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+--- Thread: LHC OHV use. The saga continues… (/showthread.php?tid=3650)
LHC OHV use. The saga continues… - Scott G - 09-12-2024
…and I thought this use was history. Carnage Canyon reincarnated…
Lefthand Canyon will be focus of management study
BOULDER, Colo. (Sept. 12, 2024) -- More than a decade after historic flooding took out motorized access to the Boulder Ranger District’s primary off-highway vehicle trails system, efforts are underway to begin future visioning for a sustainable, multi-use trails system in the Lefthand Canyon Off-Highway Vehicle Area.
The Boulder Ranger District has secured a Colorado Parks and Wildlife Off-Highway Vehicle Grant to support stakeholder collaboration and visioning for the Lefthand Canyon Off-Highway Vehicle Area. The District has partnered with the National Off-Highway Vehicle Conservation Council, who has hired Keystone Policy Center, an independent third-party facilitator, to engage a diverse representation of interests in working groups.
The area has been closed to motorized use since the historic flood of 2013, which resulted in extreme road, trail and resource damage, including the obliteration of key access points and routes, slope failures, deep erosion channels and debris dams.
When the flood hit, the Ranger District had been in the process of implementing the decision from a 2006 Environmental Assessment that would have proactively managed the area to balance recreational opportunities and the protection of natural resources. The flood resulted in such an extreme changed condition, it necessitated additional environmental review for any management actions.
Recreation in the Lefthand Canyon Off-Highway Vehicle Area has gone largely unmanaged since 2013, when the Forest Service closed the area to all public use in response to flood-related hazards. After mitigating these hazards, the agency reopened the area to non-motorized uses in 2016. Due to access limitations and a lack of connectivity in the roads, however, the area has remained closed to motorized use, eliminating the only area within the Boulder Ranger District that emphasizes motorized recreation within the Forest Plan.
In the years that have followed, the area has experienced a proliferation of unauthorized trail construction and maintenance, primarily for mountain biking, resulting in further resource damage, public health and safety issues, and user conflicts.
“The purpose of this initial effort is to get all the Lefthand area user groups sitting down at the table together, listening to each other’s perspectives, and clearing up misunderstandings and biases,” said Boulder District Ranger Kevin McLaughlin. “In an ideal world, these conversations would lead to the development of a collaborative vision for a multi-use, sustainable roads and trails system in the Lefthand area.”
Collaborative efforts are a critical tool in finding common ground and helping inform potential proposed actions on National Forest lands. If a proposed management action emerges from this effort, the public would be invited to engage in the environmental review process. Public engagement is an important part of environmental analysis and can lead to the consideration of alternative proposed actions.
“One way or another, we need to start working toward strategic, sustainable roads and trails planning and management in the Lefthand area,” McLaughlin said. “Our hope is that this effort will generate some viable, collaborative options for the Forest Service to consider.”
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RE: LHC OHV use. The saga continues… - Matty G - 09-12-2024
How do we get on the email list to learn more about it? Definitely don't want an off-road task for motorized vehicles in the canyon. The road is already clogged enough with nowhere to park.
RE: LHC OHV use. The saga continues… - Rose H-H - 09-12-2024
Is this the study being done on horseback?
RE: LHC OHV use. The saga continues… - St.Kate of the Canyon - 09-12-2024
Oy! The Left Hand Watershed is already over used. The spill over of mountain bike enthusiasts from Buckingham continues to move westward. Two weekends ago the Ceran St. Vrain Trailhead was so full, (how full was it?) cars with bike-racks were parking on Overland Rd., even on the bridge over the creek. (Fools!) One resident from Crestridge Estates counted 80 cars. I do like the idea that maybe there will be some kind of limits placed on usage of the land. Wonder how it would be enforced? It would be informative to see maps of the areas the study encompasses. They mention connectivity of the roads. Do those roads come up above Jamestown? Do they connect through Balarat and Calwood? Do they go to the Ceran St. Vrain or over to Raymond? Inquiring minds want to know.
RE: LHC OHV use. The saga continues… - Kim Renner Busey - 09-12-2024
(09-12-2024, 02:05 PM)Rose H-H Wrote: Is this the study being done on horseback?
The horses you have seen in the canyon are carrying cement to a mine that is being shut off.
RE: LHC OHV use. The saga continues… - O'B's - 09-12-2024
There is no direct connected road from the OHV area to Ceran St Vrain or 87J. Our problem on the CSV are people camping too close to the creek/campfires, the Mt bikes are in the OHV area, while CSV can be ridden, they are tough enough to ride without hikers on it and on weekends it's over loved by hikers/dog walkers/campers, not ideal for cycling. We see the use both upper and lower canyon. The issue for reopening for motorized use is that there is no longer an entrance route that accommodates vehicles (except motorcycles).
RE: LHC OHV use. The saga continues… - Seth-Strickland - 09-13-2024
Boulder County land managers in general have always been very prejudice to Mountain Biking (literally not 1 trail access point in Flat Irons) and as many a study has shown, when you limit any user group to a very small % of trail access, the little space they have gets nuked by over use and idiots that don't know how to build sustainable trails (e.g. "Dude Booter / Endure-Bro" Land at LHOHV). That riding is god awful BTW, but its all that user group has in BOCO. When you remove the renegade trail building component, numerous enviro studies actually show that MTB is one of the least impactful Non-motorized user groups on well managed lands. Hikers and Horse Back are significantly more damaging hence all the restorative work at all of our 14'ers from litter and braided trails.
