cohvco news

www.cohvco.org Early WintEr 2012-131

2www.cohvco.org Early WintEr 2012-13

COHVCO NotesBy Scott Jones

ISSUES AT A GLANCEThis section of our Newsletter is designed

to highlight various issues where COHVCO is defending public access to public lands. This

glance at the issues is not an exhaustive list of the issues COHVCO is involved with, but rather is highlighting issues of statewide importance or interest.

RECENT WINS1. Representative Tipton held federal hearings concerning the nega-

tive impacts of Wilderness designations on Forest Health. Senate hear-ings were also held with similar input received from the public. COH-VCO hopes that these hearings highlight the negative impacts to the forests from Wilderness designations and allow for management that protects forest health and public motorized access to the proposal ar-eas.

2. COHVCO and partners obtained removal of the Forest Services new OHV manual that proposed numerous illegal and non-scientifical-ly based standards for OHV management. Management under these standards would have resulted in every trail being reanalyzed under a standard that presumed the trail was improper.

3. COHVCO and partners defeated the proposed expansion of the James Peak Wilderness area that would have closed numerous trails, roads and camping sites in the expansion area.

4. Trails users interests are recognized in Colorado Parks and Wild-life planning with the addition of a requirement of a working knowledge of trails related issues for new Parks and Wildlife commissioners.

LAWSUITS1. Bear Creek Trail - UpdatedContrary to recent news reports, this case has not been settled.

This lawsuit was served on the Forest Service and Colorado Springs utilities by the Center for Biological Diversity and others regarding management of trails in the vicinity of cutthroat trout habitat. This suit sought a blanket exclusion of trails from areas adjacent to streams with cutthroat trout. COHVCO and TPA have intervened and making sure the best resolution for motorized recreation is obtained.

2. Pike /San Isabel- The first suit was filed on January 31, 2011 by anti-access plaintiffs

including The Wilderness Society, Quiet Use Coalition, Wildlands CPR and Center for Native Ecosystems and Great Old Broads for Wilder-ness regarding the Pike and San Isabel Forests. COHVCO and TPA intervened with the Forest Service to defend this lawsuit which could impact every MVUM that has grandfathered existing usages. These defense expenses are being born solely by Colorado OHV advocacy groups. This case seeks to remove any trails that predated NEPA and were grandfathered in the creation of PSI MVUMs. The exact impact of this suit is yet to be clarified but this suit could impact trails such as the Blanca Peak 4wd trail.

This case is currently moving forward in the discovery phase of liti-gation.

3. Rico/West Dolores- A second suit involving MVUMs was filed regarding the Rico West

Dolores Area of the San Juan Forest. This case is being brought by Colorado Backcountry Hunters and Anglers and seeks closure of 14 trails which have long been open to motorized travel in the area known as the Alpine Triangle. COHVCO, TPA, Blue Ribbon Coalition, the San Juan Trail Riders and the Public Access Preservation Association have intervened to defend this matter with the Forest Service. Notwithstand-ing this long history of motorized usage, the plaintiff has moved for a preliminary injunction closing these trails before June 1, 2012. The motion for preliminary injunction was denied by the Court, allowing motorized recreation on these routes to continue.

4. State Parks Board Litigation- COHVCO and the TPA were forced to sue the Colorado State Parks

Board after there were numerous proposals to provide money paid for OHV registrations for grants that were outside the scope of authority of the State OHV statute. These illegal uses included funding municipal law enforcement that could be used for a variety of non-motorized ac-

tivities and maintenance of non-motorized trails and numerous open meeting law violations.

The District Court ruled against COHVCO on all issues, including those involving the open meetings law after the Parks Board admitted these violations. This decision was appealed and last week the appeals court confirmed the trial court ruling against COHVCO/TPA. We are currently exploring options regarding this decision.

Recreational usage issues and concerns1. Sage Grouse Habitat/Planning - COHVCO is involved in numerous grouse planning initiatives with

Federal, State and local agencies. The grouse is expected to be listed as endangered and the agencies are trying to avoid this listing. These at-tempts appear to be somewhat misguided as frequently these propos-als involve closing of possible habitat to recreation and trails. COHVCO is concerned about this as the Fish and Wildlife Service has repeatedly stated these uses do not impact the grouse. These plans avoid dealing with issues identified by the FWS as priority issues for the grouse.

2. Colorado Roadless Rule- COHVCO supports the Colorado Roadless rule as the Colorado Rule

provides significant flexibility to communities to allow for pine beetle mitigation and general fuels treatment. The Colorado Roadless rule continues to allow trails in Roadless areas, the maintenance and con-struction of these trails remains governed by travel management.

3. Hidden Gems Wilderness Proposal-The Hidden Gems Campaign has now morphed to a new phase as

Senator Udall is exploring Wilderness designations. The most recent version of Hidden Gems is seeking to designate 235,000 acres for prime recreational lands as Wilderness. Senator Udall is looking for public input regarding the proposal- especially the Pitkin county portions. His office is looking at a range of options and is seeking input from all users. Please contact his office to voice your concerns

Our basic concerns are the negative economic impacts from the proposed closures and the harmful impacts to forest health. The harm-ful forest health impacts of Wilderness were specifically noted in a Forest Service report to the Senators office recently. Representative Tipton has actively addressed basic forest health concerns in a series of House hearings throughout the country that specifically seek infor-mation on the negative impacts of Wilderness on forest health. Many of these same concerns were also voiced in Senate hearings in Colorado Springs with Senator Udall. COHVCO hopes this new information pro-vides a strong basis for opposing these Wilderness proposals.

4. San Juan Wilderness/Hermosa Watershed Proposal - While the recreational impacts of the San Juan Wilderness proposal

are somewhat limited, COHVCO is very concerned about the forest health impacts of the proposal. People do not want to recreate in a forest that is dead. We believe every possible step should be taken to avoid this situation and designation of these areas as Wilderness does not assist in resolving these concerns.

