Durango’s Parks and Recreation Director Cathy Metz killed Trails 2000’s proposal for a directional trail in Overend Mountain Park without letting the Natural Lands Preservation Advisory Board vote on it. It would have been a new uphill-directional trail for people that are heading to the top of Star Wars Trail. Star Wars Trail is not officially designated as directional, however, despite numerous letters and public comments that were made to the city in favor of encouraging downward directional traffic there. A few residents in the…



Public comments were the most interesting part of the recent joint board meeting where the idea of allowing electric assisted bicycles on Durango’s natural-surface trails was discussed. The city’s Natural Lands Preservation Advisory Board, Parks and Recreation Advisory Board and Multi-Modal Advisory Board met to talk about the idea of allowing e-bikes on trails in Durango for a trial period to see how there use is perceived by the public and what impacts they may have. Before the public comments were given, city staff provided…

Whether e-bikes should be allowed on Durango’s natural surface trails will be the topic of discussion at a joint meeting of three city boards on Wednesday (11/20/19). Public comments will be taken later in the meeting. The Natural Lands Preservation Advisory Board, the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board and the Multi-Modal Advisory Board will meet together at the Durango Community Recreation Center to have a study session from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. Starting at 6:00 p.m., a regular joint advisory board meeting will begin and…

A new preliminary Environmental Assessment for transportation and access to BLM lands in southwest Colorado may criminalize mountain biking on parts of Hogsback Trail and Perins Gulch Trail where it was previously allowed for decades. This preliminary Environmental Assessment for Transportation and Access Planning in the Tres Rios Field Office will set the stage for the BLM to have more justification to enforce the bike ban based on their Resource Management Plan. In 2015, a Resource Management Plan prohibited mechanized travel on the trails, and…

A group of about 50 people picked up enough trash to fill a 30-yard dumpster last Sunday. The effort was organized by Marsha Porter Norton, La Plata Sheriff’s Department and Trails 2000.

Don’t let the new “No E-bikes” sign at the gate to Horse Gulch Road mislead you. Electrical assisted bicycles are allowed on the road that’s in the county’s jurisdiction right behind that sign, according to Megan Graham, La Plata County’s Public Information Officer. Electric bikes are only allowed on the non-maintained road for a short distance, however. That’s because the road goes from the county to the city’s jurisdiction a couple hundred feet past the gate. In May of 2016, the city adopted Ordinance 2016-10…

People may soon be allowed to ride their electric bikes on Animas Mountain or Grandview Ridge Bureau of Land Management trails following an Order issued by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior that excludes e-bikes from the definition of “motorized vehicles” and “off-road vehicles.” –issued by Interior Secretary David Bernhardt on August 29, 2019–was intended to simplify and unify the regulation of e-bikes on Federal lands that are managed by the Department of the Interior. It was also intended to decrease regulatory burden, the Order…

Hope we get to ride together again soon.

Bike travel would be allowed for retrieving dead animals during hunting seasons, but never for recreation or transportation on popular local BLM trails near Perins Peak under a Transportation and Access Plan that’s currently open to public comments. More specifically, mechanized travel would be prohibited on parts of Hogs Back Trail, Slime Gulch and all of Skid Ridge to comply with the Tres Rios Field Office (TRFO) Resource Management Plan (RMP), according to language in the Transportation and Access Plan. Also of concern for cyclists…

The new regulations of sandwich board signs of businesses on Main Avenue goes too far with a $50 dollar Revocable Encroachment Permit. Fees that Main Avenue entrepreneurs already pay for business licenses should go towards the regulation and permitting of small portable signs. Please scroll down, read the petition, and consider signing it. After signing the petition and opening your confirmation email, your signature will be posted and a letter will be sent to Durango City Council and Colleen OBrien. If the confirmation email doesn’t…

An improved game trail is the target of closure following the approval of the new Sky Raider Trail that will connect the Powerline Trail to Raider Ridge at the top of Rocky Road. Named the Sky Raider Trail, this new connector trail will replace an improved game trail that City officials and residents have labeled as a social trail. City officials labeled this fall-line trail as a social trail because they believed it was created by people. Labeling the trail as “social” also provided the…

The idea of reallocating taxes to a new police station and streets from sales tax funds that were previously dedicated by voters specifically for parks, open space lands and trails was chided by City board members Thursday night. At the meeting, City board members vocalized their disagreement after listening to a presentation by John Simpson, who gave three options on how to redirect sales tax revenues that were originally  designated by voters to go towards city recreational facilities, parks, open space lands and trails. “All…

At least $572,186 dollars that was spent on fighting wildfires started by coal trains of the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad was written off by the USDA Forest Service since 1994, records from the Forest Service show. What this means is that after Forest Service officials determined the cost of suppressing wildfires that were started by D&SNGR locomotives, the original bill was negotiated to a much lower figure by senior D&SNGR train officials. While the Forest Service billed the D&SNGR $1,195,265 dollars for putting…

The San Juan National Forest Freedom of Information Act “Coordinator” has failed to lawfully comply with a second FOIA records request submitted by this blogger. I submitted a public records request to San Juan National Forest FOIA Coordinator Jeremiah Hyslop on October 23, 2018 via email. It said: Hello Jeremiah, This is a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) records request for the Fire Investigation Report that was done for the 416 Fire on the San Juan National Forest. The 416 Fire started on June 1, 2018,…