BLM launches environmental assessment on e-bikes in The Crown; county to weigh local access and enforcement

The Bureau of Land Management’s Colorado River Valley Field Office has opened an environmental assessment to analyze authorizing Class 1 e‑bikes on trails now designated for mountain bikes in The Crown Special Recreation Management Area, a BLM recreation planner told the Pitkin County Board of County Commissioners at a May 20 work session.

BLM Recreation Planner Alan Sapinski told commissioners, “we will now be going into an environmental assessment project … to analyze adding e‑bikes to traditional mountain bike trails.” He said the EA will include alternatives that could exclude trails “based on resource concerns, public feedback and adjacent land managers,” and that the field office is coordinating with towns, counties and partner agencies as it develops a proposed action for public scoping.

The announcement follows a March 2024 survey of mountain bikers organized by local advocates and the BLM that attracted roughly…