COHVCO is working with Senator Bennet’s Office regarding the newly proposed Hermosa Creek Watershed proposal, which includes a small Wilderness area, currently closed to motorized recreation. COH-VCO is hoping to gain statutory protection for trails outside the Wil-derness area as part of this process. These trails are currently in a recommended Wilderness area in the Forest Plan

5. OHV permits on plated vehiclesRefer to State Parks website for details at http://www.parks.state.co.us/OHVsandSnowmobiles/OHVPro-

gram/OHVRegistrations/Pages/OHVRegistrations.aspx6. OHV registration and titling proposal- updatedColorado Counties are looking at running legislation to permit ti-

tling and optional registration of OHV to allow use on county roads. COHVCO is already assisting the Commissioners and answering ques-tions and developing a program that benefits OHV users. Development of this legislation is in very preliminary stages but it appears that it may be very similar to previous legislation that was opposed by the counties. The counties appear to have serious concerns about lack of access for recreational usage and safety for users.

It is unclear if Rep. Priola will be running similar legislation. Stay tuned on this issue as your support will be needed in the future.

NOTES: CONTiNuEd ON pagE 3


COHVCO News Copyright © 2013 by the Colorado Off-Highway Vehicle Coali-tion is published by Boondocker Publishing at 311 Main Street, PO Box 400, Sundance WY 82729.

On the CoverPHOTO BY JEFF MOBERG

ENJOyiNg laST yEar’S SNOw NEar BuffalO paSS

advErtising information: 307-283-3411 or [email protected] BruNSON: Content Editor JEff MOBErg: Publisher STaN HOrNiNg: Pre-Press

COHVCO ContactsCO-CHairMaN Of THE

BOard/dirECTOr aT largEJohn Bongiovanni,

[email protected]

dirECTOr aT largEBruce Taylor, DirAt-

[email protected] aT largE

Lloyd Liebetrau, [email protected]

dirECTOr aT largEJohn Lane, DirAt-

[email protected]

CO-CHairMaN (puBliC laNd advOCaCy lEad)Scott Jones, DirCSA@

cohvco.org

dirECTOr, aTv rEprESENTaTivEJ a m i e W i l l i a m s ,

[email protected]

dirECTOr, COlOradO aSSN. Of 4wd CluBSJ i m C h a m b e r s ,

[email protected]

dirECTOr, aT largE/rrMMCRod Mead, DirRRM-

[email protected], rMEC

rEprESENTaTivEK r i s B r u n s o n ,

[email protected]

Corporate OfficersprESidENT

John Bongiovanni, [email protected]

TrEaSurErBrad Schwartz, Treasurer@cohvco.

orgSECrETary

VacantOpEraTiONS CONSulTaNT/COHvCO

MEMBErSHip/rENEwalSShannon Brunson, Membership@

cohvco.org COHvCO NEwS CONTENT EdiTOr

Submit articles to: Shannon Brunson, [email protected]

wEBSiTE OpEraTiONS MaNagErJanelle Kukuk, Webmaster@coh-

vco.orgfaCEBOOk

Mandy Black, [email protected]

COHvCO rafflE MaNagErKris Brunson, [email protected]

COHvCO fuNd raiSiNg MaNagErSJamie Williams, DirATV@cohvco.

org; John Lane, [email protected]

COHvCO EvENT MaNagErSJohn Lane, DirAtLarge3@cohvco.

org; Jamie Williams, [email protected]

COHVCO Area RepresentativesCENTral COlOradO

Chuck Ginsburg, [email protected]

frONT raNgE NOrTHRod Mead, NFrontRngArea@cohvco.

orgfrONT raNgE SOuTH

John Harris, [email protected]

frONT raNgE BlM raCVacant

NOrTH EaSTGene Illey, [email protected]

NOrTH CENTralRob Stickler, NCentArea@cohvco.

orgNOrTH wEST BlM raC

John Potter, [email protected]

NOrTH wESTJames B. Solomon, NWArea@coh-

vco.orgSOuTH EaST

VacantSOuTH CENTral

Chuck Burton, [email protected]

SOuTH wESTGary Wilkinson, SWArea@cohvco.

orgSOuTH wEST BlM raC

Ken Emory, [email protected]

wESTWalt Blackburn, WesternArea@

cohvco.org

StaffExECuTivE dirECTOr/lEgiSlaTiON lEad

Jerry Abboud, [email protected]

7. OHV registration number size increase- Various environmental groups have pushed a proposal to increase

the size of all registration numbers on all OHVs to the size of a car li-cense plate based on alleged law enforcement concerns. This proposal is being vigorously opposed by COHVCO as it will not work on the ground and is not supported by any research. This proposal is also op-posed by the state and federal agencies.

8. OHV FinesState Legislation is expected this year to continue existing levels of

fines imposed for violations of Wilderness boundaries and travel man-agement requirements. COHVCO is working to maintain current levels of fines for these violations but anti-access groups are pushing for sig-nificant increases in these fines including minimum mandatory fines of several hundred dollars for first offenders. This makes little sense.

9. EPA proposal to increase ethanol in gasolineThe EPA is attempting to increase minimum ethanol levels in all

motor fuels from the current 10% amount to a 15% maximum. While this seems like a minimal change, EPA testing indicates that small engines not designed for E15 fail almost immediately when it is used as a motor fuel. In addition to the failure of the motor, damage that results from E15 being used is not covered by manufacturer’s warran-ties. The motorized community is vigorously opposed to this change and we encourage you to contact your elected officials to voice your

opposition as well.10. Recreational input in state consultation with federal agen-

cies COHVCO is working strenuously to bring trails and recreation to

the table while the Division of Parks and Wildlife seeks an MOU of cooperation with the federal agencies, e.g., Forest Service and BLM. Wildlife has been at the table advising federal agencies forever and not usually in our member’s best interests. We want our Trails programs at the same table discussing our needs.

