Unofficial Cement Creek bike trail closed

No room for bandit trails in travel management plan

Mountain bikers eager for snow-free trails may have noticed that a bike trail paralleling Cement Creek Road has been covered with brush and trees. According to Forest Service trail manager Greg Austin, the agency closed the trail to public access two weeks ago as part of its implementation of the Gunnison Basin Travel Management Plan.

“There was a section of trail built last fall, kind of a bandit trail from the campground down toward Walrod. That was not part of what was approved in the record of decision last fall,” said Austin. “We’re just implementing the travel plan as it was signed.”
The travel plan, released in July 2010, came out of a 2005 directive to all national forests to clarify approved use of trails and roads. Sometimes that means closing unapproved trails by throwing down slash or by blocking access with boulders.
“One of the thoughts that went through our minds as we were implementing [the travel plan] was [that the trail] did not go through the approval process like the travel plan did. For us to just let it be open, that leaves the door open to every other user group doing the same thing,” Austin said.
According to Gunnison district ranger John Murphy, the travel plan does not exclude new trails from being proposed or considered. The Forest Service is in the early stages of considering a bike trail between Crested Butte and Gunnison (it’s too early, Murphy says, to know if anything will come of it). And this summer, the agency will assess a trail through Baxter Gulch for its suitability as a mechanized trail. The easement for a public trail through Baxter Gulch was secured during the fall of 2010.
“This year we’re going to get out and evaluate what we would need to do to make it suitable for mountain biking,” Murphy said.
Yet any plan that comes out of that assessment will be subject to review through the National Environmental Protection Act, as would any proposed trail. The bottom line is that the travel plan leaves no room for unauthorized trails.
“It is important to remember that the travel plan approved last year is not an end-all. There are opportunities to do site-specific analysis,” said Murphy. “But if a trail is not included in the travel plan then it will be rehabbed.”