<\/p>\n
Forty people attended a Montezuma County public hearing Monday regarding a plan to protect the Phil\u2019s World recreation area from energy development impacts.<\/p>\n
The 2,400-acre area is six miles east of Cortez and includes mostly BLM land with some state land. There are no active oil-and-gas wells in the area, but it could be leased in the future. The county hopes to establish its own regulations for Phil\u2019s World through a state land-use law intended to help counties protect areas of statewide interest.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a valuable asset, and we should protect it,\u201d said county commissioner James Lambert.<\/p>\n
Colorado House Bill 1041 \u2013the Areas and Activities of State Interest Act \u2013 was enacted in 1974.<\/p>\n
A proposed county resolution would designated Phil\u2019s World under the 1041 regulations as an area of state interest, and establish criteria for controlling development to avoid negative impacts to recreation.<\/p>\n
The county commissioners said they want to regulate oil-and-gas development in the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to keep intact what we have on that property,\u201d commissioner Keenan Ertel said.<\/p>\n
Several people spoke about recreation uses during public comment.<\/p>\n
Horse riders and runners said they felt excluded from the area because it is dominated by bikers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d love to be able to go out there and not feel I will get run over,\u201d said runner Betty Anne Kohlner. A horse rider suggested more \u201cwho yields to whom\u201d signs often seen on public-land trails.<\/p>\n
The area is multiple-use, but the single-track trails were designed and installed by a bike club to be fast-paced and take advantage of rolling terrain.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat makes it so famous is the roller-coaster experience for mountain bikers,\u201d said Shawn Gregory, a pioneer of local mountain biking trails at Phil\u2019s and Boggy Draw.<\/p>\n
The Southwest Colorado Cycling Association leases the state land area where the trail systems begins and ends, paying a fee and insurance costs. Users are urged to contribute to help cover costs.<\/p>\n
The area of trails is crisscrossed by dirt roads, and there is an established and signed ATV trail. It was noted that the dirt roads may be more suitable for horseback riding.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s plenty of room out there, maybe we could add trails specific for horses,\u201d said Dennis Geisler.<\/p>\n
Gregory cautioned that oil and gas roads can quickly diminish a bike trail system.<\/p>\n
Phil\u2019s World has 27 miles of trails. The BLM is considering a proposal to add 25-30 miles of trails and a new parking lot.<\/p>\n
The county said forming the 1041 rules for Phil\u2019s World is still in the formative stages. Another hearing is planned.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t dictate rules for bikes and horses out there,\u201d said county attorney John Baxter. \u201cWe can protect it from certain things like oil and gas. \u201c<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Commission seeks to regulate oil and gas<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":107152,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[13,977],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-107151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-mountain-biking"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107151\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107151"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=107151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}