I just received this from our club president and thought i would share - anyone is welcome to send theri comments on this to the person listed. please not the deadline is today, which is part of the problem, they have given no time for the people in out community to comment on the closure of one of the best hardcore areas in Colorado. if we don't stop it here it is in your backyard next. thanks for you help.

Dear BRC Action Alert Subscriber,

Late last night BRC received an urgent action alert from our Colorado
partners, the Colorado Off-Highway Vehicle Coalition (COHVCO
http://www.cohvco.org ). It seems the Boulder Ranger District of the Arapaho

Roosevelt National Forest has published a new management plan for the
popular Lefhand Canyon area with input due on August 31st, 2005.

For those of you that are, as I have been in recent days,
"calendar-challenged"... that's TODAY!

It's unclear at this time, but the staff and volunteers at COHVCO believe
the FS may have intentionally avoided sending copies to motorized users in a

timely manner. Incredibly, COHVCO first received the draft plan on August
15th, and Dennis Larrat, President of COHVCO, received his copy of the
Environmental Assessment on August 17th!

Dennis is fortunate, in our opinion. BRC is still waiting for our copy! This

type of... "unprofessionalism"... by a federal land management agency should

not be tolerated!

Dennis informs us that the Lefhand Canyon area is one of the very few areas
open to motorcycles, 4WD and ATVs near Front Range metro areas, and the
alternatives offered by the USFS are absolutely unacceptable. Even the most

"liberal" alternative would cut the available mileage on opportunity by
about 50%.

Importantly, the Lefthand Canyon area is home to some of the best
rockcrawling in Colorado. Let me say this clearly: if you enjoy high
difficulty full sized 4x4 trails, our Colorado partners need your help!

This calls for one of our quick-and-easy 3-step action plan we're so fond
of.

Step 1: Use our comment suggestions to send a quick email to the FS. The
email address is below, as well as a URL for more information.

Step 2: Immediately forward this alert to anyone you know who values high
difficulty 4x4 trails. We need their help!

Step 3: Support our Colorado partners!

COHVCO: http://cohvco.org

Colorado Association of Four Wheel Drive Clubs:
http://www.hightrails.org/index.shtml

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO:

Send an email to the Boulder Ranger District of the Arapaho NF today! Use
our comment suggestions below to help. More information is available on the
FS's website at:
http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/arnf/projects/ea-projects/brd/lefthand/index.shtml

Remember! Your comment will not count if you do not include your name and
address. Your email return address will not suffice! Do not fail to include
your name and address in your comments!

Send your email to:

Catherine Luna,

Recreation Planner, Boulder Ranger District - Arapaho & Roosevelt National
Forests,

cluna@fs.fed.us

Comment suggestions:

* IMPORTANT: Include a brief description of how much you and your family
enjoy OHV recreation.

* IMPORTANT: Tell the FS that you strongly object to the short comment
period.

Issue: The FS wants to impose a complicated two-tiered permit system.

Comment suggestion: Tell the FS that you strongly object to the part of the

proposal that limits the area to day-use only "without a special permit".
This sets up a two-tiered permit system, one for day use and one for
overnight use. Complicated permit systems are difficult for the public to
understand and comply with. Any permit system must be easy to implement and
easy for the public to comply with.

Issue: The FS wants to implement a permanent closure of all the routes
around Fairview Peak.

Comment Suggestion: Tell the FS that you strongly object to a permanent
closure of the area around Fairview Peak. Remind the FS that the 4WD road
that goes around Fairview Peak and connects to Road 87J had been open for
many decades!

Issue: The FS has identified many routes as "new user-created routes" when
they are, in fact, very well established routes that have existed for a very

long time.

Comment suggestion: Tell the FS that their analysis is flawed! Tell the FS
that many of the roads and trails in the area have existed for many years.
Ask the FS to perform an extensive data search to identify the origin of
every route before identifying it as "new user-created routes."

Issue: The FS wants to limit access to this area to a single access point

Comment suggestion: Tell the FS that you strongly object to the part of the
proposal that would close all entry points except the main one. Tell the FS
that the two entrances at Castle Gulch should be open to the public. This is

a major safety issue.

Issue: There is a need for more parking areas.

Comment suggestion: Tell the FS that you support converting two shooting
areas into parking areas.

Issue: The FS is proposing to make the Lefthand Canyon area a "fee area."

Comment suggestion: Tell the FS how you feel about fee areas. Tell the FS
that if they insist on a fee area then the funds must go directly back into
the area itself.

Issue: The FS is proposing to install toilets.

