I thought this article in the Denver Post was interesting. Here?s the link. Below is an excerpt.
Having been in the San Juans on vacation where ATVs were on roads and trails, and climbers used ATV?s to access trailheads, it seems to me the key thing is to keep ATV?s on roads and trails. I don?t know if renters are worse about going off roads and trails? And if there can be too many ATVs on ATV roads and trails? How would you know? And most complex of all, if you don?t restrict private, how can you know how many commercial you can have within the total limit (maybe they monitor and reset the commercial every year)? The many ways of managing being ?loved to death? is clearly a 21st century problem.
Federal land managers say they must balance commercial use with protection of public forests, which serve as watersheds and as habitat for wildlife. But this is causing conflict with people who make their living by delivering machines to increasingly savvy consumers of mountain recreation experiences.
?It?s killing me,? said Scott Wilson, owner of Colorado Backcountry Rentals. Wilson rents 20 sleds in the winter and 15 ATVs in the summer ? a business he established in 2004. His five-employee company offers to supply ?your ride? at any season in places ?where you will ride unguided through the backcountry of the Colorado Rockies.?
Now, after receiving a letter at the height of the summer season that declares him ?in violation? and orders him to ?immediately stop,? Wilson is preparing a legal challenge.
For years, he has been consulting with federal forest and highway authorities about the legality of his operations and seeking permits.
But federal rangers, corresponding with Wilson?s attorney, Lee Gelman, last week maintained their position that Colorado Backcountry Rentals? operations on Vail Pass and at the Tiger Road area in Summit County ?are not authorized activities.?
Federal foresters ?keep using the word ?unauthorized? ? and, to that, I say, ?bull,? ? said Wilson, who moved to Colorado from Texas in 2001 and serves as the linebackers coach of the Summit High football team.
?When you have thousands of people going out into forests, how do you regulate that? I get that. They are doing their job,? he said. ?But why not give me a permit? You can limit my user days.?
Restricting rentals
The mountain-bike rentals in Summit and Eagle counties are expanding by 10 percent a year, with more than a dozen companies delivering bikes and offering shuttle transport to forest trailheads, Pioneer Sports manager Jeremy Mender said. Beyond Vail Pass descents, Pioneer offers ?full-suspension mountain bikes? so that visitors can ?enjoy a variety of single-track trails? around Summit County.
?If you put a cap on that, you would be putting a cap on the whole community as far as tax revenue is concerned,? Mender said.
Restricting the trailhead rentals is complicated because federal managers of the White River National Forest, which covers 3,571 square miles, already have issued 200 permits for other commercial activities ranging from skiing to guided mushroom hunting. About 154 permits have been issued to outfitters that rent equipment and provide guides who accompany visitors.
?It makes sense to me why people would be looking at rentals,? said David Neely, the ranger in the forest?s Eagle- Holy Cross district.
But there?s a downside, Neely said, because the vehicle deliveries at trailheads ?place somebody who may never have engaged in that activity on a fairly powerful machine.?
Decision time
A decision will be be made this fall on forest commercial capacity for rented snowmobiles, Forest Service officials said. A decision on summer use of ATVs and mountain bikes will require more time, they said.
Forest officials told Wilson?s attorney they began work this summer with a university to gather data to help determine ?a summer-season commercial capacity? for areas accessible from the Vail Pass summit.
A key factor, said Rich Doak, the recreation-policy specialist for the forest, is the growing movement for ?quiet use? by limiting motorized vehicles such as ATVs.
?The quiet-use issue is popping up everywhere,? he said.
Doak said rental operations are likely to be limited, perhaps to only companies that send guides with their vehicles.
?We?re in the process of determining what the capacity is up there,? he said. ?I?m not positive that we?re going to do rental operations up there. It may be guided. It may be not at all.?
Federal data show that the numbers of visitors in Rocky Mountain forests have reached 32 million a year. The crowds are growing by about 4 percent a year, with 8.4 percent of visitors relying on ATVs or other personal motorized vehicles, said Chris Sporl, acting director of recreation, heritage and wilderness resources at Forest Service regional headquarters in Denver.
Three national forests in Colorado rank among the nation?s six busiest, Sporl said. The White River National Forest draws 9 million people a year.
