Send a short email to the BLM by Friday, Dec. 21, asking them to set aside a proposal for additional motorized trails in the Bangs Canyon area.

Background

The Grand Junction office of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is proposing to build 21 miles of motorized trails in the Bangs Canyon Special Management Recreation Area in Mesa County, based on a plan from a motorized group called the Responsible Recreation Foundation (RRF).

The proposal centers on Area 5, the mesas surrounding Rough Canyon, Horse Mesa and north of the Windmill Road (south of the Lunch Loops and popular mountain biking areas). The trail system threatens tranquil hiking opportunities in Rough Canyon by building an extensive trail system for OHVs along both the north and south rims of the canyon.  The proposal also would “result in destruction of cultural resources” (p. 22), create a significant hazard of severe erosion (p. 14) and increase the “likelihood of illegal route development” in the area (p.36).  This is all acknowledged in the proposal.

For several years the BLM has been working with RRF to inventory and design the routes that are now being proposed in the plan, have held several field trips with motorized stakeholders.  Conservation organizations such as WCC, CMC, CEC and The Wilderness Society and local quiet trail users have been involved in Bangs Canyon since the 1990s, but were not included in the process during these early steps. As a result, the proposed trails do not reflect the interests of quiet trail-users.

Let’s ask the BLM to set this plan aside until the BLM completes revision of its master plan for the whole Grand Junction area.  This master land use plan, called a Resource Management Plan or RMP, should be complete before the BLM makes a long term commitment to a new motorized route system in the Bangs Canyon area. Too many resources are at risk to proceed with this proposal.  Let’s get all the stakeholders together to make sure decisions reflect all user groups using the best available information to make these decisions.

Tell the BLM to put the brakes on this plan!  Start with this sample letter or send your own to:

Attn: Chris Pipkin, Recreation Planner
Grand Junction BLM Field Office
2815 H Road
Grand Junction, CO 81506

BLM_CO_GJ_Public_Comments@blm.gov

(Photo by Lee Gelatt.  Thanks to Colorado Mountain Club.)