Boulder County commissioners have declined to pursue a proposal that would limit mountain bike access at two popular parks outside Lyons after a swell of opposition from cyclists.
And now those knobby-tired pedalers are hoping they can maintain the momentum of their campaign with a plan to expand the three-member board of commissioners to five.
“It’s about better representation,” said Wendy Sweet, the director of the Boulder Mountainbike Alliance, which organized opposition to the Boulder County proposal to limit bike access at Heil Valley Ranch and Hall Ranch and now is backing an initiative calling for five county commissioners.
Sweet said it is common to see two commissioners on opposite sides of an issue, which creates “an odd power dynamic for the middle person.”
“If you increase the numbers, it’s easier to not give that one person in the middle that level of power,” she said.
The political momentum of mountain bikers in Boulder County reflects the growing heft of the $1.3 trillion outdoor recreation economy, with a diverse chorus of outdoor users lobbying lawmakers at all levels for increased access, conservation and rural economic opportunities. For decades the outdoor recreation industry has played second fiddle to better organized industries on public lands, but that is shifting as the federal government measures the role of outdoor recreation in the national economy and a unified campaign galvanizes the industry’s dispersed voices.
That national effort is mirrored in Boulder County, where mountain bikers rallied in response to a proposal to limit access at two popular parks near Lyons. In March, the three-member board of county commissioners asked county parks and open staff to study a program that would limit biking at Heil Valley Ranch and Hall Ranch parks with a program similar to the county’s Betasso Preserve, where biking is not allowed on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The purpose of the plan was to address “potential visitor conflicts,” according to a March memo from staff.
The proposal lit a fire in the mountain biking camp, especially in Lyons, where mountain biking anchors a growing tourism economy. Hundreds of county residents attended public meetings and urged the commissioners to abandon the plan. A county survey collected more than four times the typical responses from residents, with 70% opposing the proposal.
After months of reviewing the “alternating use pilot program,” with public meetings and the 7,522-response survey, county parks staff last week presented the commissioners with three options.
One option, which the staff recommended the commissioners approve at the June 30 meeting, involved directional loops for bikes on two loops at Heil Valley Ranch alternating every month. That alternative would improve flow and reduce head-on encounters, staff said. The Boulder Mountainbike Alliance supports directional climbing and downhill at Hall Ranch, arguing it is a simple system that does not require dividing visitors into different groups.
“Hall Ranch is popular because people love it,” the alliance said in an online post last month that offered options to the alternating use proposal. “To us, that’s not a problem to solve. It’s an opportunity to make a great place even better.”
Another alternative from county staff proposed bike-only Thursdays on some trails and hiking and horseback riding only on some trails on Thursdays at Heil Valley Ranch. A third alternative proposed by Boulder County parks staff proposed bike-only and hike / horseback only Wednesdays on some loops at both Heil Valley Ranch and Hall Ranch.
Staff warned if new regulations were too complex, implemented nations and enforcement would be challenging as users learned the new access rules.
Commissioner Ashley Stolzmann declined to support any of the recommendations and Commissioner Marta Loachamin asked staff “what problem are we trying to solve?”
Jarret Roberts with parks and open space said the process was about gathering public input and the community showed up “with an amazing amount of passion.”
Commissioner Claire Levy, who initiated the proposal to prohibit bikes at certain times on certain trails, said her suggestion “obviously … sparked a nerve.”
Levy, who worked with open space and parks in the 1980s when the county acquired the Heil Valley Ranch and Hall Ranch properties, said there has been a decline in hiker use at the two parks. She said “people asked me over and over again” if hiker-only access days would be possible at the two parks like what the county has done at its Betasso Preserve property.
Through the last months, she said she has heard mountain bikers ask about biker-only days, which is not part of any regulations at any county parks or open space. She said that was a reasonable request.
Levy said the goal of the pilot program was to “welcome back people who have abandoned certain trail systems because … they really feel that one user group has dominated and made it uncomfortable for others.”
Levy supported the proposal for directional access but was unable to win any support from her two fellow commissioners.
Dave Chase, the owner of Redstone Cyclery in Lyons, was worried that he might need to close his business if, for example, mountain biking was prohibited on Saturdays at nearby parks. He was not confident that the push by mountain bikers would sway commissioners, but after last week’s decision, he’s wondering what more can be accomplished.
“We must keep this momentum going,” Chase said.
The Boulder Mountainbike Alliance, in addition to urging its members to support a larger board of commissioners, is hoping to continue working with staff and county leaders to develop short, directional trail connections to tie together larger loops at both Heil Valley Ranch and Hall Ranch parks.
“We are interested in creating loops where everyone is going the same direction,” Sweet said. “It’s what Commissioner Stolzmann said in the meeting: ‘The government is not going to solve your problems.’ So let’s continue this conversation and work together to improve and protect our trails and public lands.”