Write to the White River National Forest
IMBA Trail News
Volume 12, Number 4
September 1999
Proposed trail closures have national importance
IMBA encourages mountain bikers to write letters to the White River National Forest regarding its proposed Forest Plan. For more information, see the story on page one, or read the plan online at www.fs.fed.us/r2/whiteriver/planning.html
Please include the following ideas in your letter (but use your own language and experience):
· The preferred Alternative D has commendable goals centering on protecting wildlife and ecosystems. But the evidence that bicycling will interfere with these goals is slim. What is the rationale for closing routes to bicycling?
· The plan would diminish bicycling opportunities to satisfy the general goal of ecosystem enhancement, yet it would increase acreage suitable for logging. Why?
· Winter recreationists in the White River National Forest cooperatively created a recreation plan for Vail Pass. The Forest Service could use this as a model for summer trail planning throughout the forest.
· Collaborative community planning to develop a rational, enforceable, and widely respected travel plan will take time. Request a 60-day extension of the comment period, and ask the Forest Service to engage in a separate community trail planning process for travel mangement before approving the final plan.
Comments are due by May 9, 1999. Send to: Planning Team, White River National Forest, PO Box 948, Glenwood Springs CO 81602-0948.
For more information, see stories:
Prominent Colorado forest may ban bikes from
dozens of trails
