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1) Anonymous Citizen [by Anonymous on February 5, 2008]Have you been to the woods lateley? What damage are you talking about? Most all the off road trails would not even be a trail without 4x4's useing them. What is the problem you are trying to solve? I am very frustrated with tree huggers that do not have a clue. Go for a hike on a hikeing trail not a 4x4 trail, there is a difference! Vote these greedy morons out of office!
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who is doing the real damage in the forest? When you go into the forest what do you see? I'll tell you what I see.
1. Clearcuts. The damage done by logging far surpasses all other users combined. They damgage our riding areas beyond repair. What little repair they do when they are done is slow and woefully inadaquate. But there is too much money in logging so nothing will be done about that-we'll just complain about some atv tire tracks while over the hill is the next giant clearcut.
2. Vandals shoot up signs, burn the picnic tables, and blow up the outhouses
3. Car thieves joy ride their newly acquired vehicles into the forest, then shoot them up or set them on fire.
4. Illegal dumpers
5. 4 wheel drive truckers tie their chains around the barricades and pull them out. Then go in and see what kind of damage they can do. They pull the logs from the clearcutting around to block the roads. They try to shoehorn their trucks down the ORV trails until they get stuck and then dig their way out. Then to finish out the day, find a big mud hole to get stuck in.
These are the top causes of damage that I see in the forest, not ORV users. You want to talk about soil erosion and damage to vegetation by ORV's while all this is going on? Why go after a small group of users, tax and penalize them, when they are not the ones doing the damage? Enforce the existing laws first. Continue to encourage the user groups to partner with DNR and use them to patrol and protect the forest. That is what works.
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I strongly oppose this measure. It is the wrong response to take funds that are supposed to provide expanded opportunites and education to meet growing ORV use and instead use it to repair damage done by some idiots. Why not enforce the laws we already have instead of making over-the-top new ones?
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