CMC works with local activists to
develop Citizens’ Management
Alternative for Gold Belt

Colorado Mountain Club staff worked with citizens in the Ca–on City area to submit citizens’ recommendations on travel management in the Gold Belt area to the BLM. The Gold Belt area consists of several disconnected units of low-elevation, biologically-rich lands between Ca–on City and Cripple Creek that provide remarkably rugged non-motorized recreational opportunities and excellent wildlife habitat. The area includes the Beaver Creek Wilderness Study Area, breeding areas for the Mexican Spotted Owl, and the thickest concentration of mountain lions in the state. The citizens’ comments make the preservation of wildlife habitat the priority.

CMC submits travel recommendations
for North Fruita Desert

Western Slope activists and members of the Quiet Trails Coalition submitted recommendations to the Grand Junction Resource Area of the BLM on the travel management of North Fruita Desert, a popular non-motorized recreation area north of Fruita. It is recognized as one of the highest quality mountain biking areas in the country. Recent increases in motorized use threaten the ecological condition and recreational quality of the entire area.

CMC submits a Citizens’ Management Alternative for travel management
to the White River National Forest

The CMC, working with over twenty organizations based in and around the White River National Forest, submitted over 500 separate recommendations on travel management to the White River National Forest. The submittal, which we refer to as the Citizens’ Management Alternative, recommended in part that the Forest Service ensure that the following types of routes are designated as non-motorized: 1) Routes that lead to the boundaries of wilderness areas; 2) routes that lead to or are in inventoried and uninventoried roadless areas; 3) routes that have apparent resource damage; and/or 4) routes that have a considerable adverse impact on wildlife.

CMC intervenes in lawsuit challenging Forest Service route designations

The Colorado Off-Highway Coalition filed a lawsuit against the Forest Service protesting two recent decisions regarding travel management. The Colorado Mountain Club intervened on behalf of the Forest Service. The two issues are: 1) designation of Trail 1135, the Arapaho Ridge Trail, as non-motorized; and 2)  finalizing of a travel management plan for the Radial Mountain Area.

Recently the U.S. Forest Service reasserted that Trail 1135, known as the Arapaho Ridge Trail, will be managed as a non-motorized trail. The Arapaho Ridge Trail crosses the Troublesome Citizen Pro-posed Wilderness Area and the Continental Divide west of Willow Creek Pass. It crosses pristine high alpine environments and offers a true backcountry experience. Motorized use had resulted in the creation of a number of illegal spur trails, significant gully formation, loss of quiet, and degradation of wilderness values. P