Comment suggestion: This is an identified need for this area. Tell the FS
you support this part of the plan.

Remember:

YOUR COMMENT WILL NOT COUNT IF YOU DO NOT INCLUDE YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS.
YOUR EMAIL RETURN ADDRESS WILL NOT SUFFICE! DO NOT FAIL TO INCLUDE YOUR NAME

AND ADDRESS IN YOUR COMMENTS!

Sending letters now...

Local boy just sent one off...actually two I hit tab by mistake.

thanks guys. every little bit helps our entire community
:beer:

If this Shit doesn't get you fired up, you are not reading it.

done,

As I did not understand the effects of converting the shooting areas (another popular type of recreation, though I don't partake), that is the only guideline I didn't follow. I'd hate to shut someone else out without firsthand knowledge of the issues they are facing too.

Message sent. I live 4miles from lefthand, I would hate to loose my afterschool wheeling sessions.

The shooting areas cross the bottom of the main trail "Carnage" and is completly unregulated. Most shooters dont bother to clean up their casings or targets (i've seen some of the shooters bring up things like old cars or refrigirators to shoot at and leave them there when they are done). Its a mess and unsafe, and this is coming from someone who fully supports safe gun ownership and use.

sent an email off. doubt it will help, but it's still worth it to give it a shot.

Scott

email sent.
Friggin tree huggers.
:mad3: :mad3: :mad3:

Sorry to say. but I live near lefthand, it's fate has already been decided. This has been going on for years.

The shooting area is a fricking dump. More then 50% of the reason it is closing, rednecks, punk ass kids, lotsa people go up there and blow the fawk outta stuff. Fridges, tv's, waterheaters, etc. They even shot down the trees. Its pitiful.

Rockcrawlers have abused it. Parts of the trail that were 1 and 2 tracks now consume the entire canyon. Not to point fingers but some here share the blame. I know I do, I never blazed a trail on Carnage. Did I follow routes? Yes, but they are/were not marked. THERE WAS AT A POINT ABSOLUTELY NO TRAIL MARKERS. Where the trail is varies by who you talk to. Some old farts know where it was years ago. It's trashed. I could have done more, gone to more meetings, etc, etc. But we all got a lot of shiat goin on.

It sucks, the area around Carnage is in developement. I hope they bring back rock crawling, or don't totally shut it down.

There is a lesson to be learned inLH.

It is a NIMBY kind of thing. People are spending a shit ton to live up the canyon and yet do not want to deal with the ramifications of bordering USFS land.

Here's the letter I sent with my personal info deleted...

Catherine Luna,
Recreation Planner, Boulder Ranger District - Arapaho & Roosevelt National
Forests,

Dear Ms. Luna,
My name is Dustin Webster and I am writing on behalf of my wife, Becca, and our two sons Garet and Chase. We are one of the few exceptions to the rule when it comes to off-roading. We actually make our living from behind the wheel of our 4 wheel drive "rockcrawlers" and have an investment in this sport that eclipses just about anyone in the country. With our five different 4 wheel drive vehicles, we travel above 50,000 miles a year, towing tow rigs at a time to rockcrawling competitions, expos, trailrides, and most importantly, leisure. We have seen just about every trail in the country first-hand and have watched over the last 10 years, a tragic situation. The trails are fast dwindling, yet the trail popultion is growing...at a super fast rate. Coming across a call to arms tonite, I found a story that basically demonstrates exactly why. The story I read told of a review being done regarding the "left hand canyon" area in Colorado, one of the locations we have visited and foud to be a wonderful recreation area. The note was disturbing in the fact that it gave a timeline of TONITE to submit our feelings on this potential change to access and went on to lay claim that basically, the notice given regarding this review was basically kept quiet by those doing it, besically in what APPEARS to be an attempt to make a change without consulting those that are most affected. If this is true, I'll start this message with three simple words, "SHAME ON YOU!" A review on land like this should have been very public and been shared with the recreationalists from day one, with a long and careful aquisition of comments from ALL users. The story I read wreaks of secrecy and one-sidedness that is something I would expect in Italy or the Balkans, where plying these games is rampant...HOWEVER, this is America and if you are playing the game it appears you are, then MOVE overseas and leave this great DEMOCRACY we call the United States of America! If that is not what happened, then it is clear that your attempts at making this a democratic and public based study, were a failure...a failure that puts recreationalists at a disadvantage and you should consider that through the next steps of this process.

