Trail crew works to restore impacts from the East Troublesome Fire in the Sulphur Ranger District using funds from OHV trail maintenance grants
DENVER - Colorado Parks and Wildlife is partnering with the Colorado Youth Corps Association to hire 53 weeks of conservation service corps this summer to repair off-highway vehicle trails impacted by increased visitation and wildfire damage.
Colorado’s outdoors continue to see an increased demand for outdoor recreation and wildfires that pose challenges to Colorado’s trail network. Increased trail use can lead to more rapid trail erosion and heavily burned wildfire areas can shift the connectivity of some trails due to postburn hot spots in forest areas.
“As we continue to see increased use and natural disasters impact our outdoor spaces, we appreciate OHV users who pay to protect Colorado’s trails so they can be enjoyed for years to come,” said CPW’s State Trails Program Manager Fletcher Jacobs. “CPW is fortunate to partner with organizations like CYCA who can utilize this funding to connect people to Colorado’s outdoors through educational and stewardship experiences.”
CPW and CYCA share an organizational goal - to inspire young people to connect with the outdoors while learning how to balance outdoor recreation with mindful conservation. This partnership demonstrates the commitment of both entities to work together towards a mutually beneficial stewardship strategy.
While Colorado’s OHV recreators already play a critical role in sustaining motorized trails for the state by annually funding over $6 million in trail improvements, these projects give interested youth and young adults the opportunity to contribute to trail maintenance in a tangible way.
“This investment from CPW not only repairs critical infrastructure and provides jobs to young Coloradans, it introduces the next generation to our iconic public land through service,” said CYCA’s Executive Director Scott Segerstrom. “Our members will gain self-esteem, grow confidence as leaders, and make lasting friendships, all made possible by the off-highway vehicle community.”
Watch CYCA video from one of last year’s projects.
CPW staff and CYCA-accredited conservation service corps will be working on the following motorized trail maintenance projects this year:
Rocky Mountain Youth Corps projects
Grand Lake-Williams Fork Fire Rehab
Due to the devastation of the motorized trail systems by the historical wildfires on the Sulphur Ranger District in the Fall of 2020 and the critical resource protection considerations associated with runoff and benched trail tread in burn scars, this project is of the utmost importance to the forest, state and region. Work will include rehabilitation and reconstruction of the fire affected Williams Fork/Keyser Creek and Grand Lake Trail Systems, including signage, kiosks, resource protection fencing, trail structures (bridges etc.), and the routes themselves.
Pagoda Lake
This project will focus on improving tread and trail drainage as well as wet area and stream crossings on Forest Service Trail 1804. The goal of this project is to address these areas with a variety of trail maintenance techniques to create a more sustainable trail with improved access to the surrounding public lands. The Wagon Wheel OHV Club identified this as a priority trail to work on.
Hahns Peak/Bears Ears Ranger District Rocky Mountain Crews for OHV Trails
Rocky Mountain Youth Corps will assist the OHV Trail Crew in replacing bridges, abutments and turnpikes along OHV trails on the Hahns Peak/Bears Ears Ranger District. Two bridges need to be replaced along the Ellis Trail 1155, one along Farwell Connecter 1203.1B, and one on Nipple Peak Trail 1147. There are a series of turnpikes that need to be replaced along Ellis Trail 1155 and Wyoming/CDT Trail 1101 if the crews are able to finish the bridges.
BLM Kremmling OHV Projects
This project will utilize a Youth Corp Crew to implement trail improvements within the Wolford Special Recreation Management Area. Wolford currently has 23 miles of motorized single track trails that the crew will help maintain and rebuild to increase sustainability. Additional work will be done within the North Sand Hills SRMA to delineate access trails to designated sand dune areas, identify areas open for camping and install boundary fencing for a designated seasonal closure to protect wintering wildlife.
Dillon RD Motorcycle Trail Maintenance
Trail crews will work in the Tenderfoot Mountain Motorcycle Trail System and Golden Horseshoe OHV Trail System on trail maintenance projects exclusively on motorized single-track trails. Despite having a good management OHV trail crew on the Dillon RD there is still a tremendous need for additional heavy trail maintenance with an 8-10 person RMYC trail crew. The anticipated outcome of this work will be 4 miles of restored motorized single track.
Eagle Zoned Youth Corps Support
Two weeks of Youth Corps work will be utilized to complete trail clearing and corridor clearing for a high-use motorized single track system that connects the communities of Basalt and Gypsum. In addition, the crew will complete corridor clearing along the Forest System Routes leading to the trailheads. The crew will focus on chainsaw work to improve user access and experience and closing non-system routes connecting to the legal routes with slash they remove from the trail corridor.
Southwest Conservation Corps - Los Valles projects
Rainbow Trail Maintenance
This project will create drainage installations, remove berms, build crib walls to widen trail sections, remove large rocks from the trail tread, and trim limbs on the first 12 miles of the Rainbow Trail between Silver Creek trailhead and Highway 285. Corps members will work to install check dams, armor tread, and stabilize/re-establish critical edge loss.
BLM-SCC Limekiln Motorized Trail System
This project will continue converting two track primitive roads into single track public lands-style trails per the San Luis Valley Field Office’s travel management plan decisions, and provide maintenance and repairs to numerous system trails damaged by intense monsoonal storms last summer. Trail signage will also be added to much of the trail system.
OHV Trail Maintenance Project on Conejos Peak Ranger District
The U.S. Forest Service will work to repair and improve existing motorized trails within the Conejos Peak Ranger District. The Forest Service Recreation crew will recon the trails to be maintained, and work alongside the Youth Crew to take care of deferred maintenance that accumulates on the 56 miles of single-track trails. The project includes trail clearing, tree removal, tread work, corridor cleaning, drainage work and trailhead Improvements.
Colorado Trail OHV Project
This project will take place on Colorado Trail #813 at Lujan Pass off Rt. 114 in Gunnison County, and Headwaters Hill off Marshal Pass in Saguache County. The goal for both locations is to do more trail work than has been done in the past four years. The work will include digging new waterbars, installing additional check dams and fixing existing water bars and check dams. Minor trail relocations will include cutting a new trail, defining a new tread, and filling in the old trail.
Mile High Youth Corps projects
Rampart Range Single Track Rehab
Trail maintenance and rehabilitation of illegal routes will be the primary objective of this project. Trail 770 is the most popular track on the Rampart Range and receives limited coverage during the OHV season and a limited number of OHV staff make it difficult to get work completed. Trail maintenance will include: erosion control, repairing drainage issues, trimming vegetation through the corridor, and rehabbing illegal routes such as hill climb areas and route braiding.
RGFO Trail Maintenance
The project location will be either Seep Springs or Penrose Commons. The Seep Springs area needs vehicle containment, corridor trimming and basic trail maintenance. Work within the Penrose Commons area is dependent on a pending NEPA decision, but would include vehicle barriers constructed to contain traffic to designated routes.
Western Colorado Conservation Corps projects
Grand Valley CYCA OHV Support
Two weeks of a youth corps saw crew will accomplish major corridor clearing along the Boundary trail located on the Grand Mesa. This project is necessary because of the high use of these trails and the amount of water that they received last season. The corridor will receive 2-3 feet of brushing on either side of the trail tread with added attention to grubbing out root wads around drain structures allowing for better drainage, which will slow sedimentation of the drainages.
Visit our website for more information on
CPW’s Trails Program and
Strategic Plan of the State Trails Program,
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Joey Livingston