Since 2005, forest managers have worked at creating sustainable designated routes for motorcycles and ATVs in forests ? trying to make sure this use is compatible with forest soils, the need to prevent erosion and other users? interests.
?One of the things we?re focusing on is restoring and adapting recreation settings. We?ve got areas that have been loved to death,? Sporl said. Future projects will restore heavily used areas ?back to where they need to be, back into balance with the ecosystems.?
?We?re constantly dealing with changing recreation opportunities over time,? he said. ?We look at how to adapt.?
Freedom to drive
Meanwhile, Wilson is trying to adapt. Last week, he dropped off a load of ATVs in mountains north of Breckenridge, along Tiger Road, for a family from Texas and two newlyweds, fresh from safety seminars and crowned with bright, shiny helmets.
Wilson sent them on their way with some trepidation. Summit County officials who oversee some land in the area have notified Wilson that they share federal land managers? concerns about unauthorized commercial ATV- and snowmobile-rental operations.
The Texans told Wilson they had previously rented ATVs for unguided riding near Durango and loved it.
The appeal, 52-year-old Jon Jobe said, ?is to have freedom to drive around and see things you want to see when you want to see it.?
As these smiling visitors rolled out on their vehicles, Wilson turned to his ringing cellphone. It was a sheriff?s deputy calling. Private-property owners nearby had complained about Wilson?s drop-offs and staging on that road. ?You gotta leave,? the deputy said.
Stone-faced, Wilson gulped.
?This could be it.?
Bruce Finley: 303-954-1700 twitter.com/finleybruce or bfinley@denverpost.com
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drtbkr about 10 hours ago
Boink Don\?t Bonk wrote:I think we would all be aghast if someone took a rototiller into the forest to groom our trails. These FAss?s that can?t get off there FAss?s and walk are the scourge of Colorado trails. What is really bad is they start them early before they are even teens. In my mind Colorado back country is about solitude and quiet, not chewing up trails, loud engines, and the smell of exhaust. I think these lazy ( ) are missing the whole point. All Americans; faster, louder, bigger, shinier, more obnoxious.
I agree that a rototiller would be impractical for Colorado trail grooming. A SWECO dozer is much more efficient here. Permanent link to this comment Permalink Report Abuse Reply to this comment Vote this comment up Vote this comment down
Mo Jo about 11 hours ago I think we would all be aghast if someone took a rototiller into the forest to groom our trails. These FAss?s that can?t get off there FAss?s and walk are the scourge of Colorado trails. What is really bad is they start them early before they are even teens. In my mind Colorado back country is about solitude and quiet, not chewing up trails, loud engines, and the smell of exhaust. I think these lazy ( ) are missing the whole point. All Americans; faster, louder, bigger, shinier, more obnoxious. Permanent link to this comment Permalink Report Abuse Reply to this comment Vote this comment up Vote this comment down
Dan B about 14 hours ago
PioneerPlateSyndrome wrote:
bmary wrote:I have been going to the mountains to camp, hike and fish for over 50 years, this summer we went and were horrified at the disregard for the forest.ATVs have ran up hills and caused erosion, the dust and noise disrupts the beautiful scenery and quiet solitude I go to the mountains for. We saw a forest ranger on an ATV equipped with flashing lights stopping ATV?s speeding and going places they should not be.(that is my tax dollars being spent to round up those yahoos) The campgrounds are scattered with trash. Its shameful. If the Texans and others from other states want to run all over in ATV?s ,stay in there own states and do it, don?t mess up Colorado. They don?t have nice Federal lands in Texas, because they are very conservative and have mostly private lands for hunting etc. The people who promote ATV?s are in it for the money, using federal lands to get it. Let them buy land and have people run all over it with there ATV?s and stay out of Federal lands.
The typical attitude I have come to expect from a lot of you. I certainly hope that your type does not go into any of the other 49 states. They don?t want you, nor need you, visiting them. You just stay here in your own little world.
Colorado is not a little world! It just goes up instead of out! Permanent link to this comment Permalink Report Abuse Reply to this comment Vote this comment up Vote this comment down
Dan B about 15 hours ago
ColoradoBillsFan wrote:
dan in aurora wrote:
ColoradoBillsFan wrote:It seems many on here don?t understand the difference between designated wilderness and common public land?.
