A few more bad apples pound another nail in the ATV coffin.
Illegal ATVs wreak havoc on open space in Douglas
Plum Creek among many areas torn up by off-roaders
By J. Sebastian Sinisi
Denver Post Staff Writer
LOUVIERS- The snowy serenity of open space along both sides of Plum Creek in recent weeks has been shattered by all-terrain vehicle riders.
The ATVs are illegal in the area, as is tearing up the delicate wildlife habitat and leaving behind litter, including beer cans.
But the trespassers are hard to spot, much less catch.
"You can hear them, but by the time you can get down to the creekbed, they're gone," said Jim Beck, DuPont site manager. DuPont donated 855 acres of open space to Douglas County as a wildlife habitat and recreation area in 2002.
Much of the trespassing takes place on weekends and sometimes at night, said Tom Welle, parks and trails ranger for the county's open space department.
All motorized vehicles are outlawed in the area. Damage from ATVs includes "knocking down brush, tearing up grass and frightening animals," Welle said.
Those animals include elk and black bear, along with white-tailed and mule deer and occasional bobcats, he said.
When DuPont donated the land, "one of our chief responsibilities was to manage it as a wildlife habitat, and fast-moving vehicles can have the effect of moving the larger animals out," he added.
ATVs also endanger smaller animals such as turtles, leopard frogs and other amphibians in the creek's riparian area, along with ground-nesting birds, said Jackie Sanderson, also a county parks and trails ranger.
"We agree with the rangers and tell our members to use legal trails in Pike National Forest," said Corey Corbett, vice board chair of the Colorado Off Highway Vehicle Coalition. "And when just a few people act irresponsibly - by tearing up open space or trespassing on private land - that makes us all look bad and negates all the good work our groups have done to maintain trails in the Rampart Range area."
More than 100 miles of trails in the area, off Rampart Range Road, are available to ATVs, Welle said.
But some trespassers have cut fences to gain entry to the area, he said, while others ride along the creekbed from the north.
The open space runs roughly from Airport Road to the north and east of Louviers on both sides of Plum Creek.
Louviers is named for a French village near the ancestral home of the DuPont family. The DuPont Co. operated an explosives plant in the area from 1908 until 1971, when dynamite production ended.
DuPont's donation of the open space in June 2002 was part of an ongoing "land legacy" that had turned over 18,000 acres worth $50 million to communities nationwide, DuPont officials said.
The land, deeded to Douglas County, was said to be worth $3.7 million, and county officials hailed the space as a connecting link between county-owned open space to the north and 3,000 acres of open space around Cherokee Ranch to the south.
Registration is required for each off-highway vehicle, Corbett said, "and about $2 million per year from those fees goes to grants to maintain and improve off-road vehicle trails."
In 2001-02, the last year data is available, registrations numbered 66,453, a 19 percent increase over the previous period, said Dave Hause, chief of field services for Colorado State Parks.
Three years ago, ATV damage to the area around Dutch Fred Gulch in Pike National Forest was so severe that the Utah-based Tread Lightly Inc. environmental group helped restore 120 acres of scarred landscape.
Funding for that effort, off Rampart Range Road about 17 miles southwest of Sedalia, also came from Colorado State Parks and the American Honda Motor Corp., which makes ATVs.
In September 2000, during an off-road "mudfest" - promoted by three Denver KBPI-FM disc jockeys - 200 off-road vehicles, including ATVs, tore up a mountain meadow near Nederland.
Short-term restoration costs were placed at $60,000 and the long-term price tag at $640,000, according to the Boulder County Sheriff's Office.
Near Louviers, rangers have stepped up patrols to catch errant ATV riders. Any riders cited by rangers will pay a $50 county fine for the first offense, $100 for the second, $200 for a third and $300 for the fourth offense, Welle said.
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Illegal ATVs wreak havoc on open space in Douglas
Plum Creek among many areas torn up by off-roaders
By J. Sebastian Sinisi
Denver Post Staff Writer
LOUVIERS- The snowy serenity of open space along both sides of Plum Creek in recent weeks has been shattered by all-terrain vehicle riders.
The ATVs are illegal in the area, as is tearing up the delicate wildlife habitat and leaving behind litter, including beer cans.
But the trespassers are hard to spot, much less catch.
"You can hear them, but by the time you can get down to the creekbed, they're gone," said Jim Beck, DuPont site manager. DuPont donated 855 acres of open space to Douglas County as a wildlife habitat and recreation area in 2002.
Much of the trespassing takes place on weekends and sometimes at night, said Tom Welle, parks and trails ranger for the county's open space department.
All motorized vehicles are outlawed in the area. Damage from ATVs includes "knocking down brush, tearing up grass and frightening animals," Welle said.
Those animals include elk and black bear, along with white-tailed and mule deer and occasional bobcats, he said.
When DuPont donated the land, "one of our chief responsibilities was to manage it as a wildlife habitat, and fast-moving vehicles can have the effect of moving the larger animals out," he added.
ATVs also endanger smaller animals such as turtles, leopard frogs and other amphibians in the creek's riparian area, along with ground-nesting birds, said Jackie Sanderson, also a county parks and trails ranger.
"We agree with the rangers and tell our members to use legal trails in Pike National Forest," said Corey Corbett, vice board chair of the Colorado Off Highway Vehicle Coalition. "And when just a few people act irresponsibly - by tearing up open space or trespassing on private land - that makes us all look bad and negates all the good work our groups have done to maintain trails in the Rampart Range area."
More than 100 miles of trails in the area, off Rampart Range Road, are available to ATVs, Welle said.
But some trespassers have cut fences to gain entry to the area, he said, while others ride along the creekbed from the north.
The open space runs roughly from Airport Road to the north and east of Louviers on both sides of Plum Creek.
Louviers is named for a French village near the ancestral home of the DuPont family. The DuPont Co. operated an explosives plant in the area from 1908 until 1971, when dynamite production ended.
DuPont's donation of the open space in June 2002 was part of an ongoing "land legacy" that had turned over 18,000 acres worth $50 million to communities nationwide, DuPont officials said.
The land, deeded to Douglas County, was said to be worth $3.7 million, and county officials hailed the space as a connecting link between county-owned open space to the north and 3,000 acres of open space around Cherokee Ranch to the south.
Registration is required for each off-highway vehicle, Corbett said, "and about $2 million per year from those fees goes to grants to maintain and improve off-road vehicle trails."
In 2001-02, the last year data is available, registrations numbered 66,453, a 19 percent increase over the previous period, said Dave Hause, chief of field services for Colorado State Parks.
Three years ago, ATV damage to the area around Dutch Fred Gulch in Pike National Forest was so severe that the Utah-based Tread Lightly Inc. environmental group helped restore 120 acres of scarred landscape.
Funding for that effort, off Rampart Range Road about 17 miles southwest of Sedalia, also came from Colorado State Parks and the American Honda Motor Corp., which makes ATVs.
In September 2000, during an off-road "mudfest" - promoted by three Denver KBPI-FM disc jockeys - 200 off-road vehicles, including ATVs, tore up a mountain meadow near Nederland.
Short-term restoration costs were placed at $60,000 and the long-term price tag at $640,000, according to the Boulder County Sheriff's Office.
Near Louviers, rangers have stepped up patrols to catch errant ATV riders. Any riders cited by rangers will pay a $50 county fine for the first offense, $100 for the second, $200 for a third and $300 for the fourth offense, Welle said.
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