[passionfruit]

We own a ranch that is completely surrounded by National Forest. The mountain bikers leave the Forest trails so that they can pass through our ranch. They tear down “No Trespassing” signs and mouth off if told they are trespassing. They pee and defecate where they are when the urge strikes, and they drink out of plastic bottles and aluminum cans which they throw on the ground.

They ride through soft mud leaving deep ruts that remain all year when the soil hardens.

[VeniVidiVici]

They ride through soft mud leaving deep ruts that remain all year when the soil hardens.

I don't condone the other actions of the bikers you mention but those deep ruts out in the middle of the boondocks, well, they can be quite hazardous to deer and elk.

The Ocala National Forest near me just closed down another 8000 acres, claiming vehicles (4x4) were damaging the area. To back up their claim they showed the picture of what looked to be a single mud hole probably about 25 yards in diameter and a single seedling that had been run over. 8000 acres for that.

[VOA]

The mountain bikers...(snip)...pee and defecate where they are
when the urge strikes, and they drink out of plastic bottles and
aluminum cans which they throw on the ground.

Gad! I hope those are the "One-Percenters" of the mountain biking
world. ("One-Percenters" was the term respectable motorcyclists
applied to the motorcycle "clubs" that sprung up in CA after WWII,
e.g., Hell's Angels, Mongols, etc.)

I'm sorry your area is hit by that sort of offensive assault.

And that more mountain bikers are like the ones I knew in college:
nearly Sierra-Club-styled outdoors folks that picked up after themselves
and only went into authorized areas.

Sounds like mountain-biking is like surfing: some jerks have to
turn an outdoor activity into gang-style activity.

[hinckley buzzard]

There is a real question to be answered here, ie, the degree to which frequent bike traffic degrades trails and adjacent countryside. I saw large areas of Arizona desert essentially destroyed by these "nature lovers." Don't know how fragile the terrain around Durango is, but when I travelled through there forty years ago it didn't look like biking country to me.

As long as we have public lands, which is going to be forever, there will be regulated use. Hopefuly, regulation serves the goal of preservation as a priority, along with compatible uses. My kids and grandkids might like to visit these lands some day, and I'd just as soon a bunch of bikers didn't grind it down to ruts and eroded mud in the meantime.