Interesting article about ATV Use in Missouri..

[hevnsnt]

This was posted to a yahoo group I am a member of, I thought it was pretty interesting..


Proposal to open forest trails to off-road vehicles upsets many

By CHERYL WITTENAUER

The Associated Press


MARK TWAIN NATIONAL FOREST, Mo. — Norman Krutzman of suburban St.
Louis bought land adjacent to the Mark Twain National Forest to enjoy
a quiet retirement.

Instead, he says, he spends his time confronting off-road vehicle
enthusiasts who trespass on private and Forest Service property, tear
up the land and leave air pollution and empty beer cans in their wake.

"I'm to the point of violence," Krutzman, 62, told U.S.
Forest
Service officials last week at a meeting on a proposal to open trails
to off-road vehicles in the forest. "They can't enforce the law.
Where does it stop?"

But at the same public airing on the issue were avid off-roaders who
say their clubs emphasize responsible riding and trash-pickup events
in the forest.

"If we had access (in the national forest), it would go a long
way
toward allowing us to self-police the rogue people who continue to
run roughshod on the land," said John Doneff, treasurer of the
St.
Louis-based Midwest Jeepthing. "We adhere to the principle of
`tread
lightly.' You can't hear a Jeep 100 yards away. You can hear an ATV
and a motorcycle."

The Forest Service says it's trying to deliver a compromise between
the interests of riders and a need to protect the land.

"The use is here, no matter whether we want it," said Paul
Nazarenko,
a recreation specialist for the Forest Service. "We're trying to
provide an area that is not that environmentally sensitive."

The agency proposes opening 145 miles of off-road vehicle trails in
forests near Potosi, Fredericktown and Poplar Bluff in southeast
Missouri. The proposal opens some trails and stream crossings that
were created by illegal off-road use. It closes others that are badly
eroded, dangerous or that lead to private property or environmentally
sensitive lands.

Only Palmer, a former lead-mining area near Potosi, would be open to
all off-road vehicles, including jeeps and dune buggies; Cherokee
Pass (near Fredericktown) and Blackwell Ridge (near Poplar Bluff)
would be managed for all-terrain vehicles only.

Forest Service lands in Chadwick near Springfield and Sutton Bluff
east of Salem already allow ATV and motorcycle use.

A three-year study would assess the plan's environmental impact and
whether creating legal trails deters illegal riding elsewhere in the
forest. Officials say enforcement will remain a challenge, but that
it's still worth trying.

"We can't stick our heads in the sand," Forest Supervisor
Ronnie Raum
said. "This is one of the most rapidly growing outdoor
recreations in
Missouri. "There's been a 600 percent increase over the last 10
years."

Last year, Missourians bought 28,000 new ATVs and off-road
motorcycles, according to the Motorcycle Industry Council. New
purchases have jumped 1,000 units each of the past three years.

The Forest Service plan was developed in conjunction with trail rider
groups that pressed for more trails last year. Nationally, the Forest
Service is moving toward allowing off-road vehicles on designated
routes, although agencies in some states have banned them altogether.

Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth has said unmanaged off-road
vehicle use is one of the top four threats to national forests, along
with lack of open space, wildfires and invasive plants and animals.

The Forest Service says off-road vehicles erode the soil, hurt the
quality of streams and disrupt habitat for wildlife and aquatic
species. They also can pierce the forest's quiet for hikers, hunters,
fishermen and horseback riders.

Those very concerns are what defeated the Forest Service's last
proposal to expand off-road vehicle trails in the Mark Twain National
Forest a decade ago.

"It's very polarized," said Katherine Stuart, ranger for the
Potosi/Fredericktown District. "People either love them or they
hate
them." The Forest Service received nearly 400 letters during a
comment period. Officials say 60 percent oppose the proposal; 40
percent favor it.

The Forest Service now says it will conduct a formal environmental
assessment. Raum says he will decide by summer whether to proceed.
His decision probably will be appealed.

[Twiztid One]

thanks for the info , i ride down at Chadwick all the time .

[ThumperTDC]

It seems that all the bad apples are the ones being seen, that make it difficult for the rest of us to enjoy this sport.

[TRXman86]

dido thumper.