Addressing the land itself, I don't know just how far you have roamed or what you know of other areas like this in the country, but I can tell you, the Left Hand Canyon area is one of the best in the country. One, it has fantastic scenery. Two, it is easilly accessable. three, it has such a wide variety of trail difficulty already in place, that it has something for everyone. That last statement is an important one...if there are no easy trails, the people with less capable vehicles winch big obstacles down, stack anything they can find to get up the obstacles, or in most cases, cut a bypass trail where there was not one. If there are no difficult trails, then the people with more capable vehicles and experience tend to wander from the trail looking for something more challenging. Left Hand already has something for everyone so it is an area that remains pretty stable as far as diversion from or changes to the trails. You've got that going, where 90% of the other areas in the US don't...you should be pleased with that and recognise what a value that is recreationally and well as enviornmentally.

Addressing a permit structure...make it simple. People are willing to get permits to recreate, but if they don't understand the permit system, they are reluctant to take part. That is an easy lesson learned by visiting any of the self pay campsites in California...the single tiered parks have thier self pay boxes stuffed full...the ones with a confusing system of payment ranges are empty. With your "day use, night use" system, there will be a difficlut interpretation and you'll find more issues than if you did it as a simpler system encapsulating it as a 24 hour permit. This subject goes hand in hand with the subject of fees. I personally already pay fees based on a vehicle licensing system based in my state that supposedly goes toward the lands I am using to recreate. If I am going to pay any additional fees, they had better be used ONLY for the areas wher I am recreating...TOILETS would be one great use for these funds if they are to be implimented.

Regarding Fairview Peak. Please DO NOT close the 4WD road that circles to Road 87J...it has long been an independant road that give us access to 87J...My grandfather drove that road with us when I was young! This road and many others appear to now be considered "new user-created routes" by the Forest Service. I don't know how long you've been around, but many of those roads have been there longer than my 37 year old memory can recall. That tells me one clear thing, the designation of these roads is based on a flawed idea of what decides what is and isn't an established trail or road. It is your responsibility to be fair to all and you will not hold up to that responsibility if you do not take a closer look at these roads and trails and give a designation that is worthy of what they truly are.

The news also comes up that this review is considering closing all access points except for one. Well, the first time emergency services need in, or there is an access or evacuation need, that will be one decision regretted. A single access point is also USUALLY not enviornmentally sound as heavy traffic at one access point is far worse than light traffic spread over two or more.

It should be clear that recreational ORV use in America is part of many people's lives as well as businesses. It is an industry in itself, helping people to access the very lands we own as the citizens of this great country. Many people in government are turning a blind eye to this right and in the long run, it will be a mistake that we all regret.

I would appreciate it if you would include my statement in your report and if you need anything more, I can be reached at my home:
personal info here...

Just sent my email and forwarded it to the members of my club.

Thanks for the heads up

Message sent. I live 4miles from lefthand, I would hate to loose my afterschool wheeling sessions.

The shooting areas cross the bottom of the main trail "Carnage" and is completly unregulated. Most shooters dont bother to clean up their casings or targets (i've seen some of the shooters bring up things like old cars or refrigirators to shoot at and leave them there when they are done). Its a mess and unsafe, and this is coming from someone who fully supports safe gun ownership and use.

had you heard about any of this before yesterday?

red bull that is a very nice letter thanks for all of your help. for everyone else even if you don't think your letter will help, it will, don't sell yourself short. this battle is all about us uniting as a single body of 4wheel drive And i know the Left hand Area has been under serious scrutiny for the last several years but that is no reason to rush into any rash decisions on the part of the FS, without hearing both sides. thanks again fellas.

had you heard about any of this before yesterday?
Actually I heard about the comment period a week ago from one of the COHVCO guys, I think it was the 24th. It defiantly wasnt a long period, I think it opened somewhere around the 15th. I sent my message last weekend. The comment perioud was open, but the news wasnt spread very well, whether that was a mistake on their side or our side is questionable. Its been a discussion on colorado4x4's forum for a awhile.

PS CU-4wheel drive club meeting tonight (thursday) 7PM in HUMANITIES 1B90 (in the basement). First meeting of the year. New members, students and non students, are all welcome. If we are going to fight trail closures we have to be organized.

thanks folks for the help!

id like to add to the discription of the area.

the area is second in use only to white river which is also in co. there is no other area in any other state that sees more motorized use then lefthand that is managed by the fs.

it would be nice to see them actually manage the area. lefthand has always been set up for motorized and there can be an additional 5 miles of roads added TO the area. instead the fs wants to close roads becose of over use. it does not seem to be a good idea to add a growing number of folks to a decreasing amount of roads.