Colorado summit hits hot public lands issues

IMBA Trail News
Volume 12, Number 3
August 1999

Forty people gathered in Buena Vista, Colorado, in April to discuss challenges and opportunities in mountain biking. Titled 'Managing Mountain Bike Opportunities," the summit drew leading mountain bike advocates and land managers from around the state.

"The conference had two parts: first, advocates met to discuss issues amongst ourselves, then we met with land managers to strategize on joint projects," said conference co-organizer Martha Roskowski of Bicycle Colorado.

The advocates discussed a Wilderness bill currently in Congress for BLM lands in Colorado. They agreed to have cycling advocates visit each proposed area to evaluate both riding opportunities and conservation priorities.

A hot topic was the destruction of singletrack by wide-track ATVs. The group will try to influence upcoming US Forest Service plans regarding the regulation of ATV use on narrow trails.

Land managers from local, state and federal agencies later joined the conversation. Catherine Robertson, area manager of the Grand Junction BLM office, discussed the explosion of mountain biking in western Colorado and the need for responsible promotion. Bill Manning outlined the tremendous success of Trails 2000 in Durango. Innovative methods for evaluating the needs of trail users in travel management plans were outlined by Maureen McCormack of the Forest Service.

Together, advocates and land managers developed action plans for three topics: carrying capacities of public lands, travel management plans and "ethics and education."

"I was really pleased by the tone of the meeting," said Roskowski. "In just a few short years, mountain bike advocates have moved from confrontation to working collaboratively with land managers to tackle tough issues of managing increasing numbers of trail users. We realize that we need to work together to protect our public lands while providing quality recreation."

The Summit was organized by Bicycle Colorado, Bob Moore of Trail Conservation Services, IMBA's state representatives and several advocates from around Colorado.