Study Makes Noise for Quiet Use of NM Forests

Eric Mack

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Peace and quiet pay off in New Mexico, according to a new study by the Upper Gila Watershed Alliance and The Wilderness Society about use of public lands in the state. The report, out today, uses data from the U.S. Forest Service to find that non-motorized recreation in forest areas, such as hiking, camping, hunting and fishing, brings in three times as much income and number of jobs to local communities as does motorized recreation.

Donna Stevens, executive director of the Upper Gila Watershed Alliance, says communities around the Gila Wilderness depend on tourist dollars that come from people looking for some of that peace and quiet.

"If they're going to be overrun by off-road vehicles and noise and dust, they just might decide to take their tourist dollars somewhere else."

Stevens says the Gila and many other national forests are currently working on travel management plans, and deciding which roads will be open or closed to off-road vehicles.

Garrett VeneKlasen is a long-time all-terrain vehicle (ATV) rider and hunter living near Taos. He says he's been riding in the Carson National Forest for years, but began to notice the damage he and other riders were doing to some of his favorite places. He says an area near his home was recently closed to motorized use, leading to the return of lots of wildlife.

"Elk rutting and bugling all day long and huge flocks of turkeys, right on the roads that were once very heavily used, where you'd never see an animal in the past. It's just incredible and really exciting."

Many other ATV users say they have just as much right to use public lands as anyone else, but Donna Stevens points out that a recent large increase in ATV use has been damaging to local ecosystems and watersheds in New Mexico.

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Source: http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/10991-1

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