Ithaca 37
New member
Sierra Club members to document off-road vehicle damage - Brief Article
Sierra, Sept, 2001 by J.L.H.
With help from a former military man, Sierra Club members are taking to the woods to fight off-road outlaws
As a U.S. Marine, Tom Arnold learned how to gather information behind enemy lines. Now a civilian in Montana, he's teaching nature-lovers how to scout areas torn up by renegade off-road-vehicle users in Gallatin National Forest, which borders Yellowstone National Park.
"When I got out of the Marines two years ago, I had a dream of starting an `ecological reconnaissance' team, using the same skills for the earth," says 25-year-old Arnold, who started working with the Sierra Club after a snowmobile-monitoring stint with the Native Forest Network. To record snowmobile damage, Arnold trekked on snowshoes or skis, photographing smashed vegetation, dumped fuel, and erosion in areas off-limits to motorized vehicles.
Such destruction is increasingly common nationwide from irresponsible use of ORVs: off-road motorcycles, all-terrain-vehicles, four-wheelers, swamp buggies, snowmobiles, and Jet Skis. When driven off designated roads and trails, some ORVs can pick up weed seeds and spread them into vulnerable native-plant communities. They can also stir up stream sediment, and their two-cycle engines emit high levels of air and water pollution--and lots of noise.
Federal agencies are often too understaffed to enforce ORV rules, or even adequately assess the wear and tear the vehicles inflict. That's where Arnold comes in.
"I started doing this kind of work when I was about eleven years old," Arnold says. "Where I grew up, motorcycles had ruined key elk habitat, and my grandpa would go out and videotape the damage. I guess you could say he planted the seed of discontent in me."
In June, Arnold began teaching Sierra Club members how to document ORV damage. Volunteers with the Club and the Native Forest Network are surveying in Gallatin National Forest, a critical wolf and grizzly bear habitat. They will also be recruiting trail runners, climbers, hunters, and fly fishermen to help out. Ultimately, Arnold hopes to help build a training model that can be used nationwide. (For information on starting a monitoring program in your area, contact Geoff Suttle in the Club's Montana field office at [email protected].)
The Montana program debuted as part of the Club's "Lewis and Clark Days," an eight-state celebration in the West. This series of summer hikes, lectures, bike tours, and other events sparked renewed efforts to preserve what remains of the landscape the explorers saw 200 years ago.
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1525/is_5_86/ai_77279567
Sierra, Sept, 2001 by J.L.H.
With help from a former military man, Sierra Club members are taking to the woods to fight off-road outlaws
As a U.S. Marine, Tom Arnold learned how to gather information behind enemy lines. Now a civilian in Montana, he's teaching nature-lovers how to scout areas torn up by renegade off-road-vehicle users in Gallatin National Forest, which borders Yellowstone National Park.
"When I got out of the Marines two years ago, I had a dream of starting an `ecological reconnaissance' team, using the same skills for the earth," says 25-year-old Arnold, who started working with the Sierra Club after a snowmobile-monitoring stint with the Native Forest Network. To record snowmobile damage, Arnold trekked on snowshoes or skis, photographing smashed vegetation, dumped fuel, and erosion in areas off-limits to motorized vehicles.
Such destruction is increasingly common nationwide from irresponsible use of ORVs: off-road motorcycles, all-terrain-vehicles, four-wheelers, swamp buggies, snowmobiles, and Jet Skis. When driven off designated roads and trails, some ORVs can pick up weed seeds and spread them into vulnerable native-plant communities. They can also stir up stream sediment, and their two-cycle engines emit high levels of air and water pollution--and lots of noise.
Federal agencies are often too understaffed to enforce ORV rules, or even adequately assess the wear and tear the vehicles inflict. That's where Arnold comes in.
"I started doing this kind of work when I was about eleven years old," Arnold says. "Where I grew up, motorcycles had ruined key elk habitat, and my grandpa would go out and videotape the damage. I guess you could say he planted the seed of discontent in me."
In June, Arnold began teaching Sierra Club members how to document ORV damage. Volunteers with the Club and the Native Forest Network are surveying in Gallatin National Forest, a critical wolf and grizzly bear habitat. They will also be recruiting trail runners, climbers, hunters, and fly fishermen to help out. Ultimately, Arnold hopes to help build a training model that can be used nationwide. (For information on starting a monitoring program in your area, contact Geoff Suttle in the Club's Montana field office at [email protected].)
The Montana program debuted as part of the Club's "Lewis and Clark Days," an eight-state celebration in the West. This series of summer hikes, lectures, bike tours, and other events sparked renewed efforts to preserve what remains of the landscape the explorers saw 200 years ago.
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1525/is_5_86/ai_77279567
