Forest Service plans to limit ATV use nationwide

[Ten Bears]

In true cut-n-paste fashion

Bush administration Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth has laid out a vision that will ban cross-country travel in all national forests while asking each forest to develop a system of limited, designated trails and road routes for ATVs.

NOTE: It doesn't say passenger vehicles.

That the issue needs attention isn't challenged. In Minnesota, ATV registrations have skyrocketed from about 140,000 to more than 205,000 in the past two years.

I wonder what the national number is for ATV registrations. I would bet that one out of three isn't even registered.

"We want to keep the decision on where ATV routes will be designated a local one.... But the message going out is clear -- that unlimited travel in national forests will be a thing of the past. The forests can't sustain it."

"If ORVs have more infrastructure to use, this will lessen the impact of operating ORVs in unauthorized areas."

No matter when the national rule is adopted, enforcement will remain an issue. Environmental groups are pushing for more money for forest rangers, noting the average Forest Service law enforcement officer must cover an area half the size of Delaware, more than 460,000 acres.

"We've supported that idea all along. If we get the riders out of the woods and onto the designated trails, then we get money for those trails and can repair the damage and keep the system going," said Len Hardy of rural Nashwauk, vice president of the All Terrain Vehicle Association of Minnesota.

Hardy said the ATV problem corresponds with the snowmobile situation in the early 1970s. Snowmobiles were the scourge of many areas -- blasted for their noise, danger and property damage as people drove them on roads, private property and fields -- until a network of designated trails was developed.

Now, snowmobile registration and gas tax money goes to build, enforce and maintain trails, and complaints are a fraction of what they were.

"That's where we want to be in a few years," Hardy said. "We want to be using our own (registration) money for the clubs to keep the trails up."

http://forums.atvconnection.com/messageview.cfm/catid/24/threadid/382414.cfm

 

[BuzzH]

I like Idahos approach, all roads that are not open to the use of a passenger vehicle, are closed to ATV's.

Perfect.

 

[Ten Bears]

BUZZ, stick to topics you know something about, or reexamine your information about Idaho.

 

[BuzzH]

Hey Ten, you been hunting in S. Idaho lately???

Perhaps you'd better look into the "new" regs down there in many hunting units on the use of ATV's...

My sources tell me N. Idaho will be getting similar regs...in a hunting unit near you.

Still want to argue?

You're right, I dont know what I'm talking about:

"Rules for motorized travel restrictions while hunting will be established in 16 southern Idaho hunting units for the first time. Those units are 32, 32A, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 58, 59, 59A, 70, 72, 73, 75, 77 and 78. Units 75, 77 and 78 restrictions apply only in muzzleloader hunts and 72, late archery only. The new rules call for hunters using ATVs including four-wheelers, motorcycles and other motorized off-road vehicles to be limited to "established roadways open to motorized vehicle traffic capable of full-sized automobiles." The Commission authority to set this rule falls under "method of take" requirements."

 

[Ten Bears]

I hunted in S. Idaho last year, and took my ATV riding there. I will do the same here. I also know some lawyers that are waiting to challenge the issue, but haven't had found anybody that has gotten a ticket yet.

The regulation you are referring to only makes it illegal to ride as a "method of take" for hunting, not illegal to ride on open roads or trails.

 

[BuzzH]

Ten bears, I dont doubt you took your ATV.

Nothing wrong with that, as long as you didnt take it in one of the units under the new regs, while hunting, and off a road that wasnt capable of passenger vehicle travel.

The regs will hold up in court.

 

[Ten Bears]

BUZZ, I went specifically to a unit on that list to hunt and ride. 32A to be exact, and I will be back there again this year, but with fewer tags in my pocket.

 

[BuzzH]

Have fun.

 

[Ten Bears]

I know this year I'm not buying as many tags as I have in the past. I just haven't decided other then a deer tag, what, if any I will buy.