Boulder County survey finds strong opposition to trail-use pilot that could limit bike access

More than 7,500 people responded to a Boulder County survey about a proposed trail-use pilot, and a large majority opposed the idea of closing some trails to specific user groups on certain days.

The idea originated with a proposal from Boulder County Commissioner Claire Levy to test no-bike days at Heil Valley Ranch. County commissioners later voted unanimously to direct staff to explore the idea and gather public feedback before deciding whether to move forward with a pilot. Staff have said details remain undecided and that community input will help shape any eventual proposal.

Survey results obtained by Boulder Reporting Lab show that 70% of respondents opposed or strongly opposed the pilot, while 17% supported or strongly supported it. The remainder were neutral or skipped the question.

Just over half of respondents identified mountain biking as their primary activity, compared with roughly one-quarter who identified as hikers and 10% who identified as runners.

County staff said they are considering running the pilot at Heil Valley Ranch, Hall Ranch, Walker Ranch, or by expanding the existing alternating-use system at Betasso Preserve. When asked where the pilot should run, most respondents said they did not want it implemented at any park. The next most popular option, with 8% support, was expanding alternating-use days at Betasso. Six percent of respondents wanted alternating trail use at Heil Valley Ranch, as Levy originally proposed. 

The pilot project was announced about a month ago and immediately sparked strong resistance from the mountain biking community, which worried it could reduce access to trails. The Boulder Mountainbike Alliance also encouraged members to participate in the survey after the proposal was announced.

Of the three most common user groups — hikers, bikers and runners — hikers were most likely to support the pilot; about a third of those surveyed supported the plan. But across all key user groups, a majority of respondents opposed it.

Mountain bikers’ concerns

Mountain bikers also showed up in large numbers at two open houses on the pilot hosted by county parks and open space staff, although several resisted being characterized so narrowly.

“I don’t like the fact that when you do the survey, you have decided whether you’re a hiker or a rider,” said Lester Pardoe, who helped found Boulder Junior Cycling and directs all the programs below the high school level. “I ride a lot with these guys, but I hiked the trails twice this week.”

Pardoe said he attended the May 13 open house because the pilot “has the potential to make our program smaller.”

“We’re a community nonprofit, and we’re at maximum capacity with the trail access we have,” he said. “The big frustration is where they’re wanting to close trails, there’s already hiking options. It just seems like a real knee-jerk reaction. If something’s too busy, you should expand. If it was going to be hikers being put off for two days, I’d feel the same way.”

Other bikers argued that nearly all City of Boulder trails are already closed to mountain bikes — a point the Boulder Mountainbike Alliance highlights prominently on its website.

Some also expressed confusion about the reason for the pilot. Dozens of survey responses characterized it as a “solution looking for a problem.”

County officials say the goal is to test whether alternating use can reduce user conflict, improve safety and enhance the visitor experience. 

County visitor data from 2025 suggests reported trail conflicts are relatively uncommon. About 4% of surveyed visitors reported experiencing conflict, with little difference between trails that use alternating access and those that do not.

“I don’t think there is any problem, and the 2025 data appears to agree,” one person wrote. “If you have data showing there is a problem, you didn’t provide it.”

Those in support of the pilot cite safety and access concerns

But concerns about visitor experience remain for some, including Commissioner Levy.

Levy said her interest in the pilot came from hearing from community members who hike on open space and said some routes popular with mountain bikers feel uncomfortable or inaccessible.

People who voiced support for the pilot echoed that sentiment.

“Currently, I often feel unsafe or anxious when hiking with a dog or running alone on trails,” one respondent wrote. “Some cyclists are excellent at alerting hikers to their presence, but many are not.”

“I’ve spent hundreds of hours out in the field and interacted with loads of mountain bikers, and 99.9% of them are great people,” said Dave Sutherland, a retired City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks naturalist who now leads free nature hikes. “The trouble comes from the fact that my wife had a stroke back in 2005, and she’s now a person with disabilities. She has some coordination and balance issues, she’s also lost most of her hearing.”

“She’s a poster child for a lot of the people that want to hike on open space, but simply can’t coexist with bikes on the same trail,” Sutherland said. He explained that his wife’s medical condition means she often doesn’t hear approaching cyclists and can be slow to react when she does. 

As a result, they have stopped hiking trails that are open to bikes. 

“It’s really difficult and actually downright dangerous,” he said. “We’ve almost had a couple of collisions.”

Sutherland’s experience reflects another trend in the data: Support for the pilot was concentrated among older respondents. 

Forty-six percent of respondents 65 or older supported the pilot, and 22% of those ages 55 to 64 supported it. No more than 11% of any other age group surveyed voiced support for alternating trail use. 

A small town’s economic argument

Survey responses poured in from across the county. Thirty-six percent of respondents were from the City of Boulder, while 39% were from elsewhere in Boulder County. Longmont represented the largest share of those respondents at 11%. Hundreds of responses also came from Coloradans outside Boulder County. 

A notable portion of the Lyons community, which is surrounded on two sides by Hall Ranch and Heil Valley Ranch, also weighed in. A total of 324 people who responded to the survey reported living in Lyons — about 15% of the small town’s population. A large majority (82%) opposed the pilot, citing a desire to keep nearby trail access unrestricted. 

Lyons Mayor Mark Browning said he also has economic concerns.

“On weekends, in particular Saturdays, Lyons gets a lot of mountain bike visitors,” he told Boulder Reporting Lab. “If you go to Moxie Coffee, there’s a lot of people hanging out. They go to the bike shop, Redstone Cyclery, they go to the St. Vrain Market to get snacks and sandwiches and drinks.”

Browning said Lyons has struggled for decades to get people to view the town as a destination, rather than a “pass-through” on the way to Rocky Mountain National Park or Estes Park, and attracting outdoor recreationists is one key way the town tries to do so.

“The idea of restricting bike access to Lyons is troubling,” he said.

In an open letter to county commissioners penned by Eric Kean, owner of MainStage Brewing, Lyons business owners also urged commissioners to abandon the pilot, highlighting Heil Valley Ranch as a particularly important connection between Lyons and the rest of the county open space system.

“For Lyons, this is not an abstract policy question. Our town’s identity, economy, and appeal are tightly linked to ready access to world‑class mountain biking at Hall and Heil,” the letter states.