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.

NEW HAMPSHIRE: ATV trail holds big dreams for city
ATV DEATH: Former Utah congressman dead in ATV accident
ATV DRIVERS: Invade, damage roadless forests

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% )

Environment Committee Friday at 10:30 am

A gentle reminder that the meeting is this Friday at 10:30am in room 2B. If you would like to attend and get a chance to speak you should plan on arriving around 8:30 to sign in and get a speaking sequence number, these are allocated by a simple lottery system. Additionally if you would like to place a written statement in the committee's hands you will need to wither bring 50 copies or email it to Dawn Niles before Thursday at noon.

We will be posting the comments of Lewis Davidson, President CMBA, Doug Nagan, Secretary CMBA, Jeff Going, and the CMBA proposed changes to the law on Friday.

If you have any further comments send them to CMBA.

Suppport is rising

This post has the latest article from Bud Wilkinson in the Republican American. Click here for the article.
We also got an email from 'Yank' who wrote to Bud regarding his last column:

Good morning -
I don't do this very often, but felt strongly enough about the state and off-road fans to comment on your column in Saturday's Rep-Am.

I use a quad often on a small farm. The farm butts up to a fairly large section of the Mattatuck Forest in Watertown. As I also hunt this same portion of the state forest I've been interrupted by dirt bikes & quads during the bow season. They are riding in an area where it is prohibited.

My point is this:

Many of us have but one day a week to hunt, and that's Saturday. By providing a place for these illegal riders to participate in their passion it will
help us bowhunters pursue ours. Perhaps the hunting fraternity might help back your propositions if it benefits them as well?

Thank you for your time, and no, I don't ride, but read your column every week. Well done and always interesting.

Yank

Environment Committee ATV Meeting - Specifics

Date: March 12, 2010

Time: 10:30am

Place: Legislative Office Building – Room 2B

Topic: Proposed Bill 5417

Why your presence is needed: This is a great opportunity for the powersports community to finally get some state land for legal riding. It is an election year and legislators are nervous. A show of support and strength will probably make the difference.

Directions to Legislative Office Building

The Legislative Office Building is located at 300 Capitol Avenue, Hartford.

Traveling on I-84 East - Take Exit 48, Capitol Avenue, get into the right lane of the exit ramp.  At the end of the exit ramp turn right onto Capitol Avenue.

Take the first right past the Legislative Office Building, proceed to the back of the garage and take a right to enter the garage using the left hand lane (employees) or the right hand lane (visitors).

Traveling on I-84 West - Take Exit 48, Asylum Street, at the end of the exit ramp turn right at the light onto Asylum Street. At the YWCA turn left onto Broad Street, proceed through two stop lights, immediately after the Armory building take the first left and then another left at the end of the short access road. Follow this road around the garage to the back and take a right to enter the garage using the left hand lane (employees) or the right hand lane (visitors).

Traveling on I-91 North or South - Take Exit 29A, Capitol Avenue, proceed through the Pulaski Circle at the end of the long exit road. Take a right on Elm Street and turn left at Trinity Street. Go past the Capitol building and the I-84 entrance ramp, all on your right. Take the first right past the Legislative Office Building, proceed to the back of the garage and take a right to enter the garage using the left hand lane (employees) or the right hand lane (visitors).

Parking - Limited public parking is available on the first floor of the parking garage. There is a connector to the Legislative Office Building at the roof level. On-street metered parking and commercial parking lots are also nearby.

New Proposed Bill -5417

The pace is picking up. The old proposed bill (5078) has been killed and another 5417 has taken its place. For a copy of bill click here. 

There is a environment committee meeting scheduled for next Friday, March 12th at 10:30 am room 2B in the legislature building. This is the place to show your support for ATV space on state land in CT.

Let's let them know that the power sports community is mobilized and is watching the vote.

Contact your legislator

If you would like to help one of the best things you could do is to contact your local legislators (both senate and representatives) and send them a note saying you are one of their constituents, you vote and you want them to support proposed bill 5078. The words should be your own and needn't be overly long.

If you do not know your local representative you can find them at this link 

We have learned that mass mailings do not receive one tenth the attention that a communication from a constituent does. So if you want the bill to succeed you need to let your legislator know.

Some additional tools

We are just beginning to get this blog off the ground and already we have some additional tools for you to use. 

First, if you have not already taken it there is a simple survey available to make sure you are aware of the issues that are facing us. You can access the survey at ATV Survey

You can also keep in touch with the Connecticut Motorsports Business Association by checking out our web site at this link 

There are also supporting articles at www.ride-ct.com 

Keep watching this space as there is going to be a meeting at the Capitol regarding the ATV open space bill next week. We will post the time and date here as soon as it is finalized. 

Hope to see you there.

The Issue

Twenty four years ago, in 1986, the legislature passed into law Connecticut General Statute Chapter 447 Section 23-26 a-g, that required the DEP to provide space in Connecticut for the riding of ATV's. During these years nothing has happened which has led to:

• lost revenue for the state - sales tax, registration fees, riding fees, etc. that are estimated in the millions
• lost revenue for powersport dealers (if an ATV enthusiast cannot ride in CT why should he buy an ATV here)
• nowhere for ATV riders to go so they go to other states or ride illegally.

It is clear that DEP has not lived up to their obligations under existing legislation.

Again have a bill (proposed bill 5078) that attempts to address this impasse. This bill clarifies some issues not clearly addressed in the existing legislation and we would like your support to address this issue.

ATV enthusiasts are tired of being treated like second class citizens and since we can't fire the DEP we may take their frustrations out on those we can fire (it is an election year!).

So we encourage you to comment (comments will be edited for appropriateness) and to help get the word out that we are going to make sure this issue is heard.