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What's Mine Is Mine & What's Yours Is Mine

It's My Opinion and You're Entitled to It

By Dennis Pierce

I used to think that was the official motto of the People's Republic of Telluride when I lived there. Unfortunately, that attitude has become a mantra for the folks who don't buy into the premise that public lands can have diverse usage.

This really hit home when I attended the San Juan National Forest Columbine District workshops to develop long-range management plans. First off, the granola crunchers and back-to-nature bunch were the vast majority of attendees. I was the only person out of 100 plus people who represented OHV usage at two of the meetings. There were half a dozen ranchers defending their grazing rights on federal lands and a couple of outfitters.

After the overview of current management plans, the group was divided into eight or 10 smaller groups. Each group had a map of the area to be discussed with current land management designations. The two meetings I attended had to do with Colorado's La Plata Canyon area and the Highway 550 corridor including Missionary Ridge and Haviland Lake.

No sooner had we sat down and went around the table introducing ourselves, one person pointed to the map and suggested a total ban on OHV's! Needless to say, I found that to be a bit harsh and so stated my opinion on diverse use.

Several others at the table showed their ignorance by calling for a large portion of the land under discussion to be designated a wilderness study area. It takes an act of Congress to designate a wilderness study area, not a proclamation by the district ranger.

There's no doubt in my mind that one of my table mates thought they were channeling Edward Abbey in making points that were really stupid. I might interject here that I'm no Abbey fan and that I consider the Monkey Wrench Gang a primer for eco-terrorists.

After two hours, it became alarmingly clear that diverse usage of the SJNF was not a high priority for the majority of people in attendance. If they had their way, everything north of Highway 160, west to the Utah border, east to Wolf Creek Pass and north to Ouray and Lizard Head would be off limits to OHV's.

As it stands now, the final draft of the proposed SJNF management plan will be presented for public comment sometime late this year or early 2006. I suspect that there will be a significant loss of trails for OHV's due to public pressure from the professional tree huggers in that draft.

Extreme environmentalists that call for the elimination of OHV's on public lands in the Southwest would do well to look toward the left coast to see what consequences can be wrought by denying access to public lands and packing OHV's into a single area.

The sheer numbers of OHV's crammed into the dunes on Interstate 8 west of Yuma because they have been banned from closed public lands in Southern California is causing untold damage. Why disperse OHV's where they can do minimal damage when you can concentrate them in an area that will take years to recover? The ancillary damage of dust, traffic, smog and injuries caused by this concentration of OHV's takes a real toll on county emergency services budgets.

OHV purchases have a positive economic impact on recreational activities that most hardcore hikers would like to ignore. First off, there's a $15 annual state registration fee on ATV's in Colorado. Then there's the half cent sales tax in Durango that goes toward the purchase of open space. On a $25,000 Jeep, that's $125 and it's $40 on an $8,000 ATV. But, let's be fair, it's a whole $1 on a pair of $200 hiking boots! Close off public lands access to motorized vehicles and there may very well be economic consequences in the collection of certain tax revenues. Why buy an OHV if there's no place to use it?

I do not condone nor do I defend the irresponsible actions of some OHV users. However, I find the lack of co-operation on the part of some public land recreational users to support diversified use just as onerous.

Using his Social Security checks to buy parts for his Jeep, Dennis Pierce is a retired advertising and marketing guru. A charter member and two-term board member of Tread Lightly!, Pierce also writes a column for Four Wheeler magazine and is a San Juan Mountain Association volunteer at the USFS/BLM Land Center. A 20-year resident of southwest Colorado, he is the founder and co-chair for the Telluride Rotary 4x4 Tour, a fund-raising event featured in numerous national publications.