Local pleads guilty to illegal trail building1 min read

By
Jeff Bear
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At a site south of the Village of Oak Creek, a trail builder piled rocks and shoveled dirt to create more than 10 illegal mountain bike jumps. A team of workers operating in conjection with the U.S. Forest Service will dismantle the jumps and restore the area.
Jeff Bear/Larson Newspapers

Sedona resident Tyler Gavigan pleaded guilty to a criminal violation for unauthorized trail construction in Federal Magistrate Court on Tuesday, Feb. 5.

Gavigan was originally cited in September for construction of mountain bike jumps on national forest land in the Red Rock Ranger District near his home on Upper Red Rock Loop Road in Sedona.

Gavigan had created the unauthorized trail in a gulch by removing and clearing a large area of native plants and soil to create jumps on steep hill slopes where the incidence of erosion is greatest. The site required extensive restoration and naturalization to prevent further soil erosion into Oak Creek, less than a mile away.

For the full story, see the Friday, Feb. 8, edition of the Sedona Red Rock News.

Jeff Bear

Jeff Bear began his journalism career in 2003 as a graphic designer and sports reporter at the Weekly Register Call in Central City, Colorado. In 2007 he began working at the Canyon Courier in Evergreen, Colorado, as a graphic designer, but soon transferred into the editorial department where he worked as a copy editor and sport reporter under Editor Doug Bell. After a stint as a graphic designer at American Classifieds in 2009-10, Bear began working in 2011 as a copy editor at the Arizona Daily Sun, in Flagstaff. While at the Daily Sun, Bear was tapped by the late Randy Wilson to report on local sports including Northern Arizona University and Olympic medalists training in Flagstaff for the 2012 Olympics. In 2013 Bear began working at the Red Rock News in Sedona, Arizona, where he was an assistant editor and sports editor. Bear has two daughters, Angela and Jessica, with his wife Nina. He is a singer and guitarist, an avid cyclist and hiker, and enjoys camping with family and friends.

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Jeff Bear
Jeff Bear
Jeff Bear began his journalism career in 2003 as a graphic designer and sports reporter at the Weekly Register Call in Central City, Colorado. In 2007 he began working at the Canyon Courier in Evergreen, Colorado, as a graphic designer, but soon transferred into the editorial department where he worked as a copy editor and sport reporter under Editor Doug Bell. After a stint as a graphic designer at American Classifieds in 2009-10, Bear began working in 2011 as a copy editor at the Arizona Daily Sun, in Flagstaff. While at the Daily Sun, Bear was tapped by the late Randy Wilson to report on local sports including Northern Arizona University and Olympic medalists training in Flagstaff for the 2012 Olympics. In 2013 Bear began working at the Red Rock News in Sedona, Arizona, where he was an assistant editor and sports editor. Bear has two daughters, Angela and Jessica, with his wife Nina. He is a singer and guitarist, an avid cyclist and hiker, and enjoys camping with family and friends.