18th Annual Backcountry Bash: Save the Date!

Believe it or not, it's time to mark your calendars for the 18th Annual Backcountry Bash!
The Bash is CMC's largest fundraiser, and all the proceeds benefit BSI's conservation and travel management planning. 

Planning is in the early stages, but we expect - as always - that there will be great food and drink, a fun atmosphere for viewing the lastest ski movies, a tremendous silent auction and live auction full of cool winter gear, and the inspiring company of BSI members, volunteers and staff. Hundreds of people attended last year's event, had a great time, and helped raise $20,000 for backcountry advocacy.

2010's Backcountry Bash will be held on the evening of Saturday, November 13. 

Tickets will be available soon.

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,

End the Snowmobile Exclusion!

BSI's partner group, Winter Wildlands Alliance, has created a comprehensive petition to the Department of Agriculture to overturn the 2005 Travel Management Rule's exemption of snowmobiles from enforcement regulations. 

Currently, snowmobiles are not restricted to certain trails and areas like other backcountry motorized vehicles are, even though snowmobiles are clearly defined as off-road vehicles in the ORV Executive Orders (11644 and 11989) that the 2005 Rule is supposed to implement. CMC, of course, has signed on to the petition.

Winter Wildlands Alliance has good info on the executive orders and legal framework here, and more general resources here.

Snodgrass Protected!

Last week, Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell has upheld two lower level decisions protecting Snodgrass Mountain from an ill-planned ski area expansion. Crested Butte Mountain Resort may yet litigate the Forest Service Chief's decision, but it will have a high hurdle to overcome if it does. Read the full story at the Summit Voice or the Denver Post.
 
As Matt Reed from Crested Butte-based High Country Citizen's Alliance wrote, "This is a great day for Snodgrass Mountain and the people who care so much about it." 

Reed points out several highlights of the decision:

1. “The analysis in this appeal record, which appropriately addressed only the proposal under consideration, does not adequately support a suitability determination for any downhill skiing on Snodgrass Mountain. Such a determination should only be made through the land management planning process.”

2. “A management emphasis on downhill skiing for Snodgrass Mountain in the GMUG Forest Plan does not obligate the Forest Service to provide that opportunity. If changes in physical, social or economic conditions lead to a reassessment of suitability for a particular resource or opportunity, it is the responsibility of the Forest Supervisor to prepare an amendment to the Forest Plan.”

3. “The agency’s current schedule for land management plan revisions calls for the GMUG to update a notice of intent to prepare a forest plan revision in fiscal year 2012 and to complete the revision by fiscal year 2014. The change to the boundary of Management Area 1B that was the subject of [Pena’s] instruction could be included as part of the scheduled GMUG forest plan revision, but does not itself warrant initiation of a revision because it does not affect overall goals or uses for the entire National Forest.”

4. “I am amending the instruction to the GMUG Forest Supervisor to state: I am instructing the Forest Supervisor to fulfill the requirements of 36 CFR 251.54(e)(3) by providing guidance to the Appellant on how they should submit a proposal to provide downhill skiing on Snodgrass Mountain that the authorized officer would find acceptable and consistent with the Forest Plan. If no such alternative exists for downhill skiing on Snodgrass Mountain that is consistent with the Forest Plan, the GMUG Forest Supervisor is instructed to apply the direction in FSM 1926.5 and 1926.6 to consider whether a change to the Forest Plan is needed to reflect current suitability determinations for Snodgrass Mountain and, if so, to determine the most appropriate time and means for changing Forest Plan guidance.”

5. “The Forest Supervisor appropriately applied the screening criteria to CBMR’s proposal. The purpose of screening is to eliminate proposed uses that are unsuitable and to save the proponent and the Agency the time and expense of conducting environmental analysis of proposals that will be rejected on other grounds.”

6. “The record shows that the Forest Service repeatedly advised CBMR that evidence of general community support for the Snodgrass proposal was necessary before the proposal would be accepted as an application and subjected to environmental analysis. The comments received by the Forest Service provide no evidence of general community support or a trend toward general support for expansion. To the contrary, the more than 500 e-mails and letters sent to the Forest Service between 2007 and 2009 demonstrate that the local community is divided on the proposed Snodgrass expansion.”

Thank you and congratulations to all of you who have submitted comments during this process of decion-making and appeals.