GUEST COMMENTARY

Common Sense Tells Me, Keep ATVs Out of the Badger 2

By Stoney Burk, Guest Writer, 3-01-10

	Stoney Burk, hardly among the wealthy elite, enjoying the Rocky Mountain Front. Photo by Chris Bechtold.

I read the guest column by Liew Jones, Republican representative for north central Montana. This is my common sense response.

This land belongs to millions of Americans, not to a small cadre of motorized users. The history of misuse and abuse of public lands by ATV and off-road vehicles is rampant and is exponentially increasing with development of bigger and bigger ATV’s and motorbikes. My guess is most of these motorized users have never even read the management plans for the Badger-Two Medicine or the Rocky Mountain Front. 

This so-called “Coalition for Common Sense” has a catchy name, but it would make Teddy Roosevelt shudder. Do you ever hear them speak of managing a resource? Do you hear them talk about protecting some of the last remaining roadless habitat? 

Their mantra is Me, Me, Me. And how does one argue that protection of habitat, scenic beauty, wildlife and truly one of the last of the last wild places is blocking out the public? Apparently the roughly 350 million people of the United States, owners of these special places, must sacrifice their ranch to local motorized users.

I personally have no objection to snowmobiles if they stay out of the winter game ranges, but ATVs and motorbikes are different story. 

Ask these motorized users who shot the moose by the road this fall in the North Fork of the Teton River and left it to rot?  Who shot the two grizzlies along the Front, cut their claws off and left them. Who shot the bull elk on the Blackleaf Cut-Across Road and left it to rot? How about those three road hunters charged with shooting the Angus calf south of Choteau? All during the fall of 2009. All these killers used motorized vehicles, and it’s probably the tip of the iceberg. 

These are just a few examples of what happens with motorized access. Why do you think most ranchers don’t allow these motorized users on their lands? How about the resource? There is no more. Motorized users have severely damaged millions of acres. How about non-motorized users who number in the thousands upon thousands and a renewable resource that will be there for generations?

Contrary to bogus claims of special interest use, why not talk about to the hundreds of average citizens who hike, hunt, camp, and enjoy these special places in the “Badger 2” and along the Rocky Mountain Front?

The Badger-Two Medicine and areas along the Rocky Mountain Front are internationally recognized as some of the very best of our last remaining wild lands; habitat for a large variety of wildlife and truly a resource that is used by many, many people. The invasion of the Badger-Two Medicine by off-road vehicles has been illegally expanding into roadless areas for years. Now motorized users allege that their improper use is being taken away by special interests. Always for themselves; Never for wildlife, the land or for the benefit of other users. 

Are we to sacrifice these last majestic places to those who demand access because they consider themselves “special”?  Common Sense does not mean destroying or diminishing other significant values, available to nearly all Americans and other visitors who want to respect and enjoy the landscape and its creatures. 

Also, please don’t insult me and many, many of my friends who hike and hunt the backcountry by suggesting we are wealthy special interests. I grew up in a logging family. I was hiking this country when we didn’t have the proverbial pot. Are we to allow destruction of our special places because someone is getting too old or too fat or too lazy to hike or ride a horse? I read that letter from the Korean veteran who said he fought the war so he could take his ATV back into the Badger 2. Really? I wonder what I was fighting for in my two tours in Vietnam?

I have hiked and hunted the backcountry for decades; and, when it comes time for me to stop for whatever reason, I will not sacrifice those beautiful places for my selfish interests. There are millions and millions of acres available for motorized recreation on public and private lands. Keep our last remaining places as they are.

These claims about being shut have no merit. Policing themselves? Are you kidding?

These lands belong to all of us, not a few locals on motorized vehicles. Common sense tells me that you don’t allow a special resource to be overrun by a few for self-serving motorized users.

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