11. BLM Grand Junction Resource Management PlanRelease of a draft of this Plan is anticipated in the near future. We

will be alerting everyone to allow for your comments to be submitted.CO-

NOTES: CONTiNuEd frOM pagE 2

Board of Directors

Working with COHVCOto protect trail riding

in Colorado


The following is an editorial from a local Rider in the Springs talk-ing about the controversy over the Cutthroat Trout in Bear Creek. Re-printed from the Colorado Springs Gazette.

Our View: FISH CAN LIVE WITH BIKERS

Some save fish. Others fish for controversy.

Off-road motorcyclists pay an annual fee of $25.25 per bike to pay for trail enhancement and rehabili-tation. Last year, they paid $4.1 million for trail enhancements.

In the past few years, off-road cyclists paid for construction of seven bridges over the Bear Creek system west of Colorado Springs. The bridges keep cyclists, hikers and others from making contact with the water, reducing their ef-

fects on wildlife and habitat. Cy-clists use the trails, value the trails and pay to maintain them. Just as hunters maintain healthy wild-life populations and ecosystems, off-road vehicle owners generally help the wilderness. Off-road users joined members of Trout Unlim-ited in October to clean up trash, restore stream banks, plant native vegetation and install signs that encourage people to respect the en-vironment.

Here’s how environmental ac-tivists thank them. They shut them out, in the name of saving fish.

The Center for Biological Diver-sity sued the U.S. Forest Service last spring, asking the agency to ban motorized cycling on five Bear Creek trails. With the Forest Ser-vice eager to settle, a temporary ban took effect last week.

Closure will affect more than a fringe segment of society. Motor-

ized recreation is huge in Colorado. Based on figures from a study by the Louis Berger Group, for the Colorado Off-Highway Vehicle Co-alition, members of nearly 200,000 Colorado households participate annually in off-road vehicle recre-ation.

About 30,000 tourists visit Colorado each year for offroad ve-hicle activities. During 2007-08, when Berger Group conducted its research, off-road recreation in Colorado generated $784 million in sales, more than 10,000 direct jobs and $294 million in labor income. By most accounts, it’s a billion-dollar-a-year industry for Colorado that helps our economy and im-proves the wilderness.

Relatively new research indi-cates that a four-mile stretch of Bear Creek is home to the only ge-netically pure population of green-back cutthroat trout, a non-native species that was introduced to the area by settlers in the 1880s.

Long before anyone knew this, for more than 100 years, the fish survived recreational activity. It is only in recent years that off-road users created improvements that protect fish and riparian areas from

an array of activities, including hik-ing, nonmotorized mountain biking and horse riding.

If anything, and largely because of money paid by offroad vehicle users, the fish may be safer than ever.

Many environmentalists worry about small creatures for all the right reasons. In doing so, they bring out the best in humanity. They show that humans, at the top of the food chain, have compassion for smaller and weaker forms of life. It wasn’t activists and lawsuits that saved the wood duck from extinc-tion. Combined efforts of farmers, hunters, Boy Scouts and other wil-derness users saved the ducks by repairing and maintaining habitat while installing artificial nesting sites.

We don’t need another hyped wildlife crisis — think Preble’s jump-ing mouse — so that one element of society may exert control over another. Motorcycles are driven on land. Given the new bridges, they rarely make contact with water in Bear Creek. Barring some conclu-sive evidence that says motorcycles harm fish, a ban of off-road vehicles along Bear Creek goes too far.

Opinion


By Jerry abboudCOHvCO Executive director

Well, it goes something like this. For two years, Representative Kevin Priola has run a bill to allow a plated OHV to have limited, but guaranteed access to some of our county road systems in exchange for obeying the traffic code and having insurance and a driver’s license. It was absolutely opposed by the counties unless they received all the give me’s with no guarantee of any access.

Today, a county, city or the state can allow for OHVs on streets roads and highways under their jurisdiction without all the requirements. It is a Parks & Wildlife Commission Rule. Well, that was then and this is today. The counties are now em-ploying a whole new strategy and you should be aware of it.

Right now, Hinsdale, San Miguel, San Juan and Ouray Counties have filed a petition for rulemak-ing allowing those four counties to require a driver’s license and insurance (same as your auto policy). Problem is, these counties have had these very same ordinances on the books for 10 years and just now realize they had no authority to create such ordinances in the first place. People were illegally

ticketed and fined. Furthermore, what is the need to explain to the Commission that giving four coun-ties an exemption is a poor idea as it leaves us in the same inconsistent state we are in now.

Hell, it will continue to be for visitors from other states trying to know the law county by county. Un-less of course, the state you come from calls your OHV a motor vehicle in which case they go every-where a Colorado motor vehicle is allowed. So in-stead of seeking a way to create parity for their own citizens they seek to continue the disadvantage.

Most western states require a driver’s license and insurance so that is not unreasonable as they are operated on public streets and roads. What is fool-ish is any failure by the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission (CPW) to make this uniform for all cit-ies and counties. But from our perspective, this falls short because we get nothing in the way of guaran-teed access in exchange.

But this petition is just an effort to hedge a bet. Colorado Counties Inc. is drafting legislation that ironically will no doubt reflect Priola’s bill which has all the right stuff for uniform operation of OHVs on streets and roads except one; it will remain an opt in concept as it is now under the CPW’s statute. In short, riders will comply with the traffic code and insurance requirement, but are no better off than

they are now where the cities and counties can opt in street and road use and the public does not have to incur costs related to something for nothing.

Despite COHVCO’s ongoing efforts to explain to the political subdivisions our position which is simple; they get new regulatory power over OHVs and we should get a reasonable segment of roads to operate our vehicles on for access. We are talk-ing about rural/mountain roads with a speed limit of less than 45 mph and a maximum vehicle speed of 40 mph. It does not apply to the large cities and counties so they are excluded. In short, it is pretty much the Priola bill that the counties have stopped in the last two legislative sessions.

