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Conservation and recreation groups are suing the Forest Service over a decision to designate more motorized routes on the Pike-San Isabel National Forest.
Groups claim agency acted illegally in designating motorized routes without an environmental study and without public input
By Summit Voice
SUMMIT COUNTY — A coalition of conservation and recreation groups is suing the U.S. Forest Service over what they say is the illegal addition of 500 miles of motorized roads and trails on the Pike-San Isabel National Forest.
In a complaint filed in U.S. District Court, the groups charge that the agency sidestepped the law and ignored its own regulations by designating the roads as open for motorized use without showing any evidence that the decision was backed by environmental studies and without public comment.
“I’m really upset because this forest means so much to me and my family,” said Quiet Use Coalition president Alan Heald, an avid hiker who has dealt with years of ORV trespass problems around his family’s mining claim. “Everyone knows that this forest’s management and enforcement of ORVs has been lackadaisical for decades. But now, instead of utilizing the new rules to rein it in, they are attempting to officially lock in the decades of illegal use without a public and environmental process.”
The Pike-San Isabel National Forest is a Colorado treasure and one of the top 10 most visited forests in the country. Its rocky pinnacles, rolling ponderosa pine forests, and high peaks are recreational havens for mountain bikers, hikers, and climbers. Nineteen of Colorado’s 54 fourteeners are here, including the state’s highest, Mount Elbert, at 14,433 feet. The Forest’s abundant wildlife is a draw for sportsman and tourists. Its rugged canyons and remote plateaus are also home to a number of rare species including the threatened Mexico Spotted Owl, Preble’s Meadow Jumping Mouse, and the Greenback Cutthroat Trout.
“There are rules to follow here, and the Forest Service, at the expense of me and my neighbors and many others, is just ignoring them,” said Mary Torres, who lives next to the Pike National Forest.
Michael Wallace, a former timber contractor on the Pike San Isabel and nearby resident of Mary’s for 25 years, said, “I have witnessed and endured years of illegal off-road vehicle use of these old timber tracks and now completely avoid the 717 trail system because it’s so dangerous and unregulated. For the Forest Service to simply reward this history of abuse by adding the routes to the system goes against everything that a democracy stands for … which is to have a fair and public process.”
The groups point out that Coloradoans have long cherished preserving their roadless lands and claim that these unlawful actions impact the way the Lost Creek Roadless Area in the South Platte District, Buffalo Peaks Roadless Area in the Leadville District, and Front Range Roadless Area in the Pikes Peak District are being managed now that the Forest Service is manipulating the official system.
“The last thing this forest needs is more roads through prime wildlife habitat,” says Bill Sustrich, a life and benefactor member of the National Rifle Association who has hunted in the area for more than 40 years. “In some places on this forest, the motorized routes look like a plate of spaghetti. Adding 500 miles of existing tracks without allowing public comment or ever considering the impacts is simply wrong.”
The groups claim that the Pike-San Isabel National Forest is overflowing with roads and motorized trails — so much so that fForest is $16 million behind in maintaining its thousands of miles of official roads. Grandfathering in nearly 800 additional tracks will only exacerbate the problem and is irresponsible management.
Alison Dunlap, former Olympian and World Champion mountain bike racer and business owner in Colorado Springs, laments that this move, if not reversed, will spread road and trail maintenance dollars even more thinly.
“The Forest Service needs to put its limited funds toward maintaining the roads and trails that are needed, and not drain it away on redundant roads to nowhere,” she said. “What the Forest Service did will not help ensure safe and reliable access to the places where I conduct business and where my family loves to bike, camp, and hike.”
Groups filing the lawsuit include the Quiet Use Coalition, Great Old Broads for Wilderness, Center for Native Ecosystems, Wildlands CPR and The Wilderness Society and are represented by Earthjustice. The groups want to make sure that, before even more off-road vehicle routes are added to the forest’s already busting-at-the-seams motorized network, the Forest Service figure out which roads are truly needed for public access and forest management and which roads are harmful to the environment. Moreover, they want to make sure that the public is involved in the process.
Filed under: Colorado, forests, recreation, Summit County Colorado, US Forest Service Tagged: | Alison Dunlap, motorized recreation, ORVs, Pike National Forest, Pike-San Isabel National Forest, San Isabel National Forest, Summit County News, U.S. Forest Service, United States, United States Forest Service
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As an avid and outspoken ‘sustainability environmentalist’ since growing up on a largely self supporting farm and having spent over 30 years engaged in all types of outdoor recreation – from hunting to snowmobiling, from hiking to dirt-biking, from mountain biking to 4 wheeling, from fishing to skiing, and more – I am constantly amazed at the time, money, and energy devoted to lawsuits and these ‘lesser’ and often more ‘personal interest’ battles when meanwhile for the last 16 +/- years our trees have been dying by the hundreds of millions all around us as the extended drought and warmer temperatures rapidly change the face of our environment in sweeping waves all across Western North America….
