So many visitors are heading to Rabbit Valley near the Western border of Colorado that the Bureau of Land Management will immediately require camping reservations and begin building or revamping campsites.
Located west of Fruita in the McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area, Rabbit Valley is managed for motorized recreation, including riding motorcycles, ATVs, Off-road vehicles. BLM wants to limit the surge of riders by requiring reservations and collecting fees because dispersed camping is allegedly causing environmental impacts.
Rabbit Valley is the latest place in Colorado where limits on dispersed camping have been imposed in recent years. Colorado has been a hot-bed of dispersed camping restrictions, and these restrictions are part of a nationwide trend as land managers confront the impacts of increased interest in outdoor recreation.
The Bureau of Land Management in Colorado is seeking public input on dispersed camping in Rabbit Valley, west of Grand Junction. BRC supports access to public lands, and the BLM is looking to implement restrictions on where users can go and what they can do. The proposal will end free dispersed camping in Rabbit Valley and would implement a $20/night fee for two vehicles and a $10 additional charge for any extra vehicles. The planned restrictions will also result in 75 total designated campsites. We’ve seen these counties in Colorado look to create “Camping concentration areas” in previous plans and implement many road closures. Comments are due by June 28, 2022 but temporary restrictions have gone into effect immediately.
You can read the BLM plan here.
Thanks for the opportunity to comment. I feel like protecting our public lands is very important and I am more than willing and supportive of a new fee structure for Rabbit Valley. It is a beautiful place but it is getting overrun and that is the reality these days. I see a lot of comments in different forums about how we already pay taxes, it is a money grab and more but this is where we are today. Two thumbs up for this proposal.
BRC is doing a great service bringing up these issues that go on behind our backs. I have seen this happening over the past couple of years state wide. The only people who support such ideas are those who will not be impacted by the restrictions and never visit these areas to start with. We all should care about keeping public access open and expanding access as much as possible. Gating off roads and trails, closing off camping spots my family has used for decades is not the answer. I’m a disabled war vet who gave 22yrs of active duty service fighting for the right to enjoy my country and freedom. I expect to use public land any time I want and leave it as clean or better than I found it. I challenge the BLM to find a better way.
Suggestions: Expand access to all the remote places the average public will never visit due to restricted access.
Provide bear proof dumpsters so people have an easy way to deal with trash…..never seen such a lack of public garbage disposal as Colorado. Can’t even find public place you can pay to take trash!!….I’m hauling my trash and other’s I pickup hundreds of miles….no wonder campers feel forced to burn it and cause wild fires. Think about that.
Hire more people to maintain roads and trails, not close them. Trail money is there and why not find a better use of Covid funds siting idle with bogus projects we don’t need.
We need to keep public lands public. Adding fees and concentrating dispersed camping areas is only a $ grab during a time when people are getting hit with budget problems every time they turn around. Us that disperse camp don’t care if the fees provide fire pits and a flat spot to park if it means we can’t get away from everyone else. Instead put resources into educating the public on current dispersed camping guidelines and have law enforcement show a bit more of a presence. Last thing we need are more laws and rules (it’s truly getting ridiculous) that just make good stewards of the land technically outlaws. Just because you have the power to make new rules and laws doesn’t mean they should.
There is a widespread effort by all BLM field offices to eliminate all free and/or dispersed camping everywhere. They won’t quit till it’s ALL gone.
Here in the Pacific Northwet (sic), the USFS implemented the NW Forest Pass system as a way to raise funds to support recreation on the National Forests. As a motorized recreationist, I can’t see any difference in the level of trail maintenance since the Pass has been implemented. In some instances, I’d say it is worse. The majority of trail maintenance on motorized trails is performed by the users. Social media has been great in organizing users to maintain the trail network. USFS trail crews seem to be focused on pedestrian trails in Wilderness Areas while the non-Wilderness areas are ignored. So where did all the money from the Forest Pass system go? No new trails. No new campgrounds (in fact on one Ranger District the number of campgrounds has been reduced due hazard trees. Can’t Forest Pass fees be used to remove the hazard trees? Naw, just close the campground…). After a decade, I can’t say we are better off with a Pay-To-Play Pass system. USFS field personnel seem to spend their days driving to campgrounds and trailheads to collect fees. I wish it were different but it isn’t.