The falling aspen had been cut by two Boy Scouts who were with a group cutting firewood, said Joe Dougherty, a spokesman for the Utah Department of Public Safety.
Edgar E. Riecke, 69, died at the scene, Dougherty said. He was wearing a helmet but he rode directly into the path of the tree, he said.
“It was a direct hit,” Dougherty said. “He died pretty quickly.”
A doctor who was with the group, confirmed the death.
The accident occurred at 12:40 p.m. Riecke was riding about 50 mph, the speed limit there, Dougherty said.
The two boys who felled the aspen had stepped a short distance away from the main group, Dougherty said.
The Scouts had a permit to cut firewood, he said.
Dougherty said the Garfield County district attorney will decide if charges will be filed, As of Monday afternoon, there was no decision, he said.
The accident occurred in the middle of nowhere, Dougherty said. The site of the accident is about 40 miles south of Capital Reef National Park and three hours southwest of Moab.
Riecke last year wrote a letter to the editor lamenting the indiscriminate use of the Oxbow area on the Animas River near his home in the Skydancer Townhomes on Animas View Drive.
River users parked in his complex and ignored “no trespassing’ signs along the path to the river, Riecke said.
daler@durangoherald.com