Bambistew
Well-known member
Wyoming outdoors: Punish those who trash lands
Bob Krumm
WYOMING OUTDOORS
Sheridan area outdoor recreationists recently received notice that the Wyoming state lands southeast of Sheridan would be closed to vehicular traffic as of Jan. 1. It seems the State Board of Public Lands had enough of the misuse of the property by people who felt that they could litter whenever and wherever they liked.
May of the miscreants drove their vehicles off road during the spring thaw and created ruts. One person allowed his old junk car to roll down a hill and into a pond. The oil and gasoline created a hazard for the largemouth bass and other aquatic critters in the pond.
The lands were a favorite for high school students to hold clandestine keggers. Of course, they would leave behind the evidence, namely the beer cans and bottles, at the site.
Other people used the land for a shooting range with such targets as glass bottles, old television sets and other junk items. Again, all the targets were left to litter the countryside after the shooters were done perforating the junk.
The Board of Public Lands will re-evaluate the decision at the end of June. Personally, I hope that they elect to keep the land closed to vehicular traffic. It seems that those outdoor recreationists that care about the land and don't abuse it aren't afraid of walking. The biggest abusers of the area are too lazy to damage the land if they can't drive to it.
In a similar incident, the Big Horn National Forest recently announced that vehicular traffic in the Burgess Junction area of the forest would be limited to designated routes. According to District Ranger Craig Yancey, major changes are planned in the South Tongue River watershed southwest of Burgess Junction because of damage being caused by uncontrolled use of all-terrain vehicles.
It seems odd that the Forest Service would have to impose rules on the ATVs because every trail on the Forest is signed that travel is limited to the trail.
Another area that had received extensive damage due to dirt bikes and all-terrain vehicles was the state lands near Acme, north of Sheridan. Thanks to a cooperative effort, the land was fenced so that only people on foot could access the land. It will probably take decades for the land's scars to heal.
Unfortunately, a chunk of land at Camp Kleenburn is still besieged by people riding dirt bikes and all-terrain vehicles. Some of the riders think that fording the Tongue River at full throttle is the ultimate thrill. Of course, they never stop to realize how much erosion they are creating.
I have gotten so I can't watch many of the outdoor shows on television because the sponsors are all-terrain vehicle manufacturers. The ads depict the riders fording rivers or navigating through swamps on super duper ATVs. It seems as though the ATV isn't worth a tinker's damn if it can't create ruts in the mud a foot deep.
In last week's column I mentioned how great it was that people had a great yellow perch fishery at Healy Reservoir, but that there were already some selfish individuals that preferred to ignore the "no vehicles on the ice" sign. I saw at least two men drive their four-wheelers onto the ice last Friday. Public access to Healy Reservoir is only by oral agreement. If the people who are respecting the land and the landowner are barred from Healy because of the actions of a very few, you can bet that the miscreants will be as welcome as skunks at a picnic.
It is high time that the people who responsibly use public lands clamor for legislation that would bar those that misuse public lands from those places for a number of years, just as violators of game and fish laws lose their hunting and fishing privileges for a number of years. On top of losing one's privileges to recreate on public lands, I think that the violators should have to spend a month or more cleaning up and reclaiming the damage they and others did to the public lands.
Only a small percentage of riders did this???
Bob Krumm
WYOMING OUTDOORS
Sheridan area outdoor recreationists recently received notice that the Wyoming state lands southeast of Sheridan would be closed to vehicular traffic as of Jan. 1. It seems the State Board of Public Lands had enough of the misuse of the property by people who felt that they could litter whenever and wherever they liked.
May of the miscreants drove their vehicles off road during the spring thaw and created ruts. One person allowed his old junk car to roll down a hill and into a pond. The oil and gasoline created a hazard for the largemouth bass and other aquatic critters in the pond.
The lands were a favorite for high school students to hold clandestine keggers. Of course, they would leave behind the evidence, namely the beer cans and bottles, at the site.
Other people used the land for a shooting range with such targets as glass bottles, old television sets and other junk items. Again, all the targets were left to litter the countryside after the shooters were done perforating the junk.
The Board of Public Lands will re-evaluate the decision at the end of June. Personally, I hope that they elect to keep the land closed to vehicular traffic. It seems that those outdoor recreationists that care about the land and don't abuse it aren't afraid of walking. The biggest abusers of the area are too lazy to damage the land if they can't drive to it.
In a similar incident, the Big Horn National Forest recently announced that vehicular traffic in the Burgess Junction area of the forest would be limited to designated routes. According to District Ranger Craig Yancey, major changes are planned in the South Tongue River watershed southwest of Burgess Junction because of damage being caused by uncontrolled use of all-terrain vehicles.
It seems odd that the Forest Service would have to impose rules on the ATVs because every trail on the Forest is signed that travel is limited to the trail.
Another area that had received extensive damage due to dirt bikes and all-terrain vehicles was the state lands near Acme, north of Sheridan. Thanks to a cooperative effort, the land was fenced so that only people on foot could access the land. It will probably take decades for the land's scars to heal.
Unfortunately, a chunk of land at Camp Kleenburn is still besieged by people riding dirt bikes and all-terrain vehicles. Some of the riders think that fording the Tongue River at full throttle is the ultimate thrill. Of course, they never stop to realize how much erosion they are creating.
I have gotten so I can't watch many of the outdoor shows on television because the sponsors are all-terrain vehicle manufacturers. The ads depict the riders fording rivers or navigating through swamps on super duper ATVs. It seems as though the ATV isn't worth a tinker's damn if it can't create ruts in the mud a foot deep.
In last week's column I mentioned how great it was that people had a great yellow perch fishery at Healy Reservoir, but that there were already some selfish individuals that preferred to ignore the "no vehicles on the ice" sign. I saw at least two men drive their four-wheelers onto the ice last Friday. Public access to Healy Reservoir is only by oral agreement. If the people who are respecting the land and the landowner are barred from Healy because of the actions of a very few, you can bet that the miscreants will be as welcome as skunks at a picnic.
It is high time that the people who responsibly use public lands clamor for legislation that would bar those that misuse public lands from those places for a number of years, just as violators of game and fish laws lose their hunting and fishing privileges for a number of years. On top of losing one's privileges to recreate on public lands, I think that the violators should have to spend a month or more cleaning up and reclaiming the damage they and others did to the public lands.
Only a small percentage of riders did this???
