We have numerous land agencies with differing priorities between conservation and recreation. In one ride around the reservoir you will ride through land owned by the City of Fort Collins Natural Areas, Larimer County Natural Resources, the State of Colorado Parks and Wildlife Department, Colorado State University, and the United States Bureau of Reclamation. Each of these is getting pressure from conservationists to preserve wildlife habitat and species in the rapidly depleting urban rural interface zone. Each time a new trail is proposed, it has to go through approvals of the management in the land agency and then through an environmental study.
Overland Mountain Bike Association has made significant progress in trail advocacy in the area the past several years by building a relationship with the land agencies, allowing for additional trail projects. There is about 80 miles of trail on the books to be built in the coming years. There is a trail inventory being taken and looked at to find connection opportunities for the future. We have a full time seasonal trail crew that has been working hard mostly on forest service trails because there is grant money there. We have been partnering with the NoCo Trail Riders moto group to fund and build some trail, as well.
There is also a feeling from some in Fort Collins that there is already plenty of tourist traffic around here and that we don't need the additional draw, so it is not necessarily a priority outside of our MTB community.
I sit on the Board of Directors for Overland, I have served 6+ years on a public lands advisory board, and I have been riding Fort Collins trails for 40 years. I'm happy to meet and answer questions. Please join OMBA so you receive newsletters about upcoming projects and know when you can sign up for volunteer days to help make these trails a reality.

 

Thank you for the thoughtful answer and I'll for sure join!

 

Is there a list of the 80 miles of new trails to be built somewhere?

We've had the map up at several events showing approved and planned trails, as well as trails for which we're advocating. Some of the land agencies give initial approval and then things change. Some are also re-routes and re-builds of trails wiped out by fire and flood thee past few years. I'll have to look at my notes and see what else is coming, but here are some off the top of my head. These are in various stages of progress, from current construction to flag lines in, to partial approval to awaiting approval and funding, to conceptual.
Danner to the top / West Lookout / Ballard
Upper Dadd Gulch / Dadd reroutes / Flowers connection
Hewlett Gulch loop reroute and expansion
Swamp Creek / Sevenmile rebuild
Completion of Roaring Creek rebuild
Possible expansion in Mount Margaret area
Possible connection from Cameron Pass to Hewlett Gulch
Bobcat Ridge northern loop in expanded area and possible connection to Storm Mountain
Some Horsetooth Mountain re-routes from the last management plan
Horsetooth Bay-to-Bay trail completion
New Chimney Hollow recreation area above Loveland
Belvoire Ranch on the Wyoming Side of Red Mountain / Soapstone
Additional trails in Curt Gowdy State Park in Wyoming

It's funny you mention "plenty of tourist traffic"... but in my experience, the trails around Horsetooth, Lory, and Bobcat are never crowded, even on the weekends. I think a lot of it has to do with them being unofficially (although not legally) directional, as most people will always ride down Wathen, Mill Creek, Sawmill, Ginny, etc. and I almost never see hikers on those trails.

I think they mean plenty of tourist traffic in general, and not biking tourist traffic. When hotel rooms are at a certain level of occupancy, people aren't trying to bring more bodies to town.

Also... what's the word on the trails up around Donner/Lookout? Are those worth riding? It looks like you could get some legit elevation up there, but I don't know anyone who's ever ridden those trails, and TF doesn't really have anything either.

There is the opportunity for plenty of elevation on Danner / Lookout. If you do the out and back, you gain around 2300' in a 6-mile climb, making for a fantastic descent. If you loop it via Lookout, it ends up being about a 15-mile loop. The Lookout trail was put in with a machine, so it needs the winter to pack in because it was pretty loose and dusty when completed. Much of Danner was hand-built or hand-finished, so it was better. Danner has multiple personalities. There is still a lot of the original back-country chunk left, but then there is some wide-open area with berms and table-tops and rollers.
Here is my Strava from the out and back: Getting short on daylight and short on summer | Ride | Strava
Here is a GoPro video of some of the sections of the Danner Pass Trail (fast forward to see different sections and forgive my amateur riding and video skills on my 15 year old XC hardtail with the 100mm fork):
Donner Pass Trail preview - September 6, 2024 - Buckhorn Canyon west of Fort Collins, Colorado.

 

I think they mean plenty of tourist traffic in general, and not biking tourist traffic. When hotel rooms are at a certain level of occupancy, people aren't trying to bring more bodies to town.

Probably not the right place for this discussion... but that's an interesting perspective to take on building more trails. I don't think in any world will Fort Collins be seen as a MTB destination - how about just building new trails and recreational opportunities for the people who live here and pay taxes? More recreation will improve quality of life, make the area more attractive for living in general, and help attract new workplace talent and employers. Some places get it, but most in Colorado are totally clueless (BoCo and JeffCo included).

 

Didn't the county/Fort Collins just acquire the land directly north of the intersection of 25E and 38E, increasing Horsetooth by ~25%?

 

Yes, and the adjacent property owners are putting up a fight against access from that side. Some of the parcels in the acquisition are technically part of the ranch association / HOA back there, and that organization is blocking access. Property owners along 25E are super protective of that canyon. The City of Fort Collins Natural Areas owns a bunch of land at the end of the road which connects to Lory State Park from the west, and access is being questioned for that property by the 25E residents, as well. Also, some eagles are nesting in the cliffs along the mesa in the county parcel, which is limiting potential trail development. The conservation folks are pushing to keep the whole area as un-fragmented wildlife habitat.

 

Ah yes. The same people that put up the bullshit “No Trespassing” signs on the publicly maintained road.

Lovely people.

 

Be careful and don't go solo...down near Durango and Trinidad there are similar County Roads that have been defacto declared "private property" by the residents. They have signs like "Private Road, Residents have guns and backhoes". Unfortunately lots of mentally unwell folks these days that think you're presence is a threat to their livelihood.