Montrose, COLO.—Montrose County is proud to announce the award of $20,000 from the National Off-Highway Vehicle Conservation Council (NOHVCC) to support development of the Shavano Gateway Recreation Area. Located at the eastern end of the Rimrocker Trail®, this site serves as a parking and staging area for the Rimrocker Trail as well as access to motorized and non-motorized trail systems in the adjoining Linscott Canyon area.

Earlier this year, local forest service staff became aware of the opportunity for this funding and suggested that Shavano Gateway may be a good fit. With support from the county commissioners, Interim County Manager Jon Waschbusch took advantage of the opportunity and submitted project details to NOHVCC. The well-developed plans and shovel ready nature of the project fit well with NOHVCC interests. Montrose County will match the award, which will make $40,000 available for project development this year.

“NOHVCC is delighted to be a partner in this exciting project. Well-designed parking areas are a necessity, and staging areas are vitally important to provide information, set expectations and allow everyone to put on gear and get ready for a fun day on the trail,” said Duane Taylor, Executive Director of the National Off-Highway Vehicle Conservation Council. “Not only is this project driven by local OHV enthusiasts it also demonstrates an outstanding level of partnership between riders, the BLM, the Forest Service, and Montrose County. It is an example of the type of partnerships that NOHVCC promotes at workshops and in our other resources.”

“The Rimrocker Trail has been exceeding expectations since its inception,” said Interim County Manager Jon Waschbusch. “Improvements made to the trailhead benefit visitors to the Rimrocker, but also serve users of the adjoining trail systems. The local MUT Chapter of the Colorado Plateau Mountain Bike Trail Association continues to do an excellent job in developing the Electric Hills singletrack system at this location. Their efforts and those of the Western Slope 4 Wheelers and Uncompahgre Trail Riders will make this an asset that serves broad interests. We’re grateful to NOHVCC for their contribution and for the continued support of the user groups, Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service.”

In October of 2020, the Montrose County formally signed a Recreation and Public Purposes lease agreement with the Bureau of Land Management, which represented another major step in the long term development of the 44-acre Shavano Gateway Recreation Area project. For more information on the Rimrocker Trail®, please visit rimrockertrail.org.

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