We all hope the counties will see us as an eco-nomic benefit, whether it’s for hunting, fishing, rid-ing or exploring. We hope the counties will view us as the responsible recreationists we are and forget the foolish, irrational and ignorant view of our sport the anti-access groups have tried to portray. Most of all, they should see us as their citizens and tax-payers who have a right to access and want to be partners not enemies.

By all means, however, be prepared to write your commissioners and legislators when the time comes. This will be an uphill battle all the way. We need our member’s support now more than ever.

Colorado Counties: Can they get on the same Page?

Following is an email concerning the Sportsman’s Heritage Act of 2012

December 5, 2012Senator Mark UdallAtt: Jill Ozarski Senator Michael BennetAtt: John WhitneyRe: Sportsmen’s Heritage Act of 2012Dear Ms. Ozarski and Mr. Whitney; Both of you are very familiar with the

history of the above Organizations, so we are avoiding a discussion of our history and missions of the Organizations. While our Organizations are primarily target-ing motorized access to public lands, a significant portion of our members are also active hunters and fisherman. The Organizations believe Sportsmen’s Heritage Act of 2012 (S. 3525) is a benefit to outdoor recreational users, but also has inadvertently cre-ated threats to public access. The Organizations be-lieve these impacts must be mitigated prior to adop-tion of this legislation. As such we ask you to review and amend §201, 204, 207, as these provisions are overly broad and will divert resources away from ac-tual management of issues and towards limiting ac-cess to lands instead. Many of these management issues simply have no relationship to the issue that is sought to be addressed.

The Sportsmen’s Heritage Act is very broad leg-islation that is the result of combining numerous other smaller pieces of legislation. The Heritage Act provides significant benefits to Sportsmen, such as funding for shooting ranges from Pittman Roberts money and Land and Water Conservation Funds and allowing regulation of ammunition and fish-ing tackle manufacture at the state level. As you are both aware, there functionally are no public shooting range opportunities on Federal lands in Colorado. This results in significant safety and resource con-cerns from unmanaged shooting on public lands, which should be addressed. While there are signifi-cant benefits from this legislation, the union of so

many individual bills has resulted in the inclusion of several provisions that could signifi-cantly negatively impact public ac-cess to public lands or direct federal monies away from issues that really are negatively impacting a resource issue.

Our first concern involves Title II Section 201 which would effectively create a new definition for “aquatic habitat.” The term is defined broadly and includes “any areas on which an aquatic organism depends, directly

or indirectly, to carry out the life pro-cesses of the organism, including an area used by the organism for spawning, incubation, nursery, rearing, growth to maturity, food supply, or migra-tion.” Additionally, the term includes areas adjacent to an aquatic environment that “serves as a buffer” or “protects the quality and quantity of water re-sources.” One could argue that all of the land our members ride on falls under this definition. This definition must be tailored so that the analysis area for planning has a direct relationship to the benefit conferred. Changing management of all watersheds to address some rather minimal concerns regarding fishing tackle makes little sense.

As I am sure you are aware, the USGS and Forest Service have routinely determined that most water quality issues in Colorado result from old mines that were abandoned and that remain open. This results in water entering the mine or tailings become toxic to adjacent waterways. We have to question if this is an issue that can be managed or included in a Sportsmen’s bill. Forest Service research and regu-lations have also concluded that the single largest threat to public watersheds and water supplies is poor forest health from the mountain pine beetle epidemic. Again, the Organizations must question if this impact can be resolved by a Sportsmen’s bill creating buffer zones. The Organizations believe this type of analysis will only lead to limited resources

being used to reanalyze issues that we are already aware do not have impacts on water quality.

Moreover, the Organizations oppose Sec. 204 and Sec. 207 because the bill mandates that the fed-eral Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service cooperate to “conserve” “aquatic habitat” as broadly defined in Sec. 201. This will impose broad restrictions on all BLM/USFS activities and be a pri-ority over the Federal Land Policy and Management Act’s multiple-use requirements.

These provisions create significant concern for our Organizations. Cutthroat trout management pro-vides a good example of why our Organizations are concerned about the long term implications of this standard. The Fish and Wildlife Service has clearly concluded the main reasons for the cutthroats de-cline were hybridization, competition with nonnative salmonids, and overharvest from the introduction of 750 million threats to the cutthroat under previ-ous management policies. The Organizations have to question if further analysis of these types of issues really are necessary for management of these wa-ters. The Organizations believe that further analysis will merely cloud management of these activities.

Additionally, Sec. 204 allows projects to be au-tomatically “approved” should the secretaries fail to respond to recommendations within 180 days. Besides allowing for automatic approvals, the bill delegates authority to the secretary to “promulgate such regulations” as “determine[d] to be necessary to carry out this subtitle” (Sec. 210).

If S. 3525 becomes law, as written, anti-access advocates and the administration could usurp con-gressional authority by administrative fiat concern-ing the disposition of public lands. This bill has far-reaching implications because the BLM/USFS manages millions of acres of public land nation-wide.

Sincerely,Scott JonesCO-Chairman COHVCOVice President - Colorado Snowmobile Assoc.


Honoring a Fallen Soldier-George Gangler

By John BongiovanniCOHvCO Chairman

George Gangler, veteran in the fight against public land closure and valued COHVCO ally, passed away at his home on Sunday night Decem-

ber 2nd after battling prostate cancer. When describing the life of someone recently deceased, there is a ten-

dency to distort reality…sort of like fish stories. Mean people are suddenly remembered as good-natured, self-centered people as generous, sinners as saints. Positive traits are exaggerated, negative ones swept under the rug.

It is not necessary to stretch the truth with George Gangler. What you saw was what you got. Anyone who took adequate time to really get to know George realized that the inner George was 100% genuine. He was good hearted and a very caring individual. He tried to find the humor in everything and he always had a very positive outlook on life.

George’s words could provoke thought, action, resentment, whatev-er. George never left anyone just feeling neutral about what he said. The phrase “Tell us how you really feel!” was never more true. Everyone knew George’s heart. It was always just right out there. You always knew where you stood with him, because he would tell you, without hesitation, exactly

where he was. He refused to play games with people, and he didn’t have time for nonsense, politics or petty disputes.

