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| The
Vroom Report The State of Off-Road Vehicles (ORVs) Across America
May 20, 2003 In this Issue: · National Parks are Protected from Jet Skis, but for How
Long? National Parks are Protected from Personal Watercraft, but For How Long? Around the nation this Memorial Day weekend, Americans will get to experience our National Parks, Lakeshores and Seashores without the blaring sound of jet skis. And they'll be safer too, as almost all waterways in the National Park system are completely closed to jet skis. Jet skis are proven to cause significant damage to air and water quality, visitor enjoyment, public health and safety, natural soundscapes, and wildlife. The safety and quiet enjoyed by Americans this summer, however, may be short-lived. The Park Service is in the process of performing environmental reviews to determine the appropriateness of jet ski use in about 16 park units. The Service is under extraordinary pressure from the jet ski industry to resume use almost everywhere. Next summer, millions of visitors to our National Parks might not experience peace and safety in our National Lakeshores, Seashores and Recreation Areas. Park units completing environmental reviews are: Amistad National Recreation Area (TX) According to an article in the Salt Lake Tribune (May 13, 2002), an unprecedented "upswing" in the amount of off-road vehicles in Utah is devastating portions of the Wasatch Cache National Forest and threatening nearby residential communities. The spider web of routes created by illegal off-road vehicle use has stripped most vegetation from hills, creating the potential for massive flooding in nearby residential communities. Costly and repeated attempts to keep off-road vehicles out of sections of the Forest, however, have been violated with impunity. For example, concrete waste blocks placed by forest managers to keep off-road vehicles out of sensitive areas are often destroyed or towed away by riders wanting to enter the Forest. After surveying the extent of the damage, the Forest recreation manager commented that "just a few vehicles can do a tremendous amount of damage." The potential for flooding is a real and increasing concern. According to the article, Loren Kroenke, Salt Lake District Manager has "a growing fear about this [off-highway vehicle] use causing flooding in places that we have never experienced it before." According to the Tribune, Kroenke describes that "fires, overgrazing and logging wrecked this watershed early in the century, and violent, deadly, destructive floods wiped out property along most of the canyons of east Davis County from 1912 to 1930." Kroenke then concluded: "those wrongs were righted but OHV damage has reset that stage." Read "OHVs Make Mincemeat of East Davis Hills" at: http://www.sltrib.com/2003/ma/05122003/56051.asp?disply=print Non-motorized Recreation Industry Puts Pressure on Utah Governor In a move designed send Utah Governor Mike Leavitt a message, the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) is threatening to move its annual Outdoor Retailer Show - the State's largest convention - to another state. The OIA cites the Governor's recent secret negotiations and deals with the Department of Interior (DOI), all of which threaten wild lands across the state, as the main reason for considering the move. Over the past month, the Governor has signed an agreement with the DOI that could make it easier for the State to claim that cow paths, wash bottoms and illegal off-road vehicle tracks across National Parks and other public lands are "highways." Another agreement jeopardizes long-term protection of 6 million acres of wilderness quality lands in the State's incredible Red Rock Canyon Country. The OIA therefore, has decided to seek out other states that have a mandate to protect their valuable wilderness from development. The OIA's annual convention, which caters to non-motorized recreation interests such as hiking, brings $24 million dollars of revenue to Utah. Moving the convention elsewhere would cause a sizeable economic impact to Utah's annual revenue. Peter Metcalf, a representative of the OIA remarked in the Denver Post that, "… A show like ours cannot operate in a state where the governor is actively negative toward the economic value of wilderness areas." Read "Denver eyes $24 million outdoor show," Denver Post,
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E33%257E1388955,00.html?search=filter Read editorial: "The Golden Goose," Salt Lake Tribune, http://www.sltrib.com/2003/May/05182003/opinion/opinion.asp Quote of the week: "Would you give them your car keys? You wouldn't do that,"
said Dr. Jeffery Upperman of Children's Hospital. "You wouldn't
think twice about it, and that's an enclosed vehicle. Yet you're
willing to put them on a vehicle that has no roof on it and is something
that could roll over." Alix Rauschman The Natural Trails and Waters Coalition includes conservation, recreation and other groups working to protect and restore all public lands and waters from the severe damage caused by snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles, dirt bikes, jet skis and all other off-road vehicles.
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