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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 26, 2007

Snowy Range Travel Management Plan Opens
Roadless Area to Off-Road Vehicles
Conservation Groups, Local Residents Blast Dirtbike Trail in Middle Fork Nonmotorized Area

LARAMIE – A dirtbike trail approved by the Forest Service in the newly released Snowy Range Travel Management Plan drew heavy fire from conservationists and nonmotorized recreationists. The Travel Management Plan is of such a controversial nature that the Forest Service divided it into two decisions. The first Decision created 92 miles of new off-road vehicle trails while closing 292 miles of illegally-created routes to reduce damage to the environment. This decision was seen as a reasonable balance of uses by the groups. The second Decision is far more controversial, amending the Medicine Bow Forest Plan to convert a Summer Nonmotorized area north of Albany to year-round Motorized. Specifically, this amendment approves nearly six miles of dirtbike trail in a non-motorized management area, the Middle Fork Roadless Area.

There are currently over 2,500 miles of motorized roads and trails on the Medicine Bow, and the Travel Management Plan adds 92 miles of off-road vehicle trails. But only about one-fourth of the Forest is designated for quiet recreation under the new Forest Plan. “Given that the vast majority of the Forest was already designated for motorized use under the Forest Plan, there's no excuse for the Forest Service to cram motorized use into areas they committed to quiet backcountry uses,” said Duane Short, Native Species Program Director for Biodiversity Conservation Alliance.

“Introducing dirtbikes into the roadless backcountry results in noise and pollution that destroys the experience for everyone else,” added Laramie resident Dave Perry. “If the Forest Service can’t enforce its existing rules and regulations for off-road vehicles, then how can they justify moving motorized use into areas designated for quiet recreation?”

Off-road vehicle use was by far the single most controversial issue in the recent Forest Plan revision. “Intrusions of the noisy and destructive bikes will interfere with wildlife and those who seek quiet while in the wilderness,” remarked Martha Martinez Del Rio, President of the Medicine Bow Chapter of the Sierra Club. “The new travel management plan is a tragically sad day for users of this beautiful public land. The revised plan opens previously non-motorized areas to dirtbikes in violation of commitments in the 2003 Forest Plan to keep roadless areas free of vehicles.  Dirtbike and other vehicles should be restricted to previously designated areas, and the Forest Service should honor its previous commitment as well as respect quiet recreational use and wildlife protection.  This is an appallingly disappointing action by the Forest Service.”

“As a hiker, skier and camper, I’ve come to appreciate the very few places where one can escape the chaos,” added Driese. “Gnawing away at these places as has been approved in the recent amendment to the Medicine Bow Resource Management Plan is taking us in the wrong direction, and this amendment should be overturned.”

“We deserve to have unique areas in the Med Bows set aside for quiet enjoyment,” said Bob Needles, owner of All-Terrain Sports in Laramie. “Wyoming already caters to motorized vehicles in many other parts of the state. The Medicine Bow Forest Service should resist giving in to the will of the outspoken groups who lobby for more access to off-road vehicles.”

Roadless areas like the Middle Fork provide important security habitats for elk and other sensitive wildlife. “Putting a dirtbike trail through some of the last nonmotorized terrain that is left shows a contempt for the needs of native wildlife,” added Short. “The Forest Service had designed a perfectly reasonable alternative route for dirtbike riders that avoided the lands designated for nonmotorized use, and for some unfathomable reason they abandoned this attempt at balance.”

“As a scientist that works with spatial data, I’ve seen maps of roads in Wyoming that resemble a spider web of two-tracks, with most of the state easily accessed by vehicle,” Ken Driese, a GIS scientist at the University of Wyoming. “While off-road vehicle use may be a valid in some areas, the scales in Wyoming have been tipped too far toward more roads, and away from preserving quiet, roadless places where people and wildlife can enjoy peace and quiet.”

“The Forest Service must stop encouraging illegal creation of trails on public lands; opening up additional areas to wildlife harassment, erosion, and other degradation is bad management,” concluded Dave Waggoner, a Laramie resident and quiet user of the Medicine Bow’s Snowy Range. “The Snowy Range is riddled with roads, unfortunately, and should have fewer roads, not more.”