He just couldn’t do it any differ-ent.

What he DID have time for was fighting for continued open public access on every motorcycle and ATV trail he could find and he invited many friends and family along to enjoy the trails and also to teach them how to be better trail advocates. Although he always made sure everyone had a good time, he wasn’t bashful about strongly encouraging them to fight public land closures…he just couldn’t do it any different.

I was personally involved in many trail rides hosted by George. There was never a worry about anyone being left behind or lost. He had an un-canny sense of direction and always had a strategy and contingency plan in the event problems arose. I suspect part of this came from the Marine Corps influence. He was fiercely patriotic and also extremely well read on military strategy. That military training was obvious on many occasions.

There was always time at rest stops to talk about the privilege of rid-ing trails and how easily that privilege could be lost. George also was able to sense when the group was tired and made sure everyone had enough to drink and a quick energy snack before heading out. Safety first at all times.

He was attuned in other ways as well. On group rides, I would usually take the sweep position at the end of the pack, which means that I some-times would have to babysit unskilled riders who constantly speed up and slow down, or who fall back so far that the rest of the group vanishes from sight. I usually didn’t mind, but now and then when somebody who should know better rides like that, it drives me crazy. George would always sense when I was getting frustrated, and at the next stop he’d say, “Why don’t I ride at the back for a while and give you a break?” He didn’t make a big deal out of it, but he helped keep rides fun for all of us in addition to teach-ing us how to be better trail advocates.

I would trust my life to his judgment and knowledge. I cannot say the same for many other riding partners…or otherwise.

We have all lost a true soldier in the fight to keep public lands open to motorized access. I have lost a true friend. I ask that all of you honor George Gangler’s life by stepping up your own involvement in the fight against public land closures. It is what he would have wanted…and he would not have been bashful about telling you…he just couldn’t do it any different.

George believed we CAN make a difference if enough people rise to the challenge. If you feel compelled to step up to the fight against public land closures, contact me at [email protected]. There is plenty we can do to make a difference. I will tell you like it is, George would have wanted it that way.


The Road Is Calling.

Answer Well.The Best Rides. The Best Rallies.

AMA Kawsaki Vulcan Vaquero Flash

Tours on Facebook (Facebook.com/

AmericanMotorcyclist). AMA Kawasaki

Vulcan Vaquero Grand Tours.

All Riders Welcome.

What Are You Waiting For?

AmericanMotorcyclist.com/Riding/Street/EventsandSeries

AMAKawasaki_PremierTouringSeries.indd 1 6/15/12 1:48 PM

Meet Jim Chambers

Meet Jamie WilliamsJamie Williams is a newly ap-

pointed Board Member as COH-VCO’s ATV Representative. Jamie was born and raised in Central Il-linois. Jamie’s wife is Christy, and he has two sons, one daughter and four grandchildren. Jamie has worked in the motorcycle industry for 39 years.

Jamie started his motorcycle ca-

reer working for a dealer in Chilli-cothe, Illinois then moved to San Diego to work for a dealer there. Kawasaki hired him to be a Dis-trict Sales Manager in 1983. Jamie was in the Northwest for a couple of years, Northern California for 21 years and has been in Colora-do Springs now for more than six years. His current territory is all of Colorado and a couple of dealers in Wyoming and New Mexico.

Jamie was very active with land

use issues in California, serving as a board member and Vice President of AMA’s District 36 for many years. He was also a member of the North Bay Motorcycle Cub, serving as the president for several years. Jamie is a lifetime member of the AMA and the Blue Ribbon Coalition and cur-rently a member of the CMTRA in Colorado Springs.

Jamie’s current hobbies are trail and street bike riding, playing pool and watching races. He has an ATV to ride and plow snow with and en-joys riding a snow machine usually once or twice a year.

Jamie looks forward to serving with COHVCO and his friends to protect and preserve our rights for access to all our public lands.

New FacesJim Chambers is a new addition to the

Board of Directors of COHVCO as the 4WD Representative. Jim and Karen Chambers and their daughter Angela moved to Parker, Colo-rado from Eagle River, Alaska in 1990. Their daughter is grown, married and they have two grandsons, ages 4 and 9. Jim retired from the wage-earning workforce in January of 2012.

Jim is a licensed Mechanical Engineer, grad-uating from Colorado State University in 1969 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Much of his career has been in engineering, construc-tion, and project management positions at re-mote sites around the world, including 26 de-ployments to Antarctica. Jim has been to all seven continents. Karen has been able to join him on five of the seven continents.

Jim and Karen are avid OHV enthusiast, pre-viously owning dirt bikes, ATVs, snow machines and 4X4 vehicles. They currently own a 2005 Jeep Wrangler 4X4 and two Honda street bikes. They have been members of the Mile-Hi Jeep Club for the past five years; Jim is currently the Chairman of the Mile-Hi Jeep Club Land Use Committee. They have previously been mem-bers of the Vegas Valley 4-Wheelers.

Concerns over the shrinking access to OHV terrain have prompted a more active role on Jim’s part in making sure that organizations such as Mile-Hi Jeep Club and COHVCO are successful in their efforts to educate the pub-lic, government land managers and politicians on the positive aspects of OHV access to public lands.


14th Annual Awesome Autumn Ride

PHOTO BY MainJET

ridErS ENJOy a BOx luNCH NEar Tarryall rivEr STOp.

PHOTO BY SuSan CORBETT

By MainjetThe end-of-September celebration of Colora-

do’s annual foliage color riot found 49 lucky in-vited guests lined up at the Sprucewood Inn near Sedalia ready for the two-day ride. The sponsor of the ride changed again this year. The Ram-part Range Motorcycle Management Committee, a group with a long history of motorcycle-friend-ly activities to their credit, took over this year after the ride was in hiatus for a year.

The route was the same as when the ride originated here in years past. Ride honcho Corey Corbett said sixteen of the group had completed the ride from this place before so the terrain was new to most of the riders.

