Background:
All Americans have a right to enjoy our public lands and waters — but no one group of users, especially a minority faction, has a right to damage resources that belong to all of us, or ruin the experience of others seeking quiet pleasures in the outdoors. CO BHA agrees with former Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth when he called unmanaged motorized recreation one of the four top threats to our National Forests.

Traditional-values hunters and anglers are acutely aware of how the abuse of off-road vehicles scars the land, pollutes water, spreads weeds, frightens wildlife, decreases hunting opportunities and success, and destroys the joys of solitude and adventure. Many of us have had stalks ruined, a peaceful evening shattered, and pack-strings spooked by off-road vehicles. Likewise, many of us have lost our access to old favorite hunting grounds due to growing numbers of ATVs and a resultant noise and disturbance level that simply makes once-wild and peaceful places uninhabitable.

Backcountry Hunters and Anglers advocates for responsible access to public lands and wildlife. Abusive and excessive motorized access destroys habitat security, degrading opportunities and the quality of experience for the majority of hunters and anglers. We support clear and effective laws — coupled with meaningful enforcement and penalties — to stop motorized overuse and abuse of public lands.

If we do not act now to manage ATVs and stop motorized abuse, we risk losing forever the quiet, natural places that belong to all of us.

Specifically, CO BHA supports the following policies on public lands in Colorado and the lower 48 United States:
   • The term ATVs, as used here, covers both 2- and 4-wheeled personal vehicles, a.k.a. “quads” and dirt bikes, capable of travel on narrow trails (50” wide or less is the official USFS demarcation) and cross-country. There is no logical or ethical justification for ATVs running cross-country or through stream channels on public lands. Land managers should protect traditional foot/stock trails from motorized intrusion; ATVs should travel only on roads and ATV routes designated in a public planning process and engineered for motorized travel.

   • For full transparency and clarity, and to assist law-abiding ATV riders, agencies should map and designate roads and routes for off-road vehicle travel through site-specific and landscape analysis, with public comment under the National Environmental Policy Act. Existing undesignated/illegal routes should be closed immediately and effectively until full analysis determines whether they threaten forest health, natural resources (wildlife and watersheds), public safety and/or the experience of others. Renegade roads/routes that damage public resources must be restored to a natural state.

   • Agencies should authorize ATV traffic only in a manner that protects natural resources (including quietness, wildlife, natural character), public safety and the experiences of the majority of users — those of us who visit our public lands largely to escape the everyday noise and overcrowding that come with motorized access.

   • Agencies should authorize ATV traffic only where the agency can afford to closely monitor use, effectively enforce laws, and maintain trails.

   • Agencies should prohibit off-road vehicles in wilderness-quality lands such as roadless backcountry, wilderness study areas and proposed wilderness study areas as well as areas where motorized use already has or is likely to conflict with traditional foot/stock use, quiet hunting and fishing opportunities, or impair key habitat.

   • Agencies should create a consistent set of minimum off-road vehicle enforcement, monitoring, and maintenance standards that all national forests and BLM lands must meet, while allowing individual forests to develop or maintain stricter protective measures.

   • Land managers should adopt a stopgap enforcement strategy that puts responsibility for lawful driving and riding on the individual. Specifically, national forest and BLM managers should establish an “unauthorized use threshold” for all routes. Once this threshold is breached, the route or area would be closed to all motor vehicles. For example, should riders stray more than once from a stable route that is near a sensitive wetland, the agency should indefinitely deny any future motorized use of that route. An unauthorized use threshold would provide riders incentive to follow the rules, and would motivate responsible riders to police their own ranks.

   • For individual accountability and enforcement efficiency, all OHVs operating on public land should be required to have large, readable license plates, mounted in a standardized position and kept free of mud or other visual obstructions.

   * A significant portion (we recommend at least 50 percent) of “sticker funds” and other moneys collected from motorized users via annual registrations should be designated for law enforcement and restoration of OHV-damaged habitat.

   • Snowmobile trails should be routed well away from important winter ranges for all wildlife, including alpine species such as bighorn sheep and mountain goats. Seasonal closures for all motorized vehicle use should be implemented to protect wildlife during sensitive seasons, such as when female bears emerge from dens with young or when winter food shortages stress wildlife.

   * Off-route/cross-country motorized travel for game retrieval should be banned on all public lands.

Summary:
CO BHA is significantly involved in OHV/ATV and travel-management reform campaigns at all levels. As events progress, our policy positions may change. For now, we stand firmly behind the above positions and will use every opportunity to publicly explain and justify every point.