Proposed ATV rule is good policy
Toolbox
By Steve McLeod - Published: June 13, 2009
The Agency of Natural Resources has proposed a rule that will set up a process for designating ATV trails on state land. This proposed rule is clear, concise, thorough and timely.
Many Vermonters recognize that most ATVers are working families and civic contributors much like themselves. They recognize that ATVers, like everyone else, have paid for Vermont's public land, and should not be excluded from using it. Vermont has always embraced diversity, and that includes recreational diversity.
However, there are those who "just say no" and would like to ban ATVing altogether, including on state lands, as evidenced by some recent opinion columns.
This column will focus on why the "just say no" exclusionists are advocating a policy out of step with the Vermont way.
First and foremost, Vermonters have always believed in sharing. That is evidenced by state law at 10 VSA 441 which states that it is: "the intent of the legislature that trails be established within and without the boundaries of state parks and forests and, when feasible, to interconnect units of the state park and forest system…" . State law at 10 VSA 442 includes ATV trails as the trails to be established on state land.
Vermonters have purchased over 300,000 acres of state land since the 1920s. This amounts to 468 square miles of state land. Plus, there is conserved land owned by environmental groups. ATV connector trails will take less than one-tenth of one percent of state land. For example, a connector that VASA desires for highway crossing safety improvements would require less than 100 yards of state land. This goes to show that, indeed, there is room for everyone.
Legally managed ATV trails are not new to Vermont. Over the past ten years, the Vt. ATV Sportsman's Association (VASA) has developed and maintains about 600 miles of legal, managed ATV trails on private land and town-right-of ways in many regions of the state. VASA is a copycat of the successful Vt. Association of Snow Travelers snowmobile trail management organization. Besides developing and providing stewardship for this 600 mile trail system, VASA and its 20 local ATV clubs' focus on management activities that include work with enforcement, trail safety patrols, rider education, work with public agencies, public relations, and landowner relations.
Some of the local and national groups that will line up in opposition to this regulation have also lined up to oppose snowmobiling on Vermont's federal lands. They have and will claim all manners of environmental wreckage if public lands ATV connector trails are established. If ATV state lands connector trails will cause run-away environmental wreckage, how do ATV opponents explain why over 100 private and town landowners have allowed VASA to operate trails on their land year after year? Isn't it safe to assume that these private and town landowners care as much about their land as the state cares about its land? Environmental health of our state lands is a matter of scale. Amenities such as campgrounds, picnic areas, beaches, trails of all sorts, scenic vistas, and automobile roads do not destroy the forest. Indeed, timber harvesting operations and the logging roads that assist in harvesting improve the health of the forest. All of these things have existed for decades on our state lands, yet our state lands remain beautiful places that we all treasure. The amenities that alter the state lands take a very small portion of the land mass, and are the destinations of most people who use state land. As any hunter knows, a remote woods or solitary experience is easy to find in Vermont's 468 square miles of state land.
Opponents of ATVing are grasping at straws when they claim that ATVs are noisy and increase global warming. ATVs make no more noise than a chain saw or snowmobile. Having hunted with rabbit dogs, I can tell you that the woods muffle sounds as loud as howling hounds in a relatively short distance. Does the noise from the crowded Groton State Forest beach area resound throughout all 40 square miles of the surrounding forest? Of course not. If Vermont is going to ban ATVs from state land on grounds of global warming, then, to be consistent, Vermont should make state lands off limits to anyone who has to travel more than 50 miles in a gasoline powered car.
Under the proposed rule, all ATV trail proposals must go through a public process before the agency decides whether to approve the proposals. The rule establishes 11 specific criterions that the trail must meet plus any other criterion that the agency deems appropriate in a particular case. Designated trails can be terminated at any time by the agency. The proposed rule allows "connector trails" between VASA's private and town lands trails systems only. The rule gives the agency unchecked power to protect the environment and other interests without being so over-procedural that it drowns ATV trails in a sea of red tape.
New Hampshire, Maine, virtually all other rural states, and much of our nation's federal lands allow extensive public land ATV trail systems rather than just "connectors". Northern New Hampshire's extensive state lands ATV trails have been a boon to that depressed region's economy. While VASA advocates more expansive state lands ATV opportunities, VASA accepts that the agency has tried to strike a fair compromise.
Steve McLeod is a former legislator, assistant attorney general, and outdoor sports promoter who serves as public policy and outreach director for the Vermont ATV Sportsman's Association.
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