Letter: Enforce the Rules

Written by Vail Daily

Thursday, February 18, 2010

There sure are a lot of letters to the editor in response to the Hidden Gems proposal. As a person that spends a lot of time in the outdoors, I don't know why it is even being proposed or opposed.

There isn't a “closed” road anywhere in western Colorado, that isn't littlered with ATV tracks regardless. Anything short of land mines, helicopters, and guard towers isn't going to stop ATV abuse of “closed” areas. There are no real penalties for taking an ATV into a closed area, so people don't care, and you cannot regulate ethics. Put up a gate and they will go around it, put up a sign and it will disappear or get shot.

I would like to see more wild places, but maybe we need to start by enforcing the rules, and enacting steeper penalties for violations of areas that are already “closed.”

Andrew Mundo

Eagle, CO

Source: http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20100218/LETTER/100219460/1022&ParentProfile=1065

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"We can't continue to utilize the Black Hills in the fashion we have, particularly in the past 10 years. Just because the hill is there doesn't mean we need to climb it and produce another trail. Those ruts are there for years."

-- Tom Blair, ORV rider and owner of Whistler Gulch Campground in Deadwood, "Changes coming for ATV riders", Rapid City Journal (10/18/09)