Many off-road fans in Colorado are involved in an extensive program to map and identify their favorite roads and trails.

In November 2005, the U.S. Forest Service introduced a regulation for recreational motor-vehicle use in national forests and grasslands. The "travel-management policy" requires every road, trail and area open to motor vehicles to be identified and designated on a map. The process, expected to take four years, is occurring in all 155 national forests and 20 grasslands. When the process is complete, each unit will publish a motor-vehicle-use map.

There's a sense of urgency among those who drive off-road.

"If we don't identify these roads, we could lose them," off-road fan Peter Belsky said.

Once the roads and trails are identified and mapped, motor-vehicle use off the roads and outside the areas will be banned.

Belsky's group, the DU Off-Road Club, is a member of the Colorado Off Highway Coalition (COHVCO), an off-road vehicle advocacy group that is working with the Forest Service to help provide data for the maps.

For information on the coalition's mapping program, go to the coalition's Web site tiger.cohvco.org.

To read the rules, go to www.fs.fed.us.