The Problem:

The future of our National Forests and the values they represent are threatened by growing and uncontrolled use of all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), dirt bikes, snowmobiles and other off-road vehicles.

In many National Forests today, off-road vehicles can go drive almost anywhere. The Forest Service reports that more than 273,000 miles of roads and other routes are open to various off-road vehicles. On some forests, ATVs and dirt bikes can travel virtually without limit across hundreds of thousands -- even millions -- of acres.

And this one use dominates the landscape at the expense of almost any other activity. According to the Forest Service, millions more people visit our National Forests to hike, view nature, hunt or fish than visit to ride off road vehicles. But with vehicles almost everywhere, there are fewer places where families can go for a quiet walk in the woods or a picnic, where hunters and fishermen can find quality experiences, or where hikers and horseback riders can avoid dangerous conflicts.

As off-road vehicle use has exploded and vehicles become capable of traversing almost any terrain, the Forest Service has failed to effectively manage this use or consistently enforce even its most basic rules on off-road use.

Forest Service Acknowledges Growing Threat:

In April 2003, Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth identified unmanaged off-road vehicle use as one of the four greatest threats to America's National Forests, along with fire, the spread of invasive species and habitat fragmentation. The Chief catalogued the damage and the other negative impacts caused by uncontrolled off-road vehicle use: "We're seeing more and more erosion, water degradation and habitat destruction. We're seeing more and more conflicts between users. We're seeing more damage to cultural sites and more violation of sites scared to American Indians. And those are just some of the impacts."

Chief Bosworth also called attention to the spreading spider web of unplanned -- or renegade -- ATV and dirt bike tracks that crisscross so many of our forests. He noted that "the Lewis and Clark National Forest in Montana has more than a thousand unplanned roads and trails reaching for almost 650 miles. That's pretty typical for a lot of national forests, and it's only going to get worse."

And this is just one forest. In 2001, the Forest Service estimated that forests nationwide were scarred with at least 60,000 miles of unauthorized roads, many blazed by off-road vehicles. This figure has only grown over the past few years.

Early this year, Chief Bosworth appropriately issued an urgent call to action: "This is not an easy issue to tackle, but if we wait a day, a week, or even a year, the impact on the land and the issues surrounding the problem will be come even harder to deal with. We need to address the issue now."

Draft Rule Small Step Forward, But Falls Far Short of the Mark:

The draft rule issued by the Forest Service on July 7 falls far short of what is needed to respond to the growing threat. The proposal does include some policy changes that would be beneficial if effectively implemented on the ground, including:

- Prohibiting cross-country motorized travel across entire forests;

- Authorizing ATV and dirt bike use only on roads and off-road vehicle routes specifically designated as open for such use; and

- Concluding that forests do not have to inventory and/or map unauthorized renegade routes prior to commencing the designation process.

Overall, however, the draft rule is extremely tentative, does not address critical problems, and fails to reflect the urgency highlighted by Chief Bosworth only a few months ago.

• Chief Bosworth has appropriately cited the need to act "now," but the proposed rule does not include a timeframe for starting or completing the process of studying and designating roads and routes appropriate for ATVs and dirt bikes.
  
  
• Chief Bosworth has highlighted the problem with unauthorized renegade routes, but the proposal is almost completely silent about how to address this pernicious threat.
  
  
• Uncontrolled off-road vehicle use is damaging the land, polluting water, shredding wildlife habitat, and driving many forest visitors away, but the proposal does not clearly require the Forest Service to study the negative impacts of specific roads or routes that could be opened to ATVs, dirt bikes and other vehicles.
  
  
• Having enough people and other resources to monitor impacts and enforce basic rules is essential to successful management, but the proposal does nothing to boost on-the-ground management and enforcement capability.
  

Take Action:

With your help, we can work to strengthen this proposal. Please send a comment to the Forest Service today. When commenting, please tell the Forest Service to ensure that any final rule requires each National Forest to:

- Complete off-road vehicle route designations within 2 years of the effective date of that rule;

- Include snowmobiles in the rulemaking so that other users and wildlife are protected;

- Designate roads and routes, including any unauthorized renegade route, for off-road use only after public participation and site-specific analysis of environmental impacts and user-conflicts;

- Immediately end use of all unauthorized renegade ATV and dirt bike routes pending site-specific study and official designation; and

- Ensure that it can afford, maintain and manage any system of roads and routes designated for off-roads vehicle use.

In addition, please urge the Forest Service to retain the following in any final rule:

- The general prohibition on motorized cross-country recreation, provided that any area designated as available for off-road vehicle use be limited and discrete;

- The requirement that off-road vehicle use be authorized only on those roads and routes specifically designated as open on use maps; and

- The conclusion that forests are not required to inventory and/or map unauthorized renegade routes prior to commencing the official route designation process.

Please also share personal experiences and observations in your comments.

Send comments via:

U.S. Mail
Proposed Rule for Designated Routes and Areas for Motor Vehicle Use
c/o Content Analysis Team
P.O. Box 221150
Salt Lake City, Utah 84122-1150

Email
trvman@fs.fed.us

Fax
(801) 517-1014