Arizona

Cyndy Cole

Planners with the Coconino National Forest are proposing to close about 38 percent of roads on the Coconino National Forest -- eliminating old logging roads, user-made routes and duplicative roads near streams leading to the same destinations.

This is part of a national Forest Service directive to ban most off-road driving in the 1.83-million acre forest and designate which roads will stay open.

By August, riders of all-terrain vehicles could be limited in where they can go in northern Arizona's Kaibab National Forest near Williams.

The U.S. Forest Service plans to limit ATV access to only roads in the area, ending a longtime policy of letting ATV riders drive where they want.

Dustin Gardiner

Thousands of unmarked trails zigzag across the desert in north Peoria.

Most of the area isn't open to off-highway vehicles, but fresh tire ruts in the mud and dirt mounds formed into jumps suggest the trails haven't lost popularity with West Valley riders.

Tony Davis

The roar of a jackhammer drilling into a windy, rutted forest road east of Catalina is drowned out only by the debate over whether the drilling should be going on.

The drilling is for roadwork in which boulders have been split to make a forest road snaking through the Catalina Mountains more accessible to the public and to U.S. Forest Service fire and trail crews.

David Madrid

The call is out for volunteers to help in the annual Tres Rios Nature & Earth Festival cleanup.

Tres Rios, in the Southwest Valley, is touted as a wildlife sanctuary encompassing the confluence of the Salt, Gila and Agua Fria rivers. It includes the 200-acre Base and Meridian Wildlife Area.

David Wolf

Citing statistics showing that less than one-quarter of off-highway vehicles in Arizona have the required OHV Decal, Arizona Game and Fish Department Director Larry Voyles announced that the agency's officers would be stepping up compliance enforcement efforts in the field.

"Our officers will be issuing citations to off-highway vehicle users who don't have the required decal on their OHV," said Voyles. "The program has been in effect and public education efforts have been ongoing for over a year now. The compliance rate is very disappointing, given the benefits the program would provide to recreationists."

Citing statistics showing that less than one-quarter of off-highway vehicles in Arizona have the required OHV Decal, Arizona Game and Fish Department Director Larry Voyles announced that the agency's officers would be stepping up compliance enforcement efforts in the field.

"Our officers will be issuing citations to off-highway vehicle users who don't have the required decal on their OHV," said Voyles. "The program has been in effect and public education efforts have been ongoing for over a year now. The compliance rate is very disappointing, given the benefits the program would provide to recreationists."

James Gilbert

Since statistics indicate that less than a quarter of off-road vehicles currently registered in the state have the required OHV (off-highway vehicle) Decal, Arizona Game and Fish officers will be stepping up compliance enforcement efforts when out in the field.

“Our officers will be issuing citations to off-highway vehicle users who don’t have the required decal on their OHV,” announced Game and Fish Director Larry Voyles. “The program has been in effect and public education efforts have been ongoing for over a year now. The compliance rate is very disappointing, given the benefits the program would provide to recreationists.”