Reader comments
House panel told public lands overrun by ORVs

It is obvious that the majority of public land users prefer motorized transportation.

Last week, I took a hike on BLM and National Forest lands a few miles from my home. A gate which prevents off-road vehicles (ORVs)from entering a designated foot and horseback trail had been vandalized. ORV tracks had damaged the tread of the trail. I observed ORV's being operated in an area specifically closed to their use. No enforcement officers were around. This kind of situation is becoming common on public lands all over the West. The Committee witnesses are right, ORV abuse is out of control. The BLM and Forest Service have actually shrunk their law enforcement programs as ORV use has skyrocketed, and the violators are not just a "Few bad apples" as the ORV industry claims. The much touted route designation planning by BLM and the Forest Service is going to be an empty shell unless they get a credible enforcement program back into play. And, even if "Dave" is right and most public land users prefer motorized access, these individuals have no right to damage public land resources, and harass other public land users and private landowners.

Wrong, Dave. Only 4-8% of public lands visitors are off-roaders. The immense damage they do just makes it look like they're the majority...

In many parts of Utah the federal land managers are part of the problem. To avoid confrontation they rarely write tickets and they reward use of illegal routes by making them legal. State and county law enforcement are no better. If Rob Bishop is truly against ORV trespass on private property, he should pay attention to what a certain Box Elder County commissioner has been doing, right in his back yard.

Utah offers more orv trails than anyplace I know. It's very easy to go for long trips without getting off trail. By far more offroad riders use these trails than hikers, however I'm always glad to have a friendly chat with anyone we meet on these very remote trails. The only ones not happy are the ones that never use any trails in any form. I would be more than happy to hike with any of them on the same trails I ride for we never see anyone. There simply is no conflict.

If the people who are or advocate closing existing roads and trails continue there will just be more riding in places that are critical. take away the places and roads we have is not going to work there are more and more people in ohvs every day. I dont see very many people hiking or horeback riding where I ride. most prefer motorized transportation.

I hear this argument over and over - motorized users saying they never see hikers or horseback riders. Have they ever thought that perhaps hikers & horseback riders tend to avoid places overrun by motorized use? I go hiking for solitude, not for interaction with the noise & dust of motorized vehicles, and it's getting more difucult to find that solitude.

Also the violent tone some of the motorized rhetoric doesn't encourage me to seek the companionship of motorized users. At a recent Forest Service hearing in western Montana the situation turned ugly when a motorized user threatened an advocate for quiet recreational opportunities. There is indeed conflict when intimidation is used as an attempt to stifle opposing views.

Hmmm well I must agree with Ray on the hiker/horseback view. I've been trail riding a number of times because of the leisure effect it has. I never enjoyed coming across a road not only because it sucks you back into the fast paced reality (which you were trying to avoid) but it can also startle the horses and create a danger. Being disturbed on the trail doesn't seem even more exciting. The places I went to were designed for horse back riding but occasionally a park ranger would come up and their disturbance was done.


I've been riding before and although I didn't do anything illegal if I had and not been corrected I probably would continue breaking the rules and probably would have caused damage even though I knew it was wrong. I wouldn't have any excuse except for just being in the moment and not thinking of the consequences. Not a very strong defense.

But I also have to agree that the enforcement officers aren't helping and are actually making things worse. Not enforcing the law has a long-term negative effect on not only the environment but the land's and park's reputation as well.