Mountain biking is the latest in new permits being issued by the Red Rock Ranger District of the Coconino National Forest for businesses that operate on federal land.
Up next may be permits for metaphysical businesses that wish to bring paying customers to the red rocks.
The first three permits for guided mountain biking services were recently issued by U.S. Forest Service staff. Those permits marked the first since 2005, according to Julie Rowe, natural resource planner for the Red Rock Ranger District.
“It’s a big accomplishment for us,” Rowe said. “We’re in the process of analyzing five new [permits] for metaphysicals.”
Rowe said permitting allows the Forest Service to manage forest use responsibly.
Recreation Special Use permits typically include outfitter and recreation guides. The outfitter industry, which includes Jeep tours, equestrian guides and more, has grown considerably in the last decade, Rowe said. Currently, the district manages 28 permits in the Sedona area.
“What the policy does is tell us how to manage that use so it doesn’t crowd out non-guided users,” Rowe said. “We want to maintain quality recreation for everybody, guided public and unguided public. It’s also about [managing] the impacts to the resource.”
New permits, she said, had been withheld as Forest Service staff worked to complete a capacity study for the area, which determined the current level of use in the Red Rock Ranger District for a number of popular areas.
“We needed to do the capacity study first, because we didn’t want to go over capacity, so the first thing we did was identify where we had more capacity and, right in the core area, we identified that for activities like hiking and mountain biking and more metaphysical activities.
One of the first things we did was issue prospectuses for some of those [with] our competitive application process,” Rowe said.
Criteria for determining permitting includes how many “encounters” with other tour operators and individuals can be seen in a day. That criteria is also dependent on the area where the tour is held, Rowe said.
Connie Birkland, public information officer for the Red Rock Ranger District, said permitting allows members of the public to know the Forest Service is doing its job in managing resources in the area.
“They want to make sure their interests are protected and that it’s not all commercial opportunities and experience,” Birkland said.
Besides continuing work on the special use permits, Forest Service staff also began work on a grant proposal with the Northern Arizona Intergovernmental Transportation Authority that might bring shuttle stops to various trailheads in the Sedona area.
