CO: BLM Using Off-Highway Vehicle Fees to Limit Public Land Access

Thanks to a troubling government arrangement, ATV operators on western Colorado federal lands have been paying to help give themselves less room to ride. The Bureau of Land Management’s Grand Junction Field Office is preparing to implement plans to shut down a significant number of roads under its jurisdiction. Documents obtained by Watchdog Wire Colorado indicate that off-highway vehicle (OHV) permit fees are funding the project to limit off-highway access. Many Coloradans who pay permit fees to use their ATVs and other off-highway vehicles likely are not aware that the permit fees they pay to the BLM are being used to implement “Travel Management Plans” (TMP) designed to limit their hunting and recreational access to Colorado’s public lands. Tied to the BLM’s Resource Management Plans (RMP), the Travel Management Plans are currently being staged to close down 50-70 percent of the roads now used by Colorado hunters and OHV users, ranchers, and recreation-seekers...more