After a paid-up breakfast of burritos and cof-fee, Corey gave the riders routing info and a little talk on safety during the ride. He said this is not a race but a nice fall ride through the mountains to Salida. He urged everyone to buddy-up with someone to ride with for the day. Route instruc-tions in written and strip chart form for each day were included in the rider’s goodie bag is-sued that morning at signup. My old enduro jart chart holder worked perfect for the strip chart.

The first days ride was about 125 miles to Sal-ida and started by going south and east through the Sprucewood trail system. Most riders rode dual-sport bikes like KLRs, DRs, XRs, KTMs and such. There was one stripped-down BMW that appeared especially dirt-worthy. Some dirt bikes had been modified for the illusion of street-le-gal. During the ride years earlier I rode a Kawi KDX220. All worked just fine on the ride.

The weather started out cool, typical for Colorado on a beautiful early fall morning. Af-ter getting up to Rampart Range Road on some whooped-out trails, we wandered about for a while before heading south towards Woodland Park. The route then took us west down across CO67 and into the 717 trail system of the Pikes Peak District of the Pike National Forest. The weather was warming up and the riders settled down to a leisurely pace to enjoy the country.

Some of the devastation of the Hayman fire was visible when we turned south at Red Rocks.

We arrived at the Thunderbird Inn in Floris-sant west of Woodland Park on US24 in time for lunch. I chose a BBQ sandwich and iced tea and was set for the rest of the day. We were kicking tires and trading stories among ourselves when several riders pulled in late and covered in mud. We wondered about what route they took as we were all on forest service trails/roads and only saw one or two creek crossings that didn’t rise above our wheel axles. Some guys have all the fun.

After passing south of the 11 Mile reservoir, we went through the town of Guffey where they held the chicken-fly contest for many years and whose recent elected mayor is a black Labrador retriever. After arriving in Salida, we had time to quench our thirst before going for a short walk to a lo-cal restaurant for dinner. The trailer had arrived with our overnight bags so we could change and clean up a little. Same routine for breakfast and another rider’s meeting before heading out on Sunday morning.

Sunday going straight north we went through an area called Aspen Ridge, where the locals claim the aspen trees are all connected by the roots making it the largest single organism in the world. Even though I’ve heard that claim for another aspen patch near Steamboat Springs, it was sure scenic and fun to ride through. Again the weather was perfect for us near Salida and up to the Tarryall River stop for a box lunch.

Trail guides Jim Peasley and Glenn Graham were occasionally visible along the way. This year they didn’t come around a corner and find me lying on the ground and have to pick me up. Near the end of the ride about 2:30 we got a rain shower to cool us off but by the time I pulled in to the Sprucewood Inn I was mostly dry again. Such is Colorado riding. At the wrap-up at the Sprucewood Inn we had a final gathering for swapping stories followed by awards from the staff. Virtually everyone won a door prize. This ride is becoming one of my favorite rides of the year because of the good roads/trails and for meeting new riders and seeing friends made be-fore. The staff worked hard to keep us safe and to make it a great experience.

parTiCipaNTS Of THE 14TH aNNual awESOME auTuMN ridE.


Thoughts about what is happen-ing with the management of our pub-lic lands and the push by the radi-cal environmentalists in a relentless effort to take away our right to en-joy our freedom to explore our back country by OHV.....edited by James Solomon

Quote from Chief deaf Man, Miami Tribe 1813:

After being pushed off their home lands in the Ohio Valley and having their villages burned and their crops destroyed by the US Army Chief Deaf Man is quoted as lamenting the plight of his people:

“Prior to the White Man, wher-ever the river went we could go. Where the deer were, we could hunt them. From a hilltop we could look all around, and hear the Master of Life say, ‘My Children, go wherever you please, and live long and live well, and be free.

But now the white man (US Gov) says, ‘There is a line on the earth. Do not step across it because this land is mine. And the line grows closer and tighter. We are penned in. Soon the lines will cross our graves, and the white man will own our dead bones. Only the wind in the sky remains free from this gov-ernment”.

There is something to Chief Deaf Man’s quote that touches me and is similar to what is happening with the restricted use of motorized rec-reation on public lands? We see this and feel the pressure every day as we witness the decisions made by our public land managers and the leaders of our country. Our public lands belong to all Americans but it appears as if a small radical group has great influence on our decision makers.

It is time to stand up for what we feel is our rights to enjoy our pub-lic lands in the way that we choose to recreate. Not that we can run rampant across the land but we do have the right to develop trails that will allow us to explore new terrain in a manner that does not destroy what we value.

Scan this code to learn more

about COHVCO

COHVCO ATV Raffle a SuccessBy kris BrunsonCOHVCO Raffle Chairman

Many think of success as a term only used when there is a financial benefit. While that is the most com-mon assumption, I like to think of it as more than that. For instance, not only was COHVCO able to raise a few bucks in this year’s ATV raffle, we signed up many new members and met hundreds more from our booth at events where we sold tickets throughout the year. This also helps increase awareness of the public land access issues which are encountered daily. With this type of outreach, we can increase our volunteer

base and do more in the battle to keep other organizations from clos-ing down OUR lands which we enjoy!

The winner this year was J.D. Woofter from Colorado Springs. Congratulations to J.D.!!!

On a side note, we understand in these economic times it is tough to make large donations, but please consider helping out with your time if you can. We are in desperate need of volunteers; even just help-ing with small tasks from time to time would go a long way. Please contact me or someone from the board (listed in the newsletter) if you are interested.

Many thanks to all who helped with the running of the booths and the raffle this year. A big thank you to SUN Honda/Kawasaki/Polar-is/KTM and Kawasaki for giving COHVCO a substantial discount on the Prairie 360 4x4. Also, our hats off to Trailer Source Inc. of Wheat Ridge, CO and Trail CO of Butte, NE who donated the new Tilt-bed aluminum trailer that was a substantial part of the raffle prize – all in an effort to raise funds to keep our trails open. We couldn’t have done it without all of you!!!

