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Hit the brakes, mountain bikers.

The Air Force's decision to not run a fence through the Otero Canyon area south of Tijeras doesn't mean that all trails in the area will be reopened.

About half the trails in the area will be off-limits while the Air Force decides what to do with the land - and maybe for longer, said Ranger Cid Morgan of the Sandia District of Cibola National Forest. Hikers, bikers and equestrians still need to keep out.

"The military can cite them for trespassing," Morgan said.

Some areas have hazards such as unexploded ordnance and chemicals that were dumped in the 1950s and 1960s, Morgan said.

"Deep into the trail network safety concerns are still there, and people should heed them," Rep. Heather Wilson said.

Still, Wilson declared victory on June 19 at the decision not to build an approximately six-mile, 8-foot tall, chain-link and barbed-wire fence in the area.

Wilson, an Albuquerque Republican, met in 2003 with trail users who protested the fencing plan, hiked the trails herself and pushed to keep the area open.

Morgan said the cost of the fence and doubts about its effectiveness in protecting the land belonging to Kirtland Air Force Base and the public were behind the decision to cancel it.

Wilson said the rugged terrain and sheer distance are enough of a barrier.

The next step is for the Air Force to begin a process under the National Environment Policy Act to assess uses for about 400 acres and consider turning it over to the U.S. Forest Service, Wilson said.

In the meantime, warning signs installed a few months after the fence proposal first emerged have made it clear where it's OK to ride, said Charlie Ervin, a bicyclist and owner of Two Wheel Drive bike shop.

"I don't ride in the closed area. It is very easy to avoid it," Ervin said.