Science, Anyone?
July 10th, 2009
No surprise that environmentalists are against the Agency of Natural Resource’s proposed rule allowing all-terrain vehicles on state land.
Nor that more than a thousand rank-and-file Vermonters, some (though by no means all) encouraged by green groups, have flooded the ANR’s mailboxes (electronic and “snail”) expressing their opposition, often their outrage, as the Burlington Free Press put it. There are a lot more environmentalists than ATV riders in this state.
What might be a little more unexpected is the quiet but indisputable disagreement from another faction: the agency’s own scientists.
The last time those scientists officially spoke on the matter, the Board of State Land Stewardship “unanimously agreed…that the existing ANR regulation (prohibiting) ATV use…should not be relaxed.”
from an email friend in MS-
ReplyDeleteThanks Eric, the impact of ATV's on public lands regardless the original plan, i.e. short connecting trails only tends to be overlooked once such access is allowed, and you know the difficult, if not impossible problems of enforcement. Although they are allowed on some public lands in many states, the damage to soil, plants, water, and to wildlife is very obvious. I noticed in the blog that there was mention of conflicts with hikers, bird watchers, and other recreationists but no mention of the conflicts with hunters. The last thing in the world a turkey hunter needs is to be disturbed by some idiot riding a four-wheeler into the turkey woods while you are tring to work a gobbler, or by your deer stand when you are hunting. I hate the danged things, don't use them, don't own one and don't want one, although most of the hunters and outdoor enthusiasts here in MS seem to own at least two of them, one they use to hunt from and to ride up and down the steambeds when the water is shallow enough, and the other to ride around in the back of their pickup to show off. Asd ou know I hunt in several states every year and where ATV's are allowed on public land, I ty to avoid having to hunt on these lands primarily because of ATV misuse. In fact even hunting on private land in WV this spring I had 4 ATV riders scare a gobbler off that I was working by riding through the woods raising hell, and even though they were trespassing, there is nothing short of killing the numbnuts that you can do about it, because there is no enforcement capability to catch them on your land. Obviously I have had it with ATV users, although I know there are some people who ethically ride and use them, unfortunately these folks are the rare minority.