Feds ponder how to curb rogue OHVs

Feds ponder how to curb rogue OHVs


http://www.sltrib.com/2004/jan/01082004/utah/127140.asp


By Brent Israelsen
(c)2004, The Salt Lake Tribune

Calling off-highway vehicles one of the four "great threats" to
ecosystems, the U.S. Forest Service is considering new rules that
would clamp down on unregulated OHV use.
A special planning team of Forest Service officials met in Salt
Lake City on Wednesday to begin planning strategies to better manage
the exploding popularity of OHVs, particularly the ubiquitous
all-terrain vehicle.
The team -- led by Jack Troyer, the Ogden-based Intermountain
regional forester -- was organized quietly last summer at the
direction of Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth.
"Jack has been charged by the chief to figure out how we are going
to go about dealing with this issue," said agency spokeswoman Heidi
Valetkevitch.
In the near future, the Forest Service is expected to announce
proposed changes to federal rules to virtually prohibit so-called
cross-country OHV travel, in which vehicles depart from designated
routes.
The initiative is being met with cautious optimism by
environmentalists and OHV advocacy groups, which still are trying to
learn more about it.
"There are few areas in the forest where open, cross-country
travel is really appropriate," said Brian Hawthorne, director of the
Utah Shared Access Alliance, an OHV group.
"We want to see trail systems that are manageable, sustainable and
enforceable."
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Forest Service officials say unauthorized cross-country travel has
proliferated, causing management headaches.
"Tens of millions of OHVs are now in use -- far more than even 10
years ago," Bosworth said last year in a speech on Earth Day.
"With all those millions of users, even a tiny percentage of
problem use presents us with a big and growing problem."
Bosworth said "hundreds of miles of wildcat roads and trails" are
created each year, damaging meadows, streambeds and other sensitive
areas.

Long-standing concern: Conservationists for years have complained
about the rising tide of OHV use, but they say the Forest Service,
like the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, has been slow to respond.
The federal land-manage- ment agencies say they have too few
resources to identify and mark appropriate trails or to enforce
existing laws.
But the recent statements from Bosworth and the formation of the
Troyer-led team have encouraged environmental groups.
"There appears to be a commitment at all levels in the [Forest
Service] to get a handle on this problem," said Scott Kovarovics,
director of the Washington-based National Trails and Waters Coalition.
"They genuinely want to change how they've managed this situation."
To date, supervisors of the country's 175 national forests, which
cover 192 million acres, have generally been left with little national
guidance or clout in tackling OHV issues. As a result, some forests
are more strict than others in regulating OHV use.
In Utah, the Wasatch-Cache and Uinta national forests, through
newly revised management plans, restricted OHVs to designated trails
only. The Ashley National Forest recently instituted an emergency ban
of cross-country travel pending the revision of its management plan.

How to proceed: While the environmental and OHV communities agree
with the concept of cracking down on unauthorized OHV use in the
forests, they may disagree over how the Forest Service should do it.
Kovarovics said the agency needs to "start with a blank map,"
immediately closing unauthorized routes until OHV use has been
determined to be benign to the environment.
"There's never been an analysis of all the impacts of unauthorized
trails," Kovarovics said.
"If they say everything that exists now is legal and they're just
not going to add to it, then that's not real reform."
Hawthorne said he is nervous about a national rule change, arguing
that OHV issues should be dealt with on the forest's district level.
He also said he hopes reason will prevail when it comes to closing
roads.
Closing all unauthorized roads is not practical, he said. "You are
going to make a lawbreaker out of the law-abiding fisherman who has
always been driving down a certain road."
Closing all the unauthorized routes also could overly concentrate
motorized use on authorized routes, causing traffic congestion and
road damage, which leads to environmental damage, he said.

"Sportsmen Against Bush" wrote in message
om...
Feds ponder how to curb rogue OHVs


http://www.sltrib.com/2004/jan/01082004/utah/127140.asp


By Brent Israelsen
(c)2004, The Salt Lake Tribune

Calling off-highway vehicles one of the four "great threats" to
ecosystems, the U.S. Forest Service is considering new rules that
would clamp down on unregulated OHV use.
snip
Isn't it interesting how many of those who cry "freedom" can't abide by
existing laws and regulations.
snip

"MLL" wrote in message
...

Isn't it interesting how many of those who cry "freedom" can't abide by
existing laws and regulations.

Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, John
Hancock, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Paul Revere, Mohandas Ghandi, Rosa
Parks, M.L. King Jr., and a few others come readily to mind.

Wolfgang

Same goes for all those that engage in civil and not-so-civil
disobedience. Anarchists and ecotagers come to mind.

Peace

On Wed, 14 Jan 2004 18:35:31 -0600, "Wolfgang"
wrote:


"MLL" wrote in message
m...

Isn't it interesting how many of those who cry "freedom" can't abide by
existing laws and regulations.

Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, George Washington, John
Hancock, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Paul Revere, Mohandas Ghandi, Rosa
Parks, M.L. King Jr., and a few others come readily to mind.

Wolfgang

"Hayduke" wrote in message
...
Same goes for all those that engage in civil and not-so-civil
disobedience. Anarchists and ecotagers come to mind.

Hm......

Ya know, from what I've seen thus far, it appears that you and I share
certain attitudes about some issues, but I got this thing about
monikers.......you didn't actually happen to know Abbey personally, did you?

Wolfgang
association can be a powerful thing.......and power, as has been noted, is
easily abused.

Spent a hell of alot of time in S. Utah, rubbing shoulders in my
youth. Gotta protect your home, don't ya?



On Wed, 14 Jan 2004 19:19:26 -0600, "Wolfgang"
wrote:


Hm......

Ya know, from what I've seen thus far, it appears that you and I share
certain attitudes about some issues, but I got this thing about
monikers.......you didn't actually happen to know Abbey personally, did you?

Wolfgang
association can be a powerful thing.......and power, as has been noted, is
easily abused.

"Wolfgang" wrote in message
...

"MLL" wrote in message
...

Isn't it interesting how many of those who cry "freedom" can't abide by
existing laws and regulations.

Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, George Washington,
John
Hancock, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Paul Revere, Mohandas Ghandi, Rosa
Parks, M.L. King Jr., and a few others come readily to mind.

Wolfgang

You forgot Pete Rose.

"Hayduke" wrote in message
...
Spent a hell of alot of time in S. Utah, rubbing shoulders in my
youth. Gotta protect your home, don't ya?

Hm......yeah, that'll do.

Wolfgang
who has long had a hankering to see the slickrock country......solitaire or
otherwise.

"Stan Gula" wrote in message
...
"Wolfgang" wrote in message
...

"MLL" wrote in message
...

Isn't it interesting how many of those who cry "freedom" can't abide
by
existing laws and regulations.

Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, George Washington,
John
Hancock, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Paul Revere, Mohandas Ghandi,
Rosa
Parks, M.L. King Jr., and a few others come readily to mind.

Wolfgang

You forgot Pete Rose.

See, that's the trouble with consulting primary sources.......who the hell
can read all them funky signatures?

Wolfgang
who, truth be told, has ample reason to be happy that he learned to type.

"Wolfgang" wrote in message
...

"MLL" wrote in message
...

Isn't it interesting how many of those who cry "freedom" can't abide by
existing laws and regulations.

Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, George Washington,
John
Hancock, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Paul Revere, Mohandas Ghandi, Rosa
Parks, M.L. King Jr., and a few others come readily to mind.

Wolfgang


OHV maniacs have absolutely nothing in common with that list! How arrogantly
stupid of you to attempt such a comparison.