Guest Commentary: On the Range
ORVs: No Right Way to Do the Wrong Thing
By George Wuerthner, 1-23-08
Right now various National Forests and BLM districts are beginning to put together travel management plans. Most of these plans are focused on corralling the growing abuse of our public lands by thrillcraft—ATVs, dirt bikes, dune buggies, swamp buggies, jet skis, snowmobiles, and other associated toys used by neotenous adults. Many citizens are agonizing over which parts of our public domain should be designated legalized abusement parks, and which lands should be protected from such abuse. The underlying assumption of all these travel management plans is that some level of abuse and vandalism of our public domain by thrillcraft owners is inevitable.
I do not accept the premise that abuse of our lands is something that we must tolerate as inevitable. It is our land. It is our children’s land, and their children’s land. We have a responsibility to pass these lands on to the next generation in better condition than we found them. And we have a collective responsibility to protect our national heritage against the thrillcraft menace.
The real problem isn’t the machines. It’s not even the people. Many otherwise decent people ride thrillcraft, but when they straddle one of these machines they become participants in a dysfunctional culture. It is a culture that sees our public land as nothing more than a giant sandbox. Thrillcraft culture represents a lack of respect for other people’s property and the quality of their outdoor experience. What people do on their own property is not my concern, but when they ride their machines on public lands it becomes a societal issue. Our public lands are as close as our society has to shared “sacred” ground.
The operation of any thrillcraft has a disproportional impact upon the landscape, wildlife and other people. Thrillcraft pollute the air and water. They compact soils. They damage wetlands and riparian areas. They spread weeds. They displace wildlife. The noise, speed, and general disregard for other people by thrillcraft owners displace other non-motorized users of our public lands. Increasingly they threaten archeological treasures. How can any of this be considered “responsible” use?
You hear a lot about “responsible” ORV use and “a few bad apples” from thrillcraft promoters themselves, as well as some government bureaucrats. But these are misleading terms to say the least. What is responsible about tearing up the land? It’s like suggesting we ought to promote “responsible wife abuse” or “responsible child abuse.” There is no level of violence to our lands that is acceptable. Working with agencies to create designated routes or play areas is just helping to legalize public vandalism. There is no way to use these machines in a responsible manner except to leave them parked in a driveway.
I find it extremely ironic we would arrest someone as a vandal who had spray painted a Forest Service sign—a human made artifact that is easily repaired--but we assume it is perfectly legal right now for someone to tear up miles of our public lands for fun that may take decades or centuries to heal if at all—with no consequences? Where is the parity?
Most people would never allow thrillcraft to run across their lawns. They would not tolerate such noise in their neighborhoods. They would not accept being run off their sidewalks and pathways in their towns by motorized hoodlums racing along at unsafe speeds. Would we allow thrillcraft to do wheelies in the Arlington National Cemetary, or crawl up the Lincoln Memorial? I think not. And I see no reason to permit similar antics on the rest of our public lands.
Some proponents try to brand those fighting the thrillcraft invasion as “elitist.” But what could be more elitist than imposing noise, pollution, and just general havoc upon others? You don’t need a machine to have fun or to access the public lands. A pair of sneakers and a willingness to make a little personal effort is all that one needs to enjoy our wonderful public spaces. This is not about excluding people. It’s about excluding their hurtful machines.
We Americans need to stand up against this ill-treatment of our common heritage. To me the burning of an American Flag is nothing compared to the deliberate destruction of our public lands for kicks. It’s time for true American patriots to stand up and be willing to call these activities for what they are—vandalism or worse. If these motorheads want to run around in circles in their own backyards, have at it, but they have no place on the public lands.
It’s time to ban all recreational use of thrillcraft from the public domain. I personally can not understand how anyone can make deals about thrillcraft abuse. Why is it wrong or bad to operate these machines in one place and not another. Isn’t the damage equally as bad? If it’s not acceptable on some of our public lands, it’s really not acceptable on any public lands. We need to get beyond the idea that we need to “compromise” on abuse. There is no compromise on some things.
