Stop uncontrolled snowmobile expansion in Rio Grande National Forest
Rio Grande National Forest Over Snow Travel Management
U.S. Forest Service· Rio Grande National Forest, Rio Grande National Forest - Ranger District 1U.S. Forest Service project page ↗
Forest ServiceWe track this on the agency’s own system of record, where most on-the-ground decisions live.
The groups on this fight
4 groups work Colorado
By footprint, from the same match the STAND matchmaker runs; none is linked to this decision in our record yet. Give straight to them; nothing routes through us.
- Center for Biological Diversity
Works Colorado: led the coalition suit against the Uinta Basin Railway, whose oil trains would run the river corridors below the monument.
- Rocky Mountain Wild
Works Colorado: joined the formal challenge to the January 2026 replacement lease sale and previously sued BLM over the Roan Plateau leases.
- San Juan Citizens Alliance
Works Colorado: shaped the 2010 management plan, has fought oil and gas leasing decisions inside the monument for two decades, mobilized against the 2017 monument review, and states it continues to defend CANM..
- WildEarth Guardians
Works Colorado: named petitioner against the Uinta Basin Railway over habitat destruction in the basin.
Every group above is on STAND for Public Lands, with its court record, its filings and who backs it.
The Forest Service wants to open roads, trails, and areas across all of Rio Grande National Forest to motorized snowmobiles.
What’s at risk
Quiet winter wilderness across all three ranger districts of the Rio Grande National Forest faces permanent motorized vehicle designation. Once roads, trails, and areas are officially designated for snowmobile use, those decisions are difficult to reverse.
If this goes through
Snowmobiles would gain formal, lasting access across a wide network of forest roads, trails, and open areas, shrinking quiet non-motorized winter recreation space throughout the entire forest.
Our plain-English read of the official notice ↗. Check it against the agency’s own words below.
3 holes in the agency’s own analysis
What the public could have raised, from the agency’s own document
- I oppose this action as proposed, and I ask the agency to weigh the specific harms below.
- This proposal would designate specific roads, trails, and areas across all three Rio Grande National Forest Ranger Districts for motorized over-snow vehicle use, and I oppose expanding OSV access without stronger protections for non-motorized winter users.
- Do not designate National Forest System roads and trails for motorized over-snow vehicle use without a full analysis of how that access will affect quiet recreation on the Rio Grande National Forest.
- I urge the Forest Service to keep non-motorized zones intact across all three Ranger Districts before finalizing any OSV designation plan for the Rio Grande National Forest.
- Say something only you can say. The law requires the agency to consider and respond to substantive comments, and specifics are what make a comment substantive.
In the agency’s own words
The Rio Grande National Forest proposes to designate National Forest System roads, trails and areas for motorized over snow vehicle use for all three Ranger Districts.
The reporting behind this
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