities responsible for those closures have to come up with the funding from another source. In the agreement to close trails, we got approval to add trails in less sensitive areas. We have just opened a good protion of multi use trails this spring and we are getting ready for more in addition to a sweet singletrack set of loops. They have also been working hard up at Left Hand Canyon (just outside Boulder) on a rock crawling area that might be a bit hairy on ATVs but they are needing more folks to help.

Check out the COHVO website for more information. There was a great article in the last newsletter about these issues and the newsletter is free with your membership.

COHVCO link

Keep in mind there is NO MVUM for Gunnison National Forrest at this time. I am not sure when it will be available, but as of now, there is no map that makes any closure official.

I see on the gov site that the map for the Gunnison National Forest should be available in 2010. This area is taking the longest to determine which trails to close due to the popularity of the area for jeep clubs, ATVers and motorcycles.

Just renewed my membership and got 3 others to join as well.