To those who think we have to accept thrillcraft because they are “traditional” activities, I remind them that the same arguments were once made about segregation, beating up your wife, about smoking in public places, and many other behaviors and cultural “traditions” that were once commonplace. Society now views these things as wrong, and has outlawed them.
There is no right way to do the wrong thing. Running thrillcraft on our public lands is wrong. It’s not good for the land. It’s not good for the air and water. It’s not good for wildlife. It’s not good for other people. It’s not even good for the people doing it. It’s time to ban these machines, not legitimize the continued destruction of our sacred public commons.
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Comments
http://ecorover.blogspot.com
I often disagree with what your write, but I found myself smiling when I read your column. Thanks for cutting through it all and pointing to a symptom of our cultural crisis.
I know as a hunter that there are few things more damaging to our traditions and fish and wildlife habitat than off road vehicles. No ground is sacred for just hiking boots and horses anymore, the thrillseekers want ruts everywhere.
I see the problem with public lands as one of being without sufficient funds, all the time, because they quit dancing with the gal what brung 'em. No money for trails or maintenance. No money to keep campgrounds operational, and now they want you to pay motel prices for a place to pitch a tent with water and an outhouse. The roadless areas are now overun with Mexican dope cartel weed ranches, with plastic drip tubes and creeks diverted to water plants. There are no cops or rangers or any other law enforcement officers out there, and the local sheriff can't get the job done, either, because they took all those Timber Barons out and now there is no money to run the county. So it appears to me that the Piss Fir Willys can pass all the regs they want, hold a zillion open houses and closed meetings, and plan their hearts out, and the real result on the ground will be zero, nada, zip, nothing, because they don't have the dough to pay all those wages and benefits to their help who somehow have it all figured out how to work three or four days a week for full time pay. There is just no money to fund a strong enforcement arm. And heaven forbid, letting an ATV use a road is bad, but digging a tank trap at the mainline junction, putting up a gate and a dozen signs that the road no longer exists, saves the land. If you go down one of those roads, you find plugged culverts and the road bed washing into the creek, a buttload of rock with trees growing out of it, tight enough and dry enough to burn with vigor.
But, the new USFS workforce is representative of the population as a whole, except they are having a hard time finding a way to legally have illegal aliens on the payroll. All those diverse people are filling their social engineering slots, in harmony, of course. In a non-hostile workplace. Peace, brother. I am waiting for them to have a wheelchair accessible wildland fire so all their office help can get fire pay, have a fire rated job. It will come. The EEO folks will see to it.
It is about managing people, not resources. All this is about managing people, and not resources. Manage the people, and all the good things will happen on their own. Gee. Why did I waste all that time reading and studying about pre-European occupation and land use? Evidently, all I learned was wrong. Man does not have a place on the land unless it is hiking or riding a bike, and the bike has only limited space it might use.
The real conservation problem I have with the whole deal is that it is very apparent to many that global warming is killing the trees, and fire is going to consume them all, and then the USFS closes the burn area to use by hikers. So if all the trees are consumed or killed, and the creek boiled out and the fish killed, how did the butt heads on the ATVs become responsible for the condition of the forest? It is ok to burn it all up, but not ok to use it until the inevitable fire storm consumes the whole of it? Strange logic. But, then again, my dearest uncle said that there is a type of hillbilly in the West who has to have an internal combustion engine making way too much noise that lulls the hillbilly to sleep and comforts him in times of stress. It makes no matter what the engine drives. It can be chain saws, generators, outboard motors, ATVs, (he called them Doodle Bugs) GI Jeeps, winches, it made no nevermind. He told me thought those people put a little Briggs and Stratton on the floor of the nursery to putt-putt a lullaby for the babies., that they actually needed a little carbon monoxide to adle their minds enough so that they could be good workers. He said that you knew they were around when you found a disposable diaper in the crotch of a tree, a hundred yards of monofilament along the creek bank, a couple of empty Coors cans shining in the stream, bullet holes in the road sign, and three big gulp cups and a styrofoam worm bucket all tore up. He said that woulda pissed him off if it weren't for the mountain bike trail leaking mud into the creek and turning off the bite. Now that did piss him off. I guess it goes to show you that you can't please everyone all the time, or some favorite uncles any of the time.
