Colo. Hunters Fight for Big Game Habitat

In a recent article, the Durango Herald reported on a lawsuit filed by the Colorado chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers challenging motorcycle use on 14 trails covering 80 miles within the Rico-West Dolores area of the San Juan National Forest. The court challenge comes after the San Juan travel management plan was already reversed in a previous decision and sent back to the Forest Service for better analysis. 

This most recent lawsuit claims forest officials have encouraged motorized use on trails that should be protected in order to maintain big game habitat and traditional uses.  In response to the article, some on-line commentors deride the lawsuit, but one representative of the plaintiffs provides a great defense:

“The state Division of Wildlife has identified motorcycles in this area as a threat to big game habitat, not hunting. All prey populations are only healthy when they are hunted, whether by humans or non-human animals, that's how they evolved, and the State has regulations in place to make sure that deer and elk are hunted in a way that benefits the herds. And while motorcycles have been allowed to use this area for 10 years (which violates the Forest Plan, by the way), hunters have been using it for many decades. THAT's what ''traditional use'' means. If you believe that joyriding motorcycles is more important than preserving habitat and traditional hunting and fishing uses, you are certainly entitled to that opinion. But it's not legal on these trails, and that is why we brought this lawsuit. By the way, while Colorado Backcountry Hunters and Anglers has a few guides as members, we are not a trade organization and most our members are just individual hunters and fisherman devoted to preserving habitat and hunting and fishing in quiet, backcountry environments.”

Well said, and regardless of how the court rules on this case, the San Jan NF will have to protect these trails in its revised travel plan or demonstrate how allowing motorized use on them minimizes harassment of wildlife or significant disruption of wildlife habitats.