Letters: Road Damage

Written by The Oregonain

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Your article on ATVs highlights the intersection of two growing problems facing our national forests -- roads and off-road vehicles ("Off-road riders to find fewer paths to travel," July 13).

Both negatively impact wildlife and degrade water quality and both were allowed to expand far beyond the U.S. Forest Service's maintenance and enforcement resources. The oversized road network facilitates much of the damage by ATVs.

Perhaps nowhere is this more evident than in Mount Hood National Forest. While the intention to manage ATVs is good, nearly 4,000 miles of roads will still exist in the forest, serving as a conduit for illegal ATV use and the spread of invasive species, fragmentation of wildlife habitat and sedimentation of streams.

With enough miles of road to stretch from Portland to Miami, it's impossible to expect that designated riding areas and law enforcement alone can ensure that our public land will not be abused by ATVs.

To learn more about Mount Hood National Forest's off-road plan, visit
www.bark-out.org.

DEB WECHSELBLATT
Campaign Coordinator, Bark
Northeast Portland

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Source: http://blog.oregonlive.com/myoregon/2009/07/letters_gay_civil_rights_fores.html

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“Farmers as a group rarely tend to want more government regulation. But the growing problem of trespassing caused by illegal riders spurred our membership into action to pass common-sense visible identification and ORV enforcement measures. We are proud that we were able to work with rider groups to find a solution that all sides could agree to.”

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