Editorial: Terror finds its way into the backcountry

No one can be sure what motivated someone to place a booby trap near Soldiers Meadow Reservoir.

The concrete-and-tire-spike device Idaho Fish and Game employees discovered seems targeted toward damaging off-road vehicle tires.

Nez Perce Tribe officials also discovered several homemade nail strips and tire spikes on roads closed to motorized vehicles at Six Mile Canyon near Kamiah in September.

Elsewhere, the pro-ATV group Responsible Trails America says motorized recreation dealers in California got threats about booby-trapped trails. A dirt biker in Colorado ran into a string of barbed wire that had been strung between two aspen trees. In Pennsylvania, a child was killed when he struck a rope tied between two trees while riding an ATV.

Perhaps these people sought to discourage off-road motorists from chewing up sensitive soils and wildlife habitat. Or perhaps, they just wanted to hurt somebody.

At this time of year, Soldiers Meadow sees more off-road four-wheel drive truck operators, but all-terrain vehicle users frequent it when the weather is warmer. And when an ATV traveling at speeds of up to 60 mph hits one of those tire spikes, it stops.

The driver, however, does not. Thrown or flipped from the machine, his body rams into the ground, a tree or a boulder. Frequently, the machine lands on him.

Emergency room staffs can tell you plenty of tales about off-road vehicle accidents. They involve skull fractures as well as head and facial trauma.

They see broken legs, shoulders, arms and ribs or collapsed lungs.

Sometimes, the victims are transferred to trauma centers, intensive-care units and/or require surgery.

Not everyone who has an accident on an ATV is seriously hurt. But among cases ER doctors see, some of the worst injuries tend to involve four-wheeling incidents.

The machinery is heavy. It's getting more powerful. Because of the four wheels, riders get a false sense of security, although they're just as exposed as any motorcyclist. Some don't wear helmets. Many are older, meaning they're less resilient or flexible.

Get hurt in an automobile accident and help is minutes away. Fall off a four-wheeler in the backcountry and it could be hours before first-responders get to the scene.

It's one thing to take your chances on a trail.

It's something else when someone sets a trap.

There's a temptation to draw an analogy to the tree-spiking cases of the 1980s. The idea was to stop logging by embedding metal spikes within trees. Sawmill operators got hurt when their blades contacted the metal pieces.

Nobody's taking credit for the Soldiers Meadow booby trap. In fact, if the point was to impede four-wheelers from using the area, why didn't someone give fair warning the device had been placed there?

There are better, more humane and more effective ways of stopping four-wheelers who abuse the land and break the rules. If notified of violations, Fish and Game can monitor areas where off-roaders don't belong and issue citations.

Whatever message lies behind such actions, it gets obscured by the violence. There's a word for those who believe their cause justifies inflicting harm on others.

It's called terrorism.

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Source: http://www.lmtribune.com/

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