Victory! State Parks Board Votes 5-0 for OHV Reform

On Friday, July 16, the Colorado State Parks Board voted 5-0 in favor of strong reforms to the OHV Grant Program. Our coalition of over 40 Colorado Sportsman, recreationist and conservationist organizations applaud the Colorado State Parks Board for making sweeping changes to the state's $4M annual OHV Grant Program at their Board meeting in Aurora.

These reforms come after a year-long campaign to reform the program. We encourage you to thank the State Parks Board for making this sound decision.

We view these changes as a balanced and necessary step in the evolution of a program that has grown ten-fold over the last ten years. As this program continues to grow it is critical that all aspects of responsible OHV management, especially law enforcement and habitat protection, are included in the grant funding and that more and more public land users are bought into the program.

The reforms to the OHV Program are a culmination of work, research, and negotiations over the past year. Since the fall of 2009, the State Parks board has held nearly one public meeting a month to discuss the issues at stake in the modification of the program.

State Parks Board members, State Trails Committee members, State Parks staff and Department of Natural Resources staff have heard from thousands of constituents across the state. The proposal is a reflection of the diverse views, observations, and input the public has had in this process over the past 10 months. Click here to send a Thank You.

The reforms approved today to the OHV Program, which is funded by an annual $25.25 registration fee on OHVs include the following:

• Law Enforcement, Education and Travel Management Plan Implementation (i.e. trail closures, barriers, signs, etc) will now become an official criterion and treated the same as any OHV trail maintenance grant, which has received the majority of funding in the past. The New Grant Selection Criteria will be:
  • Need and Benefit of proposed grant (25 pts)
  • Law Enforcement, Education & Travel Management Plan Implementation (25 pts)
  • Resource and Habitat Protection (25 pts)
  • Local Partnerships & Leverage (25 pts)
• An element of "Need" will now be incorporated into the "Benefit" criterion so that a variety of grant applicants (i.e. Enforcement, habitat protection, etc.) will be allowed to earn points vs. just awarding points to grant applications benefiting OHV recreationists.
• OHV Subcommittee Reconfiguration & Diversity: The OHV Subcommittee which reviews, scores and approves the $4M in grants annually will no longer be comprised of (10) OHV enthusiasts and instead the OHV Subcommittee will now be comprised of (8) motorized and (3) non-motorized and (1) diversified user for an 8-4 Subcommittee Composition for the 2011 grant cycle. This diversity of interests will allow for a more transparent and balanced review of grants.
• (1) Division of Wildlife Law Enforcement expert and (1) Wildlife or Biologist expert will now serve as ex-officio members of the Subcommittee. These experts who have never participated in the process and will be able to provide input on enforcement needs and help the OHV Subcommittee understand the impacts OHV use has on wildlife, hunting and habitat.
• The (2) state OHV trail coordinators (state employees) who have close ties with OHV Clubs will no longer be able to score the grants and now only Subcommittee members will be able to score grants.
• In order to promote transparency and prevent OHV Subcommittee members from subjectively giving artificially low or high scores to select grants, all scores given by each OHV Subcommittee member will be made public and shared with the entire Subcommittee instead of those scored remaining secret and averaged together with all other scores.
• The OHV Program will incorporate an "escalation procedure" that will allow any grant that does not receive OHV Subcommittee approval to be escalated and considered for funding by the State Trails Committee and/or the State Parks Board.

Please take a moment to send the State Parks Board a Thank You today.

Thank you for taking the time to make a difference.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

If you are unable to use the webform, you can email parksinfo@state.co.us with a message like the one below. Be sure to include your name and address when you sign your letter.
Dear State Parks Board,
Thank you for your leadership on the OHV Grant Program. The reforms you have approved are necessary and sensible and set the stage for better management of a program that is growing at an astounding pace. Ensuring law enforcement and habitat restoration are funded through this program makes sense. Additionally, we support the inclusion of diverse parties to the grant review subcommittee. Your efforts to support sound public land management policy at the state level is sincerely appreciated.
Sincerely,