BMA Alert - help create more riding at Betasso!

March 18, 2008

Action Alert!
Betasso Management Plan
Comments Being Taken by BCPOS
Two Minutes Will Make a Huge Difference

Boulder County Parks and Open Space are in the process of revisting their management plan for Betasso Preserve. With the addition of the Benjamin property, this park has grown in size by almost 50%. This is Boulder County's opportunity to address the needs of City of Boulder residents who want a quality mountain bike ride without the use of a car.

BMA has assembled a group of members to attend the meetings, do the homework, and create recommendations that serves the cycling community.

We are asking you today to send comments on the plan. There are two ways you can do this

Option 1:

Copy the boilerplate below and send it to estrenge@bouldercounty.org Please feel free to add you own comments as you deem appropriate; making it personal does make a difference.

Subject Line: Betasso Management Plan - Comments

Don't forget to put your name at the end!

Greetings

I am contacting you today to comment on the revisit of the Betasso Preserve Management Plan. I am a Boulder County resident, taxpayer, registered voter and mountain biker that visits BCPOS lands.

I see this property as Boulder County's most significant opportunity to give City of Boulder residents a quality mountain bike experience without the use of a car. There are many actions BCPOS can take to address this opportunity:

BCPOS should maximize the recreation experience in the area deemed appropriate.
Build new sustainable singletrack trails to the North and West to the Benjamin property and connect Bettasso trails to these to create a greater experience (see Heil Valley Ranch for example); stacked loops are fun.
Create alternate access points. This gives users the opportunity to create a varied experience rather than one that is always the same. The "historic use" of the Benjamin property's social trails was part of a much greater trail system that included the use of county roads, old mining roads, forest service trails and roads, and others, that not only enabled riding from your house without the use of a car, but also allowed for a connection between Nederland and other ridding options to the West & North of Boulder. Alternate access points create differing usage patterns. These points of entry to the new sustainable trail system need to be designated as legal access points. We encourage BCPOS to eliminate parking at these points to relieve neighborhood concerns.
It is important to consider that users value connecting one trail system to another. (such as what is currently happening at Heil Valley Ranch with the Picture Rock Trail)
Shorten the gap between the Boulder Canyon Trail and current Betasso access. The section of canyon road (CO119) that cyclists have to travel is dangerous. The Pipeline Trail is unsustainable in its current configuration. Please investigate and develop an access point(s) that gets bikes off the highway and on to open space sooner.
We would like to encourage BCPOS to eliminate the day bike ban which closes the area to cyclists two days a week. Trail design does a better job of managing user conflict than restriction. We encourage BCPOS to disperse the users to reduce the conflict.
As a long term goal, BCPOS should pursue a ‘no parking’ access point from the top of Arkansas Mountain.

I am in agreement with the goals BCPOS has for this property and I thank you for considering my opinion. Please keep me informed of future developments regarding this management plan.

Sincerely,
your name goes here

Option 2:

Create your own comments and send to estrenge@bouldercounty.org

BCPOS, to their credit, has amassed a significant amount of information on this subject.

The information displays that were at the open houses can be viewed here

The Planning area map, and links to all other relevant information can be found here



Tired of seeing trails closed to mountain bikes in Boulder County? Then DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!! Join the Boulder Mountainbike Alliance and join the fight to open trails. Send a $25 check to BMA, PO Box 4954, Boulder, CO 80306, or join by using our online Paypal webpage by clicking here