I worked with the USFS, Summit County and Town of Breckenridge Trails depts for many years in the early 2000's on this very issue that was once a problem there and now Summit County has expanded a vast trail network that's very sustainable with little user conflict.
My .02 - Give MTB more access. And for the record, this is why I have to drive to other parts of the state to ride- BOCO riding sucks
(09-13-2024, 11:01 AM)Seth-Strickland Wrote: Boulder County land managers in general have always been very prejudice to Mountain Biking (literally not 1 trail access point in Flat Irons) and as many a study has shown, when you limit any user group to a very small % of trail access, the little space they have gets nuked by over use and idiots that don't know how to build sustainable trails (e.g. "Dude Booter / Endure-Bro" Land at LHOHV). That riding is god awful BTW, but its all that user group has in BOCO (aside from a small handful of other very SHORT trails; Hiel, Hall etc.) When you remove the renegade trail building component, numerous enviro studies actually show that MTB is one of the least impactful Non-motorized user groups on well managed lands. Hikers and Horse Back are significantly more damaging hence all the restorative work at all of our 14'ers from litter and braided trails.
I worked with the USFS, Summit County and Town of Breckenridge Trails depts for many years in the early 2000's on this very issue that was once a problem there and now Summit County has expanded a vast trail network that's very sustainable with little user conflict.
My .02 - Give MTB more access. And for the record, this is why I have to drive to other parts of the state to ride- BOCO riding sucks
RE: LHC OHV use. The saga continues… - Mnewlon - 09-14-2024
(09-12-2024, 04:03 PM)St.Kate of the Canyon Wrote: Oy! The Left Hand Watershed is already over used. The spill over of mountain bike enthusiasts from Buckingham continues to move westward. Two weekends ago the Ceran St. Vrain Trailhead was so full, (how full was it?) cars with bike-racks were parking on Overland Rd., even on the bridge over the creek. (Fools!) One resident from Crestridge Estates counted 80 cars. I do like the idea that maybe there will be some kind of limits placed on usage of the land. Wonder how it would be enforced? It would be informative to see maps of the areas the study encompasses. They mention connectivity of the roads. Do those roads come up above Jamestown? Do they connect through Balarat and Calwood? Do they go to the Ceran St. Vrain or over to Raymond? Inquiring minds want to know.
Kate - with all due respect, cars with racks does not even come close to being cyclists taking over the Ceran. I am down there almost every day with my dogs, and see very little evidence of bike traffic/tire tracks. Ceran traffic is almost exclusively hiker traffic, and if you think MTBers want to deal with running into hikers every 10 feet on any trail, you would be wrong. If it is ridden, it is generally in the winter by fat bikers (if conditions are good, and this is not often - and better riding at Peaceful Valley/Sourdough/Brainard which are very close and worth the drive for folks who live on the flats) and some infrequent Miller rock rides, by a small group of users.
RE: LHC OHV use. The saga continues… - sbertram - 09-14-2024
The mountain bike community needs to do a better job of policing their own. I'm disgusted by the new trails behind Rock Lake, tons of damage by some self entitled individual(s). Learn to share, we live in a mixed use area, these inconsiderate people are selfish beyond belief.
RE: LHC OHV use. The saga continues… - EricH - 09-14-2024
(09-12-2024, 05:48 PM)Kim Renner Busey Wrote:(09-12-2024, 02:05 PM)Rose H-H Wrote: Is this the study being done on horseback?
The horses you have seen in the canyon are carrying cement to a mine that is being shut off.
Yep, the activity involving personnel, horses, vehicles, etc. at Springdale (2 miles downstream of Jamestown) are here with our blessing. They are with the Colorado Division of Reclamation Mining and Safety (DRMS) and are filling, sealing, gating, or otherwise blocking around 16 abandoned mining features on or around our property. In addition to making the various openings safe, they are also working to preserve habitat for bats. I believe they expect the work to last through October. Please take care when driving through, as folks are sometimes riding along the shoulder between the staging area and various sites.
RE: LHC OHV use. The saga continues… - Mnewlon - 09-15-2024
(09-14-2024, 11:36 AM)sbertram Wrote: The mountain bike community needs to do a better job of policing their own. I'm disgusted by the new trails behind Rock Lake, tons of damage by some self entitled individual(s). Learn to share, we live in a mixed use area, these inconsiderate people are selfish
maybe we can also not lump everyone into the same category? Just because there is that one black Tesla coming from that direction that tailgates and passes on double yellow doesn’t mean it’s “the Bar-Ks” responsibility to do a better job self policing its drivers.
I thought Rock Lake was private property, managed by the association? I wasn’t even aware it could be ridden, or that there were trails there. This is an assumption, but it is likely someone in the bar-k, and better addressed by your community. Can I ride there (I live on Bramer)? How else would I or others police it?
RE: LHC OHV use. The saga continues… - sbertram - 09-15-2024
I am referring to the Forest Land directly West of Rock Lake, not the lake itself.
I believe that I have identified the correct group responsible for the new trails, it would appear that way from a phone call today and the responses in the other thread. That is not to say that every person who rides a bike back there is using or creating the new trails.
The area is also accessible from CR100, but that is not where the person(s) causing the damage is entering public land, they are coming from the Bar-K.
I feel it is the job of my neighbors to abide by the Forest rules, not create new trails and hold other users accountable.