Charles Winokoor

Restino said that in addition to vehicle-related harm to delicate wetland and upland terrain, other illegal activities including trash-dumping and setting fires are taking a toll.

D'val Westphal

That's a tip from Sandoval County Sheriff's Deputy Fred Switzer.

Switzer, who works in the Jemez Mountains, says he "deal(s) with ATVs all summer" and asks via e-mail "how about reminding your readers, now that summer is here, that if they are planning on using ATVs, the ATV needs to be registered through the state and the plate must be mounted on the rear of the ATV." He adds that out-of-state riders must get a permit from Game and Fish.

Since Saturday was National Trails Day, I thought it was a good time for an update on the long-running case of Lancaster County's own Enola Low-Grade rail line.

It's been more than 20 years since a group of Solanco dreamers dared envision that a soon-to-be abandoned freight line could become a jewel of a public recreation resource and a walk through history.

We treasure Amon Basin Community Preserve! On our first visits we knew little about shrub-steppe habitat, but we enjoyed glimpsing resident beaver, jackrabbits, otters, coyotes, herons, hawks, red-winged blackbirds and side-blotched lizards.

Those first years were also deeply disturbing: We'd see many old growth Wyoming sage ravaged by off-road vehicles and trucks. Garbage was everywhere -- sofas, tires, toilets, car "carcasses," even jugs of antifreeze dumped in the wetlands.

Scott Sandsberry

YAKIMA, Wash. — Memorial Day weekend is annually welcomed with poignant regret over lost heroes and loved ones, with relief over the end of cold-and-wet and the onset of warm-and-dry, and with relish over the prospect of a three-day break from day-job drudgery.

For those who manage or maintain trail systems, though — and even for those who recreate on those trails according to rules and trail ethics — Memorial Day weekend isn’t welcome because of, as one four-wheeling enthusiast put it, “that bunch of idiots out there.”

This letter is addressed to the two young people living near me in Flamingo Heights. When I tried to stop you riding down Jemez Trail by standing in the middle of the road with my rake outstretched, you refused to stop and hear me.

The girl on the quad zipped around me and I yelled at the young man, “Ride up there,” pointing to the west where the Bureau of Land Management land has been opened to ORVs. There you can legally ride. We have an off-road vehicle ordinance and it is illegal to ride on our roads. Since that brief encounter on the road, you have done a great deal of damage to my property, destroying work I have done to cultivate the desert. What you have been doing is harassment and this is the kind of behavior that has given off-road riders a black eye and bad name, inspired hatred by many and forced us to get laws passed to stop you.

GAINESVILLE - An ATV accident Friday night left the vehicle in a ditch, two women facing alleged drunk driving charges, and one of their husbands in the hospital, state police based in Warsaw reported Saturday morning.

At about 10:27 p.m., troopers Matt Witkowski and Jay Hoy were dispatched to an ATV accident on Route 19A in Wyoming County. They discovered the ATV had struck a ditch, ejecting both the driver and passenger.

GAINESVILLE - An ATV accident Friday night left the vehicle in a ditch, two women facing alleged drunk driving charges, and one of their husbands in the hospital, state police based in Warsaw reported Saturday morning.

At about 10:27 p.m., troopers Matt Witkowski and Jay Hoy were dispatched to an ATV accident on Route 19A in Wyoming County. They discovered the ATV had struck a ditch, ejecting both the driver and passenger.

Mark A. Hart

SAFFORD, Ariz. - Arizona Game and Fish Department (AGFD) officers patrolling in Graham County the first weekend in April issued seven citations for violations of the state Off Highway Vehicle (OHV) decal program.

Six violators were ticketed Saturday in the Cedar Springs area, and several warnings were also issued for juvenile operators failing to wear helmets. Another violator was cited Sunday elsewhere in Graham County. They were among the more than 150 field contacts made by wildlife officers in Graham County over the weekend.

Betty Adams

WINTHROP -- Thieves made off with the long arms of a gate erected to block four-wheel and all-terrain vehicles from trails along the back side of Mount Pisgah.

The Kennebec Land Trust is offering a $500 reward for information leading to the conviction of those who stole it.