In Colorado alone over 4 million acres of Lodgepole Pine forests and almost a million acres of Aspen have died. Now the Pine Beetles are attacking the Ponderosa Pine, and the Spruce Beetles are attacking the Spruce… there are over 60 million acres of dead forests already in the West alone – absolutely no place and no one will be safe and protected from these devastating effects. Our timber lands, the ‘lungs of our planet’ are sick, and studies now indicate that our forests are quite possibly at a tipping point of putting off more carbon than they absorb.
Our communities, living things of all kinds, and our economies, i.e., our infrastructure of clean water, power, transportation, communications, recreation, and tourism is threatened by this massive die off of trees, and the impacts will alter our planet for generations – perhaps forever.
These massive impacts have almost nothing to do with the impacts of off highway vehicles and other outdoor recreation activities. So when these two types of impacts, climate change vs. OHV use, are scaled out beside each other, it is pretty obvious where far more time and energy needs to be invested in collaborative efforts to create the best possible overall win-win-win solutions of environmental, societal, and economic protection and benefits for all.
Come on people, let’s put a lot more positive energy and focus on the big picture and start expending a lot more time and effort into the most important and highest priority areas for the benefit of all life forms. After all, lawyers are often the biggest winners in lawsuits, and lawsuits by a tiny percentage of the population are partly to blame for the very poor health now found in our nation’s forests – forests that are owned by all of us, not just those that sue the most. There are many diverse interests involved in our national lands and it is crucial that we all start to work together to seek ‘happy medium’ solutions that are practical and sustainable.
PS- I am upset by the poor condition of our nation’s forests, but instead of suing everyone associated with these conditions, I decided 7 years ago to do something more positive and meaningful: I began an awareness and education mission to not only encourage better management and clean up of our forest lands, but also to utilize the timber. We bring to market ‘Blue Pine’ flooring, siding, paneling, and a whole lot more, by using local suppliers, processors, and pre-finishing companies. Our government is paying to have trees removed, costs that are borne by every citizen in the USA, to help protect our society and our infrastructure. To not utilize this accessible ‘standing dead’ timber that creates such enormous risk and cost is simply irresponsible.
Hi Randy, In general, I agree with you, however, as you pointed out, the issue of illegal roads and the pine beetle epidemic are unrelated. I don’t think the condition of the forest is an excuse to ignore other problems. But yes, we should focus on the larger picture and try to work together to advocate for our national forests.
I suppose someone reading this article might assume those quoted were telling the truth. Heck, they might even assume that the author of the article might get a quote from the forest service (they didn’t) or get a quote from COHVCO (nope) or even a quote from a motorized user (nada). So this website/paper calls itself the “summit voice”? Hmm.
The trails that were included were EXISTING not new. This fact is lost on the various groups that hate OHV use and feel only the unwashed need an ATV or motorcycle. Then again, how is that MINING CLAIM doing Alan Heald?
Let’s see, can I point out more hypocrisy? How about the fact that if these groups are soooo concerned about US forest service budgets, surely they could funnel the money being given to their lawyers instead for lobbyists to get more money for the forest service budgets. They do now that by filing this lawsuit, it will drain money from the US Forest Service….right?
Let’s just get this out in the open-these groups hate ATV’s, motorcycles, jeeps, conservatives, guns and everything else that resembles freedom and individualism. Nice work Summit County Voice and seeing all sides! Big thumbs up!
Nice deflection from the REAL issue — that the motorized community generally can’t police itself, and that the USFS lacks the will and resources to enforce its own rules. As a result, irreplaceable resources have been damaged by irresponsible use.
Okay, if we’re going to go to which groups cause the most damage to our national forests (other than insects), hikers and campers (hunters camp, remember) burn thousands of acres of forest every year due to carelessness. Even though these “environmentalists” shut down access to everyone by killing trees and wildlife through fire, I don’t think we should stop these two groups from enjoying the national forests. I do believe they should take some of the money they spend suing the American people through the Forest Service on fire education.
By the way, the majority of trail maintenance is completed and paid for by OHV groups, including the trails that hikers and hunters use.
Finally, I guess I would like the Summit County Citizen’s Voice to clarify when it is publishing journalism (balanced) versus an editorial (personal opinion presented as fact).