The Need for ORV Reform
Access or Excess?
 The Chief of the U.S. Forest Service recently said that unregulated
off-road vehicle (ORV) use is one of the four greatest threats to the National
Forest System. In many forests, ORVs spread out like spider’s webs expanding
user-created trails far beyond authorized routes. Riders abandon trails
altogether and simply drive cross country, destroying fragile wildland
ecosystems. Unchecked off-road vehicle use contributes to a litany of adverse
impacts, including soil erosion, habitat destruction, perpetuation of invasive
species, damage to cultural and sacred sites, and conflicts with millions of
other visitors.
While our national forests are and should remain open to
many uses including off road vehicle travel, the Forest Service has a primary
obligation to protect the land, clean water and wildlife from damage. In many
cases off-road vehicle travel is incompatible with protecting the benefits our
national forests provide.
However currently this one use dominates the landscape at
the expense of other activities. Although the Forest Service estimates that 6.1
million people visited national forests to use off road vehicles in 2002,
millions more headed out for quiet recreation, including:
- 33 million to hike or
walk
- 20 million to view nature
- 19 million to hunt and fish
- 7 million to cross country ski
Currently dirt bikes, ATVs, snowmobiles and other off-road
vehicles can travel extensively in many of our national forests. More than 90%
of the 177 National Forests and Grasslands have routes and areas open to dirt
bikes, ATVs, snowmobiles or other off road vehicles. Essentially most of our
national forests currently operate on an “open unless closed” policy, allowing
ORV travel on trails and cross country unless closed. Here in Washington
State many national forests have
designated as much as 80% of the forest as open to off road vehicles.
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WWC Leads ORV Reform
Washington Wilderness Coalition has played a leading role
in promoting common sense and reasonable reform in the management and
funding mechanisms related to motorized and non-motorized trail use at
the state and federal levels. And, when all else fails, we're not afraid to enforce the law through the courts.
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A New Approach
In 2005, the Forest Service finalized new regulations in response to pressure from agency personnel and conservation groups over the impacts of poorly managed off road vehicle use on National Forest lands. For the first time, the new regulations require each National Forest to actively designate routes suitable for ORV travel as “open”. The previous practice simply assumed all areas were open to ORV use unless closed.
The route designations will be done through a public process and are to be completed by 2009. WWC helped lead the effort in Washington and Oregon that resulted in the adoption of these regulations and will be participating in their implementation.
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