COHvCO rafflE wiNNEr, J.d. wOOfTEr MaTCHES HiS TiCkET STuB wiTH THE wiNNiNg TiCkET HEld By JOHN BONgiOvaNNi, COHvCO CHairMaN.

J.d. aNd SON wiTH HiS NEw aTv BEiNg CONgraTulaTEd By JOHN.

Mark kiTE, gENEral MaNagEr aT SuN, J.d. aNd SON, JOHN BONgiOvaNi aNd STEvE SCHErSCHligT, SalES MaNagEr aT SuN.


Change of Address?Please notify us

of your change of address by com-pleting this form and returning it to the address be-low.

Mail TO:COHvCO

pO BOx 113BrigHTON CO 80601

1. Attach an OLD address label here:(OR iF YOu dOn’T HavE a laBEl, PRinT YOuR Old addRESS)

NameStreet Apt. #City ST ZIP

1. Print your NEW address here:NameStreet Apt. #City ST ZIP

daTE Of MOvE

By James Solomon Northwest Colorado COHvCO rep.

BLM Resource Management Plan and Travel Management Plan:

The RMP/TMP is due for release in early 2013. As this becomes available we will need people who can commit to the commenting process. Please consider getting involved with this important pro-cess. Please contact James Solomon at [email protected] for further information and to get involved. We will be offering classes on “how to make effective comments”.

NFD Trail Work Day:We had 20 participants for the North Fruita

Desert work day on Saturday, October 20. The majority of the participants were from the Book-cliff Rattlers Motorcycle Club. This was a great showing for this trail signage project and it was a beginning for developing a partnership with the BLM. We signed about 20+ miles of single track trail that will allow visitors to the area to follow a well marked trail. Maps will be made available at the staging area. Thanks to all who participated in this project. Special thanks to Frank Lillo, BRMC for all the work he did to put this together.

DeBeque Castle Rock Trail & GVTA (Grand Valley Trails Alliance) News:

The GVTA has recently established a working group consisting of members from all the user groups that have interest in our public land man-agement decision making process. The group is currently working to develop a management rec-ommendation for the DeBeque area. This recommendation will be pre-sented to the GJ BLM office in an effort to assist the BLM staff in making a better decision as to how the land will be managed long term for sus-tainable recreation.

The landscape in the DeBeque BLM area is unique and will require

special consideration in forming a management plan. Currently, there is trail building going on by user groups that will create major problems for the progress of future trail development in cooperation with the land managers. For those riders who are participating in the development of these social trails, it is imperative that this activity cease. The motorcycle riders and ATV riders need to help stop this destructive activity. If you observe riders using trails other than the Castle Rock Trail system, please mention how detrimental this activity is. We are only creating more prob-lems for ourselves through trail development that does not follow the BLM guidelines. Also, keep in mind No Riding in the Burn Area!

“THE PEOPLE WHO SHOW UP AND PARTICIPATE RUN THE WORLD!”

Please submit any comments to:James Solomon at [email protected]

PHOTO BY JaMES SOlOMOn.

dEBEQuE CaSTlE rOCk Trail ridE: Millard aTkiNS, diCk SOuTHwEll, walT grEEN, CHarliE SwEET, & JaMES SOlOMON.

PHOTO BY JaMES SOlOMOnMikE JONES, BlM raNgEr, Cap kuNEy, walT grEEN.

NW Colorado Quarterly Progress Report


COHVCO’s Biggest SupportersThank you very much for supporting COHVCO and our treasured outdoor experiences

Summit: Donations of $5000 or more in a 12-month periodDavid Pierce Rocky Mountain Adventure Riders Inc. Trails Preservation Alliance

Timberline: Donations of $500-$4999 in a 12-month periodApex/Mike Stokes and Doyne BrunerA.W. “Pops” Luedtke/Rick Luedtke and Fam-

ily Bookcliff Rattlers Motorcycle ClubBrad YoungBuena Vista ATV Historical Color TourColorado 500 Colorado Association of 4WD ClubsColorado Gold Rush Riders/Steve WidenerColorado Off-Road Championship SeriesColorado Snowmobile AssociationDaniel Bartolucci

David AndressDirt Riders of ColoradoFMCA 4-Wheelers Frametwisters Motorcycle ClubHeart of the Rockies Snowmobile ClubHigh Rocky Riders Off Road ClubJames RocksJeff Slavens/Slavens RacingMichael CurtisMotorcycle Trail Riding AssociationRampart Range Motorized Management Com-

mitteeRichard and Diana RatliffRising Sun 4WD Club of ColoradoRocky Mountain Enduro CircuitRob StewartRocky Mountain ATV/Josh BowmanRocky Mountain Enduro CircuitSan Juan Trail RidersStephen Widener Terry J PeavlerTrail Ridge Runners 4WD ClubZapata Seed Company

Mountain: Donations of $50-$499 in a 12-month periodArne GudheimBen RushBill ConlonBill Pando Bob HamiltonBrett PooleBruce MorrisonCarl RobertsCasey ColbertCatherine YogerstCharlie EllerChris Carter/Motion ProChris RawsonClive HellerColorado Blizzards Snowmobile

ClubDale TischmakDan JenningsDan NelsonDan PaxtonDan RossDan TibbettsDaniel StromDave KuhnyDavid LabarrDonald LorenzenDon Waddill

Douglas FolkEd DelaneyEric Krall Eric Elson (Rockfrogs 4-Wheel-

ing Club)Forrest HobbsGary MastersGary SedilioGene Bilderback (ADV)George GlinatsisGeorge McMahonGlen PaulsGordon SallasdayGrand Prix MotorsportsJack HilbertJames GeidelJames MorrisonJames NoteboomJames SolomonJed JohnsonJeff HumphreyJerry PanekJerry & Judith SibleyJim CampbellJim MackenzieJo TeagueJohn Corliss

John GordonJohn KennedyKeith BoyleKeith ThompsonKeith VaughnKen FloreyKevin and Diane KaneKevin Geiger (Colorado 4-Wheel-

ing Club)Kurt WeberL. Dennis HumphreyLarry GrayLaurie DeffenbaughLee CooperMalcolm Smith Adventures on

behalf of Dennis HeitzmanMark SeilerMichael HallMichael ReegMichael SmithMike and Kathy ShoemakerNorman WellsPatrick McGrathPeter HughesPhil BowenPublic Access Preservation As-

soc.

