Forest Service, local environmentalists settle four-year lawsuit

The U.S. Forest Service has agreed to re-evaluate about 500 miles of roads for motorized vehicle use in the Pike-San Isabel National Forests of southern Colorado, under a settlement with environmental groups.

The settlement, accepted Monday, also requires the USFS to consult with Colorado Parks and Wildlife to determine whether immediate changes are necessary to protect deer and elk.

According to an earlier report, the USFS would consider closing up to 500 miles of affected roads. However, the Trails Preservation Alliance, a co-defendant in the lawsuit, said only short spurs connected to existing roads face possible closure.

The settlement is the result of a 2011 lawsuit filed by eight environmental groups, claiming the USFS improperly allowed off-road vehicles on forest roads along Colorado’s Front Range.

Environmentalists feared that some of the affected roads, particularly near Leadville and Pikes Peak, cut across eroding stream banks serving as habitat for lynx, spotted owls and other wildlife.

“It was not so much the number of trails,” said Jim Lockhart of the Sierra Club, who studied the settlement. “It’s the fact that some of them are located in bad places where they could cause environmental damage. Also, that there was uncontrolled recreational use.”

As part of the settlement, the USFS will take a year to re-evaluate the roads and also work on a five-year management plan for forest road use.

Mike Stokes, an off-road vehicle dealer in Colorado Springs, has mixed feelings about the settlement.

“A lot of roads and trails are overused and damaged,” he said. “They may need to be closed. That could mean a drop in sales for me. But we should work together to keep as many (roads) open as we can.”

To read the settlement and see the list of roads affected, visit: http://www.eenews.net/assets/2015/11/16/document_pm_01.pdf