The difference isn?t abuse vs not abuse. Either way a level of care commensurate with long term use is part of the forest service?s management job. Simply because its not wilderness doesn?t mean you turn an area into a dirt track. They are using a permit method to manage it better for everyone.
I completely agree with your point, my comments had nothing to do with overall use of public land, just the reactions by many posters that the mere sight of a responsible Jeep, ATV or mountain bike user on public land is a disgrace to the outdoors.
Of course, if they?re not responsible and could care less about ripping up the high country, then to hell with them! 
The problem this article is talking about isn?t the jeep or the mountain bike, or even the single ATV. Its the fact that ATV businesses have pushed multiple groups of ATVs at every trail head possible. A lot of trail heads and campgrounds look like trailer parking lots. The last time I was at the Antero trail head there were about 15 trailers that looked like they averaged 6 ATVs per trailer. Thats 90 ATVs running up and down the side of a 14er. You don?t really get a multiple use area with that kind of traffic, you get dangerous noisy conditions. Permanent link to this comment Permalink Report Abuse Reply to this comment Vote this comment up Vote this comment down
Dan B about 15 hours ago
tele-mon wrote:You can still rent an ATV on Vail Pass ? you just have to use a permitted outfitter! Operations like Nova Guides will even rent you an ATV or snowmobile that you can take out, unguided, and explore to your hearts content. Their contract stipulates a maximum number of people per day, or per season, which they are permitted to outfit in the Vail Pass ? Camp Hale area. They and other outfitters also do a ton of work grooming and signing the trails that they make their bread and butter off of. They?re playing by the rules and regulations, put in place to balance the interests of the businesses, other citizens using the area, and the natural ecosystems that the native plants and wildlife depend on to survive.
I have no sympathy for the rogue Texan, who moves here and sets up a drop-off rental operation, but pays no fees or offers anything constructive to help manage the area. He blocks large parking areas to stage his operation at the expense of non-commercial users. He has all the right to operate his business, but he won?t do it on private lands, because he thinks he can use the public lands we have all invested in for free.
Go back to Texas and set up your operation on public lands there. Oh wait, they don?t have any.
The could set aside a few thousand acres of dry prairie in North Texas and no one would care. You could ride around in dirt tracks as fast as your wheels would take you all day long. Permanent link to this comment Permalink Report Abuse Reply to this comment Vote this comment up Vote this comment down
Robin J about 15 hours ago
bmary wrote:I have been going to the mountains to camp, hike and fish for over 50 years, this summer we went and were horrified at the disregard for the forest.ATVs have ran up hills and caused erosion, the dust and noise disrupts the beautiful scenery and quiet solitude I go to the mountains for. We saw a forest ranger on an ATV equipped with flashing lights stopping ATV?s speeding and going places they should not be.(that is my tax dollars being spent to round up those yahoos) The campgrounds are scattered with trash. Its shameful. If the Texans and others from other states want to run all over in ATV?s ,stay in there own states and do it, don?t mess up Colorado. They don?t have nice Federal lands in Texas, because they are very conservative and have mostly private lands for hunting etc. The people who promote ATV?s are in it for the money, using federal lands to get it. Let them buy land and have people run all over it with there ATV?s and stay out of Federal lands.
The typical attitude I have come to expect from a lot of you. I certainly hope that your type does not go into any of the other 49 states. They don?t want you, nor need you, visiting them. You just stay here in your own little world. Permanent link to this comment Permalink Report Abuse Reply to this comment Vote this comment up Vote this comment down
Dan B about 15 hours ago
ColoradoBillsFan wrote:It seems many on here don?t understand the difference between designated wilderness and common public land?.
The difference isn?t abuse vs not abuse. Either way a level of care commensurate with long term use is part of the forest service?s management job. Simply because its not wilderness doesn?t mean you turn an area into a dirt track. They are using a permit method to manage it better for everyone. Permanent link to this comment Permalink Report Abuse Reply to this comment Vote this comment up Vote this comment down
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Read more: Feds to limit forest drop-off of ATVs, snowmobiles, mountain bikes ? The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/recommended/ci_21413830#ixzz24wnhjLSB
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