Articles of Interest To The Off Road Community (continued)

Campsites will remain open to ATV riders
Article appearing in The Review (East Liverpool, OH) concerning the riding still available at Wellsville, OH. They aren't shutting it all down, but a lot of it is being closed down for riding. It was private land where the landowners didn't want people riding all along, at least according to some news sources.

Access, with limits: OHV users should accept, respect new BLM rules
Article appearing in the Salt Lake Tribune concerning new rules for OHV use on the Bureau of Land Management land of 148,000 acres around Factory Butte in Wayne County, Utah. It is not what we would call a positive article on OHV use. They are restricting and closing access to public lands all over the country. The offroad community needs to keep involved and stay active to keep this from becoming a runaway situation. Supporting Treadlightly and other offroad activist groups is a great way top have your voice heard.

Governor awards grants to develop, improve OHV parks
Article appearing in the Quad-City Times about the Governor of Illinois recently awarding $416,000 in grant money to develop and improve OHV areas throughout the state. A new offroad park is being opened in Henry County by Tom Enyeart, who was awarded $111,240 to be used toward the purchase of 206 acres of an old Peabody Coal Company site, “Gob Hill.” This is what we're talking about! Way to go Illinois Governor!

Off highway vehicle meetings set this month
This is an article appearing in the Sierra Sun (CA) about three workshops that are being held in October to discuss possible additions to the OHV designated route system in the Tahoe National Forest. “The purpose of these workshops is to develop a proposed OHV route system,” said forest supervisor, Steve Eubanks. Additions? That's hard for us to believe. It sounds like political speech for, "We're going to try to take away some access but we don't want you to get upset or learn about it until after its all over."

Places to play, space for refuge
This is an article appearing in the The Santa Fe New Mexican regarding OHV use on public lands and National Forest lands in New Mexico and the need to designate (read limit and restrict and minimize) use areas. Don't get us wrong. We understand that OHV users shouldn't have total run of public land, but we feel that a decent percentage of it should be designated for OHV use. In most situations where use plans have been implemented the land use areas have been dramatically cut. What percentage is a fair one? Who knows for certain, but one thing is clear, if the offroad community does not fight for its rights it will not receive a fair shake.

Black Hills National Forest OHV Route Designation Workshops Scheduled For Rapid City, South Dakota
Sound familiar? This is an article appearing in the Black Hills Today (South Dakota) concerning a meeting formed by The National Off-Highway Vehicle Conservation Council (NOHVCC) in cooperation with the Black Hills National Forest to assist in conducting an OHV Route Designation Workshop in October 2006 for agency personnel and the public. The purpose of this workshop is to assist the Forest Service and the public in effective implementation of the USFS Travel Management Rule in their State. This is happening all over the country and they are not holding these meeting to expand the areas you can use for OHV use. When this comes to your state you need to attend these meetings and make sure your voice is heard.

BLM still working to compromise, despite no-show for Lost Ox Trail field trip
Here is an example of what we're talking about. This is an article appearing in the ELY Times (NV) an extremely low turnout at a public participation for the Lost Ox Off Highway Vehicle (OHV) trail system. According to the article the meeting only had one participant show. We cannot allow this to happen if we care about our OHV areas and use rules. This just gives those making the decisions a lot more latitude, and we may not like what happens.

ATV park officially opens
This is an article appearing in The Messenger (IA) about the opening of the Gypsum City Off Highway Vehicle park (a new OHV park), which features a beginners trail, a 1 1/4 mile motocross track, and 15 miles of riding trails. They will be adding an additional 500 acres in the future to expand the park. Dave Downing of the Iowa Department of Natural Resource's ATV and Snowmobile Program Management Division was quoted as saying that "OHV riding has only recently come into its own" and ‘‘If you’re not going to outlaw selling ATVs in Iowa, you have to manage them as a recreational resource....’’ Iowa is out ahead of most sates with this program and we applaud them for it!

Guest Opinion: Condemned forest trails were once legal
This is an article appearing in the Billings Gazzette (MT) concerning the political positioning going about describing trails as "unauthorized trails," "illegally made trails" or "unmanaged trails" and what the case really is. It gives a little insight into the environmentalists dirty tricks.

Back To Beginning of Off-Road Articles Listing