DOUGLAS n A public hearing to consider proposed travel management plans in the Douglas Ranger District of the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest will be conducted next week.

The issues include deciding which forest roads to close, which to convert to hiking trails and which to open for four-wheelers offers a little something for everyone.

Hikers should be pleased at more non-motorized trails. People who like to ride four-wheelers will have more opportunities, including several loop trails ranging in difficulty from easy to challenging.

In the Douglas Ranger District, land ownership is broken in many places, leaving chunks of forest intermingled with private property. Many forest roads cross private land without legal access, Deputy District Ranger Misty Hays said. Under the travel plan, people will find that some routes they are used to driving will be closed. However, that should not limit people's ability to access forest lands, she said.

Also of concern is four-wheeler use on roads where people drive full-size vehicles. State off-highway vehicle use rules mandate that only licensed drivers can operate ATVs on main roads, but on the forest, families with young children who like to camp and ride four-wheelers have limited opportunities. In some places, conflicts arise between hunters quietly seeking game and other hunters wanting to retrieve animals using loud four-wheelers n sometimes creating their own roads to do so.

User-created routes are a serious problem on the district, Hays said. Many inadvertently damage resources where they cause soil erosion or cross creeks, while others leak onto private property. Some roads divide important wildlife corridors. An estimated 100 miles of user-created roads exist, and, under the new plan, would be eliminated.

At the same time, forest managers know people like to recreate using ATVs, and want to provide ample opportunities to do so, said Marilee Houtler, NEPA coordinator and travel manager for the Douglas Ranger District.

The changes are presented in the Laramie Peak Travel Management Environmental Analysis, with three alternative courses of action as required by the National Environmental Policy Act. Those alternatives span the options from taking no action (alternative 1), to the Forest Service's preferred plan (alternative 2), to the opposite end of the spectrum and the most severe regulations (alternative 3).

In its preferred alternative, the Forest Service wants to:

Convert about 33 miles of roads to ATV trails;

Change about nine miles of motorized trails to allow only non-motorized use;

Close four and a half miles of roads to all but administrative use where travel is damaging natural resources;

Decommission about seven miles of roads where resources are being damages;

Close nearly 20 miles of roads seasonally to motorized use; and

Eliminate more than 100 miles of roads illegally created by users.

Alternative 2 also calls on the agency to pursue rights-of-way on private land accessing large chunks of forest where there is currently no legal, public access.

"We have the ability to pay for public easements and we want to pursue that," Hays said. After the plan is approved, her office will prioritize those easements, starting with ones that would open up larger blocks of forest land.

In addition, the Forest Service is considering changing an old rule that allows motorized travel up to 300 feet off roads, at least in some locations. Traditionally, the 300 feet has offered dispersed camping or game retrieval. The agency wants to change the rule to 100 feet, except along LaBonte Canyon Road and Arapaho Trail Road.

If the preferred Alternative 2 is approved, people can expect these major changes, among others:

LaBonte Canyon is a popular recreation site for all sorts of people, especially for those who enjoy four-wheeling. Under alternative 2, roads and trails near streams in the canyon would be converted to non-motorized, closed or decommissioned. Little spur roads from the main route down to dispersed camping sites would remain open, Houtler said. Some of the user-made camp sites close to the creek may be moved to higher ground to protect riparian areas.

While a main creek crossing from the canyon toward Big Bear Canyon would remain open to ATVs, vehicles would be banned. And, other user-created crossings would be closed. As a highlight for ATV riders, Big Bear Canyon and the Devil's Pass area would remain open to four-wheelers on designated trails, but closed to regular vehicles.

Cow Creek Mountain would be closed entirely to all motorized travel. Planners said this should reduce conflicts during hunting season and resource damage. Brumley Mountain, another popular hunting locale, would also be closed to motorized traffic with the same goals in mind.

A new system of loop ATV trails with varying degrees of difficulty would be allowed near Albany Peak, already a popular four-wheeling location. Planners are optimistic the loop trails for ATV-only use would reduce safety issues and offer more riding options for families.

Upper Horseshoe Creek, near Esterbrook, would see some road closures, which could result in some regulatory challenges. However, popular camping sites at that area would remain open for walk-in traffic.

With all the changes on the table, enforcement could be an issue.

"We are going to have some problems, at first, enforcing it," Houtler acknowledged. But a new map showing only open roads would be published in 2008, giving forest staff a chance this year to put up new signs and barricade roads to be closed.