Randall EngstromRandall FeuersteinRandy BrightRichard RoseneRichard SavalaRobert AndersohnRobert DombroweRobert LeBrunRobert MessierRocky GentryRod MeadRonda YeagerSkip & Mary HarutunStan SimpsonSteve VanattaSteven DoughertySteven SchiffSteven SmileyStory LeavesleyTimothy TutagTom ClarkTom TompkinsTony CooperTrig BaskiWayne FrickeWayne McFetridge

BECauSE Of THE MulTiplE iNCOME STrEaMS, iT iS diffiCulT TO ENSurE aCCuraCy iN THiS SECTiON. plEaSE CONTaCT SHaNNON BruNSON aT [email protected] if yOu fEEl yOur CONTriBuTiONS HavE BEEN OvErlOOkEd.

Do Your Part! Help Protect Our Sport — Join COHVCO Today!

Date o New Member o RenewalNamePhoneStreet Apt. #

City ST ZIPemail adderss

MakE CHECkS payaBlE TO CHvCO o viSa o MaSTErCard o diSCOvEr o aMEriCaN ExprESS

Credit card #Expiration dateBilling address

Signature

Mail TO: COHvCOpO BOx 113, BrigHTON CO 80601

COHvCO MEMBErSHip iNdividual - 1 yEar $2500

iNdividual - 2 yEarS $4000

CluB - 1 yEar $10000

BuSiNESS - 1 yEar $10000

dONaTiON TOTal

COnTRiBuTiOnS, GiFTS and duES TO THE COaliTiOn aRE nOT Tax dEduCTiBlE unlESS iT iS a lEGiTiMaTE BuSinESS ExPEnSE. THEY SuPPORT OuR advOCaCY and lOBBYinG EFFORTS. YOuR MEMBERSHiP duES inCludE a $1000 SuBCRiPTiOn TO THE COaliTiOn’S nEwSlETTER.

The Colorado Off-Highway Vehicle Coalition (COHVCO) was formed in 1987 by leaders from the ATV, Four Wheel Drive, Motorcycle and Snowmobile communities as a colaition to protect your right to enjoy your public land!

A special thank you to businesses that support COHVCO by donating prizes at OHV events:

Acerbis Apex Sports

Fay Myers Motorcycle WorldFlexxbars

Offroadchampions.com


By James SolomonNorthwest Colorado COHvCO rep.

The 1/4 Throttle Motorcycle Club was formed to allow senior riders a chance to get off the sofa and experience our great public lands with a group of similar minded individuals. The only requirement for membership is to be 60 or over and still able to hold your bike upright.

The trail rides that we do are less challenging than the younger set and many times we will change our itin-erary if the going gets too difficult. We ride at a slower pace and take many breaks to share additional war sto-ries.

We prefer to have a couple of younger riders along just in case we need help with a downed bike or a dif-ficult section. We try to carry oxygen for the higher el-evation rides and always pack a six pack of “Five Hour Energy” drink to ensure that we get back to the staging area. Ride leaders can change frequently because of loss of memory as to what direction to take at an intersec-tion.

Currently, we meet for breakfast every other Wednes-day. These are great get-togethers that allow sharing of past experiences that usually involve life threatening situations. We welcome any and all new comers and if you are interested in joining our club please contact James Solomon at [email protected]

PHOTO BY JaMES SOlOMOn

1/4 THrOTTlE CluB MEMBErS gETTiNg SOME ExErCiSE: diCk SOuTHwEll, walT grEEN, CHarliE SwEET, & Millard aTkiNS.

1/4 Throttle Motorcycle Club Forms in the Grand Junction Area

Join The AMA Or Renew Your Membership...

Win A Husky!Join the AMA or renew your membership between March 1, 2012, and Dec. 31, 2012, and you will automatically be entered to win a 2011 Husqvarna TC449!

To renew, please visit AmericanMotorcyclist.com, or call 800 AMA-JOIN. No purchase necessary. For complete rules, please visit AmericanMotorcyclist.com/Membership/RenewSweeps_Rules

Winner to be selected and announced Jan. 15, 2013.2011 Husqvarna TC449

Husky_Join_or_RenewRaffle.indd 1 10/5/12 10:26 AM

Working with COHVCOto protect trail riding

in Colorado


Clearing trail

PHOTO BY STEvE CHaPEl

gary pENNay aNd JOHN yuriCk, TwO MEMBErS frOM THE wESTErN SlOpE aTv aSSOCiaTiONS Trail paTrOl ClEar TrEES frOM SilvEr SpruCE aTv TrailS iN OCTOBEr.

www.husqvarna-motorcyclesna.com

Husqvarna is proud to sponsor the 2012 AMA National

Dual-Sport Series

0612_Husqvarna Dual Sport logo fix.indd 1 4/19/12 9:05 AM

The Road Is Calling.

Answer Well.The Best Rides. The Best Rallies.

AMA Kawsaki Vulcan Vaquero Flash

Tours on Facebook (Facebook.com/

AmericanMotorcyclist). AMA Kawasaki

Vulcan Vaquero Grand Tours.

All Riders Welcome.

What Are You Waiting For?

AmericanMotorcyclist.com/Riding/Street/EventsandSeries

AMAKawasaki_PremierTouringSeries.indd 1 6/15/12 1:48 PM

cohvco news

Documents

issues cohvco

management of trails

numerous trails

san juan forest

forest health

san juan trail

public access

ohv management