As to claims that it is only a small fraction of Thrillcraft users who cause the problem, they are much like the mythology of livestock permittees who claim they are the "true stewards of our Forests and public lands", while they cause massive and irreperable damage to fish, wildlife and our water supplies.
The same is true of those who demean environmentalists as "leftists", "terrorists", or "extremists". Don't you like clean water, clean air? Studies by Utah State University found that nearly half of motorized users admitted that in their last ride they knowingly violated travel restrictions and went off legal routes. It is no stretch to realize it is a massive abuse.
President Bush has proclaimed our dependence on foreign oil as a national security issue and stressed the need for conservation. As I see these 1-ton dual wheel diesel trucks pulling their 30 foot fifth wheel trailers with a six pack of snowmobiles or ATVs trailing behind with "Support Our Troops" stickers on them, I wonder who is really the patriot. The person who conserves, lives a quiet lifestyle and opposes these energy consuming abuses of our public lands and the destruction of our watersheds or the inconsiderate ones who race around on these motorized menaces to wildlife and other people, while claiming to be the true patriots.
Like public lands livestock grazing, public lands recreational motorized use will end due to global warming concerns and the damage they cause. You Pseudo Patriots, stop using these machines and Support Our Troops so they can come home and quit losing their lives over Middle East oil!
John Carter
Mendon, Utah
I think it's time for our view of the use of our land to grow up too. No one has the right to take away from another's enjoyment of the forest by rutting around leaving tracks and filling the silence that some go out to find with noise and craziness. Throw on some tennies, take a walk, and see what you hear and the animals you come across when you leave the hardware at home.
The thrillcraft problem will erase all that we have accomplished in conservation in the last 100 years. These folks are destroying wildlife habitat, killing wildlife, running oil dripping machines up trout streams for the thrill of it and ruining the experience of anyone within 10 miles of them. They cut fences to trespass on private land, they ride into wilderness areas and into wetlands where birds breed and endangered species are struggling to survive.
A large portion of the ATV crowd is criminal in nature. The 10 boys (in their 30s) who rode dirt bikes into the Pecos Wilderness in New Mexico last summer were armed and dangerous. If they behaved this way in town they would have drawn a SWAT team. The folks who ride ATVs into wilderness areas with chainsaws to open roads are criminals and need to be locked up for many years. Yet society is treating their behavior as normal and our tolerance is setting a precedent.
The real problem here is that the conservatives in America have purposely defanged our public land agencies. The Forest Service and BLM have almost no police so when the ATV criminals trash signs or trespass, there is no consequence. The Bushies and their ilk in Congress have purposely destroyed our public land agencies by ruining their budgets. So we can thank the Conservative movement for ATV chaos on our public land, for dead animals, polluted streams, noise, ruts, anger and more anger.
Soon people will get angry enough to start confronting these folks with lethal force. My dog was almost killed by a child (about 45 years old) on a dirt bike. The current peace between the public and the thrillcraft criminals will not hold much longer.
The real answer is more police, and the right of citizens to begin the arrest process on public lands. I don't want violence but these kids (of all ages) on the ATVs invite violence with the violence they do to our land and our silence. Its got to stop.
On the national forest adjacent to where I live, there is an effective road closure program that is generally respected & supported by the majority. In addition there are some "sacrificial areas"--although not great in extent-- where folks who love noise & machines can ride around & be happy. And they generally "play by the rules".
The larger issue is one of "kindergarden ethics", and not just on our national forests but everywhere. Drive any highway & observe all of the litter, note how many people use shopping carts to get their groceries to the car & then leave the shopping cart in the middle of the parking space, observe how many people crap in the forest & do not have the ethics of a cat to bury their waste & the list is endless. We live in an increasingly dysfunctional world where mega-max prisions are our primary growth industry.
Some of the reasons the Yellowstone snowmobile regs are so unpopular is that the guide requirement cuts down on speed, running off trail and wildlife harrassment, while the four-bangers just don't lend themselves to speed, noise and power -- just cruising. Heck, if you can't gun it, make noise, blow smoke, run off-trail like a wanna be outlaw and chase wildlife, ya might as well stay home or (Gawd forbid) ride in a snowcoach with the grandmas and little kids.
