Off-roaders in search of trails

There was an article outlining the struggle between ATV usage and the environmental activists in USA Today.

The link is: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-04-05-atv-parks_N.htm

The following is the article less the photos.
Off-roaders in search of trails
By Laura Bruno, USA TODAY
The dustup between all-terrain vehicle enthusiasts and land conservationists is intensifying this year as more people go in search of places to ride and more groups race to protect large portions of public lands.

Three bills currently under consideration by Congress would grant wilderness protection to more than 34 million acres of land, and 13 million acres in 11 states are under consideration for new National Monument designation, says Department of Interior spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff.

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If those proposals become law, motorized vehicles would be barred from lands in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

"Any closure is bad because it leads to more and more closures," says Jack Hickman, president of the Arizona Off-Highway Vehicle Coalition. "With more people buying vehicles and less land to recreate on it means more damage to the land."

The number of off-road vehicles grew 230% from 3 million in 1993 to 10 million vehicles in 2008, according to a U.S. Forest Service estimate.

Sites across the country previously open to off-road vehicles have been closed in recent years because heavy use or abuse tore up soil and plants or eroded roads leading to silt buildups in nearby waters. They include:

• About 55,000 acres of land in Arizona's Sonoran Desert National Monument were closed to motorized vehicles in 2008 to rehabilitate the natural landscape. Those lands will remain closed indefinitely while a land-use plan is completed, according to the Bureau of Land Management's Phoenix district office.

• The 16-mile Patterson Mountain ATV Trail System in Virginia was closed this year when the Forest Service found the poor condition of trails was hurting water quality in adjacent streams. The area is closed indefinitely, the Forest Service says.

• The 39-mile Upper Tellico Off-Highway Vehicle Trail System in North Carolina was closed permanently in 2009 because visible sediment from the trails was reaching the Tellico River, according to the Forest Service.

"This is exacerbated by ATV and off-road sales going up and up and up," says Ed Moreland of the American Motorcyclist Association.

While wide swaths of public land are open to ATVs — 33,000 miles of trails managed by the Forest Service and 206.3 million acres by the federal Bureau of Land Management — there are concerns that reckless riders continue to damage land, Moreland says.

Brad Powell, a former regional forester for the Forest Service who now works for Trout Unlimited, says concerns about land damage are legitimate and the explosion in off-vehicle use requires a re-evaluation of where it's appropriate to ride.

"They are far from running out of spots to ride," Powell says of off-road vehicle users. "I'm not opposed to OHV use, I want to find the appropriate balance that's been lost with the explosion of growth in vehicles."

Riders care about the land, too, Hickman says, using their vehicles to appreciate sites they could not reach on foot. While some lands should remain wilderness, others with existing roadways should not be taken away, he says.

A proposal for an ATV park in Florida's Everglades has local environmentalists upset. Miami-Dade County has proposed an ATV park in the Big Cypress National Preserve, which the Broward Group of the Sierra Club has opposed.

"To think of this place as a playground for recreational vehicles is not giving this special piece of land the respect and concern required," says Matthew Schwartz of the Broward Sierra Club.

One potential victory for ATV riders is in the works in New Jersey, where there are no public lands currently open to off-road vehicles.

A law passed in January requires the state to find a public site for riders in order for the state to collect registration fees and penalty fees for illegal riding.

A public site is long overdue for the riders of an estimated 250,000 vehicles in the state, said Dale Freitas, president of the New Jersey Off-Highway Vehicle Association.

"The vast majority want to do things responsibly, but the only way to correct the problem is with facilities where people can come and take safety training courses," Freitas says. "Make it a quality site and people will want to come back."

Bruno reports for the (Morris County, N.J.) Daily Record.

Update but little to say

As you know the legislature dropped the ATV language from the bill so now it is just another tax (funding for towns to use for open space). We are pursuing other avenues including litigation. Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome.

Also remember that your representatives and senators did nothing to help. When the election comes around you need to remind them that ATV enthusiasts vote and have long memories.

Update - The ATV portions of bill 5417 seem to have been gutted

We just checked the Environment Committee posting on the bill and found the following language:
Joint Favorable Substitute - Language Change: strikes sections 3 and 4 of the underlying bill and inserts in their place a new section three that requires a land record recording outlining how municipally acquired open space purchases were approved. It also requires that land previously acquired by the town that is sold must have the sale approved in the same method as the original purchase.

If you want to see for your self click here

Sections 3 and 4 were the ones that provided space for ATV's. It seems the ATV community has been abandoned once again this despite the bill being self funding.

Remember this in November.

Bill Cleared Environment Committee

The bill passed the Environment Committee and is not on to Appropriations. To get something out we will need all of your support to move a favorable bill forward.

Public Testimony of 5417

The following link has all the submitted testimony for 5417. click here.

ATV Bill languishing

Just a quick update. We have been in contact with the legislature over the past two days and there is nothing to report regarding the progress of proposed bill 5417. We will keep prodding and anything you can do to push your state representative or state senator would likely be helpful.

Summary of Environment Committee Meeting 03/12/10

There were several bills that were commented on at the hearing (Senate 116, 382, 385, 386, & 388 and House 5417, 5418, 5419, 5420, & 5477) which meant it was going to be a long day. The ATV bill is proposed bill number 5417. For a copy click here.
We had submitted out testimony in advance as well as our suggested changes to the existing law as well as 5417.
In attendance in support of 5417 were Lewis Davidson, President, CMBA, Doug Nagan, Secretary CMBA, Jeff Going, Nautilus Sales, Roger Donzillo, Nautilus, and Peter Soulsby, ATV rider.
First, elected officials spoke.
Representative Mikutel lead off in support of 5417. He spoke for several minutes in strong support.
Rep. Elissa Wright then spoke in support of sections 1 and 2 of 5417.
After testimony from the Dean of the Agricultural Extension Carl Wagoner spoke in support of sec. 1 of 5417.
Next the Public. The drill is that the public signs in before the meeting and picks a lottery number for when your turn is to speak. Obviously this means the public speakers will be a random mixed up order for varying bills, some for some against. We are only listing those who made comments on 5417.
Lewis Davidson, President CMBA was the fourth public speaker, A copy of his remarks can be found at this link.
The ninth speaker was David Sutherland of the Nature Conservancy and he was very anti ATV.
The eleventh speaker was Martin Mader (sp?), of the Sierra Club, who supported 5417 secs 1 and 2 and did not make any anti-ATV remarks.
The fourteenth speaker was Chip Martin of Working Hands Community Farms as well as thet 20th speaker Henry Talmidge of CT Farms, supported parts 1 and 2 of 5417.
Roger Donzillo of Nautilus was 25th and strongly supported 5417
At 26 David Bingham representing multiple organizations supported 5417 parts 1 and 2 and was against part 3.
Eric Hammerling, number 36, was for multiple bills but made a final statement against ATV’s
Peter Soulsby was 46th and spoke strongly in support of ATV riding and 5417.
Chris Vanderhof of NETRA was 47th and spoke against 5417 sections 3 and 4.
Jeff Going, of Nautilus, was 49th and spoke strongly in favor of ATV’s and 5417. A copy of his testimony can be found here.
At 50th Bob Andrews spoke in favor of 5417.
And finally at 61, out of 62 speakers, Doug Nagan spoke stongly in favor of ATV’s and 5417. A copy of his testimony can be downloaded here.
So to wrap it up twelve out of the sixtytwo speakers commented on 5417 and eight out of twelve were in favor of the ATV’s and 5417. (67% )