White River National Forest
PROPOSES STRONG LIMITS ON SNOWMOBILE USE

December 1999

YOUR SUPPORT NEEDED
in the form of letters to the Forest Service

The White River National Forest has proposed major revisions for its travel management. The Forest's staff has proposed some bold and courageous limits on motorized recreation. In the face of extreme opposition from motorized recreation interests, this proposal desperately needs and deserves your support.

Write your letter today--it will make a difference!

Location: The White River National Forest (WRNF) covers 2.27 million acres from Summit County in the east to a large area west of the Flattops (near Meeker) in the northwest. It includes the national forest land near Copper Mountain, Vail, Eagle, Aspen, and Glenwood Springs.

Background: All national forests are required by a 1976 law to prepare and revise a comprehensive land and resource management plan every 15 years. Plans address items such as: the management emphasis for each area of land, how travel occurs in the forest, and standards and guidelines for resource protection. The original plan for the WRNF was issued in 1984; thus it is now being revised.

The Draft Revised Plan: A draft revised plan was published in early August. Comments will be accepted until May 9, 2000. Part of the plan addresses site-specific travel management, under which the Forest determines which routes and areas are open to what type of use. Under the travel management proposal for the Forest Service's preferred alternative (Alternative D), winter motorized recreation would be prohibited on 537,000 acres of public land outside wilderness and snowmobiles would be limited to designated routes on 505,000 acres outside of wilderness. Currently, almost every acre of non-wilderness areas on the Colorado's national forests are open to snowmobiles. This is the first time the Forest Service has proposed any large-scale limitation on snowmobile use outside designated wilderness on any national forest in Colorado.

All of the WRNF would have one of the following classifications for winter motorized recreation: wilderness (motorized use prohibited by law), closed to motorized use, restricted to designated routes, or open with no restrictions. Examples of areas proposed to be closed include: almost the entire Ten Mile Range (see exception below), including the popular trails along Spruce Creek and to Francie's Cabin; a sizable area west of the Copper Mountain Ski Area toward Shrine Pass, including the area around Janet's Cabin; and areas above Montezuma such as Webster Pass but notably not the trails leading out of Montezuma. These closures are badly needed to provide some areas where cross-country skiers, snowshoers, snowboarders, and others can experience quiet winter recreation, without the irritating noise, fumes, or the dangers posed by snow machines. Such closures may also reduce disturbance to wildlife in the area.

While the plan sets a significant amount of area as off-limits to snowmobiles, proposed open areas include: the area near Jacque Peak and Searle Pass; Camp Hale; the area along Red Table Mountain, a sizable roadless area southeast of Gypsum; Meadow Mountain near Minturn; the area immediately surrounding Montezuma (including the road to Sts. John); and most of the Miner's Creek area (including part of the Peaks Trail) on the north end of the Ten Mile Range near Frisco. The boundaries of some of these areas need to be clarified, as they do not always follow logical topographical boundaries. Also, the Estin and Margy's huts are in areas proposed to be open to winter motorized use, even though the huts currently have non-motorized envelopes around them.

WHAT WE MUST DO

Predictably, snowmobile interests are mounting an all-out attack against this portion of the proposed White River Forest Plan. Therefore, we must support this bold plan for winter travel management proposed by the Forest Service.

Please write to:

Martha Ketelle, Forest Supervisor,
White River National Forest,
P. O. Box 948,
Glenwood Springs, CO 81602

You may also submit comments via e-mail to: fpc/r2_whiteriver@fs.fed.us. Be sure to include your snail mail address, so the Forest Service can let you know when the final plan is available. For a copy of the Draft Plan, call the Forest Supervisors Office or go to the WRNF's website at http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/whiteriver/.

Your letter must be postmarked no later than May 9, 2000, but it would be beneficial to get many letters in as soon as possible, as snowmobile interests have mounted a major campaign to overturn the proposed restrictions. We must let the Forest Service know that there are many people out there who support these bold closures.

We recommend you include the following points in your letter:

  • Voice strong support for restricting snowmobiles to designated routes, and for closing some areas to snowmobiles altogether, as proposed in the preferred Alternative D. State that this is necessary to ensure that non-motorized winter recreationists have areas free from the noise, fumes, and dangers of motor vehicles. If you wish, support even larger areas where snowmobiles are prohibited, especially those where you have direct experience.
  • Ask the Forest Service to ensure that areas immediately adjacent to all huts are non-motorized.
  • Ask the Forest Service to clarify the boundaries of areas open to snowmobiles, such as the ones near Searle Pass and Montezuma. Boundaries between open and closed areas in these and other locations do not always appear to follow logical topographical boundaries. Also, ask the agency to clarify whether the road up McAllister Gulch, which accesses the Fowler/Hilliard Hut, would be open to motorized use.

Please write your letter today and ask your friends to write letters too!

OTHER ISSUES

There are many other issues addressed in the draft revised Forest Plan, including some good proposals for restrictions on summer motorized use. If you would like more information on these, or on the issues addressed in this alert, please contact Rocky Smith at 303 839-5900 or rocky@coloradowild.org.