One thing I do not truly understand is why do 4-wheelers have a higher “right” to public lands than the common four-wheel drive? Why do we create a separate road system specifically for the commercialization of foreign toys (for the most part these are just that) on our public lands yet we will not allow those with an old 4x4 to travel those paths? It is arguable that the impacts are the same or worst with 4-wheelers. As a society facing a fossil fuel crisis of climate change, why do we encourage the trailering of these toys to a trailhead, when an old 4x4 needs no such extras? Now the toy has developed into a miniature 4x4 with two bucket seats and pickup bed. If 4-wheelers are allowed to go places why is it the average Joe Blow with a 4x4 is not allowed to go to those same places. It seems like a very special class of forest user as been developed at the expense of another.
Given such classic (well, in a sense), revelatory writings as Terry Tempest Williams' four elements book, it is clear that a fair faction of environmentalists are the priests, apostles of some kind of vast Temple of Gaia. Anyone who does not believe the eco-gospel or worship in the proper manner as approved by the anointed is to be cast out of -- not "into" -- the wilderness. Oops, sorry, I forgot to capitalize Wilderness.
The tragedy here is that there is no possible way to have a rational discussion about any issue when the belief system is based upon religion. There's a reason why religious wars are so brutal. Recognition of that is why America is theoretically a nation where religion is not given direct state sanction.
Seems to me on publicly-shared and supported assets, the avoidance of state sanction of a cult would be a good thing.
One doesn't have to have any religion or religious feelings about public property to be opposed to someone tearing it up and degrading its values for other citizens. I don't want to see vandal destroy FS signs or campgrounds, and for that matter, trash any public property whether the city park or a public highway. The problem with Thrillcraft is that they have a disproportional impact on the land, and other users of the public land. That is the basis for my opposition--which I would think any reasonable, responsible and thinking person (which you are) and thus I suspect would agree with--regardless of religious perspective or association.
And by the way I totally agree with your last comments about religious conflicts--the avoidance of a state sanction cult would be a good thing.
Your last paragraph sums it up nicely. Americans are some of the laziest creatures on the planet. That combined with the love of engines that permeates our society, makes for a bad situation. Time to draw the line. If you want to be out in the wild, then walk.
As far as my lardassed comments, I was not implying that handicapped people are lardasses. You know that. But that word you use, "balance". I think that we ALL know what that means. Anyone who has fought the extractive industries knows full well that industry gets fifty percent of everything it want's each time it asks until there's nothing left! And that is NOT balance! Balance is simply a code word for greed.
Drygrass, I agree with your post. It is very good. Indeed, the non-motorized folks are just as bad as the motorized almost! Now, don't get me wrong. I love my motorcyles as much as the next guy. But I DON'T have to ride them in the freakin' wilderness! That's an incompatible use!
By the way, I didn't miss your point. I just thought the mobility impaired should have some consideration in the discussion of access to public lands. I always enjoy your point of view. Give 'em hell.
It's lead, follow or get out of the way...See ya.
This is not about religion.
The issue is whether we allow anyone to degrade public property--especially for kicks. It's about respecting other people and the public's common property. It's about being a good neighbor. It's about responsible behavior. Tearing up the landscape, imposing noise and air pollution on other people is not being a responsible person.
As I mentioned in my piece, if I or anyone else were to go to say a FS campground and hack up the picnic tables or spray paint the signs, even just broke a bunch of bottles for fun, I would be arrested as a vandal. But we currently permit individuals to do far worse damage to the public's common property with immunity.
I know, from your many previous posts on this site, that you care about private property. Would you permit someone to come to your home and degrade it? Judging from your previous posts, I suspect not. And I think that is great. You are a responsible individual.
That is the issue here. There is no way to use these machines (off a regular road) that doesn't cause significant and more importantly in this discussion, a disproportional impact to the landscape, not to mention, imposing noise, air pollution, and water pollution on other users of the land.
