The San Juan National Forest has released a Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Rico-West Dolores Roads and Trails Management Plan.
Forest users ought to take a look because the five proposed alternatives represent a spectrum of balance points between motorized and non-motorized use. This is a second attempt to balance such uses in this area of the forest. In 2014, a draft proposal recommended closing some trails to motorized use, and creating new motor routes.
Predictably, motorized users protested the new limits, while other users praised them and asked for more.
This new Draft EIS is likely to provoke the same responses, with “quiet users” wanting the most restrictions on motorized access, and motorcycle and ATV riders wanting the opposite. Whether there is a reasonable middle ground that can calm the tensions is the question at hand.
Motorized users say they have a right to use public lands, and their vehicles allow backcountry access for people who cannot hike, bicycle or ride horses. Some insist that if certain routes are restricted to non-motorized use, hikers and bicyclists should be kept off others.
That seems petty, hikers are at most an inconvenience, not a danger, to riders. The hikers, in turn, say that motorized users frequently force them off the trail, and the noise scares wildlife and disturbs the peace of the wildlands.
The Forest Service itself has a third variable in the equation: It is charged with present resource damage, including deep ruts dug by riders who often do not limit themselves to the trail. There have never been enough rangers to patrol the forest effectively, and funding cuts in recent years have worsened that shortage, so the best hope is that user adherence to a plan that feels fair to them.
There will be a community meeting to discuss the five alternatives from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on June 2 at the Dolores Community Center. Maps of the proposed alternatives can be found at http://1.usa.gov/24uqSfo, on pages 231-235.
Comments should be sent to the Dolores Public Lands Office 29211 Colorado Highway 184, Dolores, CO 81323. Comments may also be hand-delivered to this address between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Comments may also be emailed to NEPA Officer Debbie Kill at dkill@fs.fed.us. All comments are due by June 20.
After that, a draft decision will be announced, followed by another comment period and a decision.
It is important to acknowledge that many users are scrupulously responsible in their travel on the forest. That does not negate the impacts of their use — motorcycles and ATVs are heavier than hikers, as are horses, which leave their own troublesome tracks on wet ground, and skinny bike tires leave ruts as well — but they do their best not to cause problems for others. These users tend to play well together, and we thank them for behaving like adults.
But there are others, who make rules and enforcement necessary.
It is fair and responsible for the Forest Service to institute some restrictions. Quiet users deserve a place where their experience is unimpeded, the ruts caused by past use need to heal, and wildlife requires silence at certain times of the year. Motorized users have the right to ride on a share of the forest, and to access the rest of it under their own steam, just as everyone else can.
The best plan will result from cooperation among a wide range of users. Chime in, be reasonable, and share.