Let's see how I can relate to your statement of Eco-Religion?? No other religion in the History of the World has EVER been sshoved down the throats of people that didn't want it nad these people always gladly accepted the affects of this new system of thought on their: land, culture, previous religions/thoughts and so fiorth??
Let's see: Christianity (with all it's variants), Islam, Roman Catholocism and I'm sure there are plenty I'm not listing!! So - YOUR arguement is Religious and YOUR'S is better than Others - was here First (at least before those damned hippies and eco-nuts) SO it has PRIORITY??!!
Oh, if you want to Use the CULT premise, let's see: Mormonism, People's Church of CA, New World Church of Yellowstone area - ect!!
Thank you and See a Doctor about your Crainial Rectal Insertion problem!! If YOU haven't figure thisout yet - Most of the Thinkers to this site DON'T agree or Support you!
Sorry, Larry, I will keep right on expressing my opinions, hopefully I will have more to say than being snotty or rude. And I will thank my God that I was lucky enough to be born in a country where that is possible. And I see my God all around me, I cannot nor would I try to control what you see.
Craig, I started working on another article, but unfortunately I fell a week ago and broke my ankle. Now the problem is getting the swelling and bleeding down to where it can be pinned, and the roads clear enough that we can even get to Cody to have it done. The roads have been pretty bad for the last couple fo weeks. Meanwhile I have to spend my time with my leg elevated....except when I just have to come aggravate the enviros. :>).
By the way did anyone else see this article this morning on the Billings Gazette and the Casper Trib websites? It appears jerks are jerks, no matter how they get around.
http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2008/01/26/news/wyoming/30-rescuers.txt
Hope you heel up OK. Stay off the ankle so you can get around again.
Geo.
Marion, I am sure sorry about your leg. Get better soon, and I look forward to your column.
It has occured to me that the liberal seculars are sounding the alarm that man is responsible for global warming which will eventually burn us up if we don't change our ways, and the proselytizers in the dark suits and white shirts on the porch are telling me I am burning in hell if I don't change my ways. Hmmmmmm. Different messages but the same conclusion. I have a very warm future, here and in eternity. Same message from two different cults. There must be Cliff Notes on this subject.
Since February and Presidents Day is coming, I should tell my corny story. It seems Abe Lincoln, a young Illinois attorney, was defending a gyppo barge operator who was accused of damaging a railroad bridge over a river. The railroad had a bevy of bright young attorneys, and the barge owner but one, Lincoln. So the morning is all plaintiffs evidence and testimony, and the judge calls a recess for lunch, and all adjurn to a tavern where the out-of-town railroad attorneys sit at one table, and Lincoln sits with jurors and the judge, and there is much hoo-hawing and guffaws of mirth at Lincoln's table. The judge tells those attending that court will be in session in 5 minutes, and they all walk back to the courthouse. Lincoln calls his witnesses, and the witnesses are cross examined, and then Lincoln gets to make his closing, at which time he essentially tells the jury that a great team of young railroad lawyers has presented much good evidence of what was seen, but they have come to the wrong conclusion, a conclusion contrary to what the defendants testified to, and the jury should find in favor of the defendants.
The jury is sent to deliberate, which they do so for maybe 10 minutes, and they come back into the court room. They have decided for the defendant. The young railroad lawyers are in disbelief. On the courthouse steps, one of the bright young railroad attorneys asks the young Lincoln what he had said to the jurors and the judge at lunch, and what was all the guffawing about.
Lincoln replied that the only thing he had added to the conversation was a story about the young kid on the farm who went running to his father and said "Papa, Papa, our sister Sue is up in the hay mow with the hired man and they both have their britches off and going to pee on all our new hay." The Father said "Son. I thank you and I am right smartly headed for the barn. You stay here. I will find the truth and administer justice. You have made a useful and good witness, but you have come to the wrong conclusion."
I sincerely hope the next young, inexperienced attorney from Illinois who might be President is as clever as Lincoln, and as thoughtful.
Again, Marion, WHERE IS YOUR GOD?! Can you NOT see God in the glory of nature? Sad, so sad that you can't. Here's a word for you, Marion. Hubris. Do you have any idea what that means? No, I thought not. What it means, Marion, is that there is NOTHING of man's creation that can equal God's OWN wonderous, glorious creation! And it is BLASPHEMY for you to suggest that you see God in something other than his Own creation. Are you a blasphemer, Marion? Sad, so sad. I feel sorry for you and your kind.
Again, Marion, BE SPECIFIC. Where do you see God if NOT in nature?
Ahhh, Larry, you may have read the words, but your conclusion is waaay off the mark. I most certainly do see my God in everything around me, but I see Him as the Creator, not those who insist on tinkering with nature to improve it.
Yes, Bearbait, "liberal seculars" --are sounding the alarm about world wide human induced environmental degradation of the earth's life support systems. If not us, then whom? I bet all of those New England Fisherman, who are now out of a job because of uncontrained take of fish (excluding the lobster) might wish they had listened to a few liberals, 40 years ago about ocean fisheries depletion. Of course at the time, they questioned the science, thinking it was nothing more than a "liberal plot".
And Dave Skinner, what about quasi fundamentalist cult of consumerism that believes that American's (Americanus Homo Consumptus) can consume our way into an earthly paradise? Yes, Dave, anyone who does not believe in the industrial consumer gospel of "eternal human consumption of finite resources" is a heretic. And I leave you with an Aldo Leopold quote: "To preserve any land in a wild condition is, of course, a reversal of economic tendency, but that fact alone should not condem the proposal". As the vast, vast majority of productive lands in this country have been "consumed", why is it not possible to have a rationale discussion about leaving a portion of the less productive mounintain tops & deserts as they are?
Given the health problems of the nation and so forth - the over weight should WALK for recreation and the VERY FEW eldery that need/want to go places on motorized modes - this will be VERY limited - are O.K., but they gave up the chance to visit certain locales due to age/health; caused either by nature or their poor health practises!
When I can NO longer climb up the Grand Teton under my own power - I will NOT cray for an elevator; my time is past!
Equating the creation of a rut on a forest trail to the beating of one's wife or children is way way over-the-top and not an argument that the general public is going to buy into. You will certainly never convince me of that. Perhaps it is just my rural midwestern upbringing. I believe in conservation (my wife and I just bought a hybrid car). I believe in protecting natural places. I'm all for protecting riparian zones and wetlands as much as any environmentalist. Just ask the ducks in my back yard. I guess where I differ though is that I just don't believe that every mud hole equates to some sort of horrible environmental catastrophe. I just don't buy that.
I guess I'm in the distinct minority of people out there that loves to do it all. I love to hike, I love to fish, I love to camp, I love to canoe and kayak. I also love to waterski behind my personal watercraft. I love to ride my ATV. I love to ride my dual sport trail motorcycle. I'm lucky enough to live in a state where I can do all of the above on public lands and waters. A place for everything when everything is in its place. In my state we have wilderness areas, wildlife management areas, state forests, and state parks where motorized recreation is not allowed and I hope is forever not allowed. We absolutely need places like that (but for the wilderness advocates it is, of course, never enough). I also hope we can forever provide places for people to enjoy a motorized experience - backcountry and primitive areas where a person can enjoy a Jeep drive or ATV ride. I love exploring roads and trails on my ATV or dirtbike. Sometimes I just want to cover as many miles as possible and see where a road or trail leads to. It is a completely different experience than hiking. I like both.
I do agree that the ORV community has its problems. We have lots of ORV users with an entitlement mentality who believe they can do whatever they want, whenever they want, and however they want. It is not just a "few bad-apples" issue. For those who want to "rip it up" with high-horsepower, loud exhausts, and deep knobbies we have places for that kind of activity - called race tracks. They're all over the place. I know because I go there myself. So I do have a plea to certain ORV users, and that is, "Please, please don't take your race-exhaust equipped motocross bike or your monster-mudder nitrous equipped ATV to public riding areas. That's not the place for them."
The solution is not to unilaterally ban all ORV users from public land. It is very hard to legislate attitudes. I'm committed to help solve the issues and believe we can solve them, so that my kids can take their kids and explore these same ATV trails.