James Osborne

The roar of nearby ATVs washed over two teams of Little Leaguers at Camden's Von Nieda Park.

Pete Perez looked over from the baseball field to see three young men on four-wheelers ripping through the grass and onto a street, where one executed a tight turn that threatened to send the vehicle rolling.

Sarah Haase

ADAMS — The village Board of Trustees tabled a decision about opening village roads to all-terrain vehicles.

The board has heard only negative feedback about opening North Park and Spring streets to ATV drivers, Mayor Patricia C. Sweetland said, and the issue was best left untouched until additional information can be obtained. The village will wait to see what the Town Council decides.

George Handley and Stephen Trimble

Sen. Bob Bennett rightly takes pride in last year's Washington County lands bill, which brought competing interests to the table and earned their support to protect permanently 256,000 acres of wilderness. Now, as the end of his term approaches, Bennett is working in San Juan County to craft similar comprehensive legislation.

This moment can lead to real protection for America's red rock wilderness. Good legislation can reverse the decisions of the Bush administration that allow degradation of this irreplaceable landscape with increased off-road vehicle routes and rash and unnecessary natural resource development. But we worry that artificial haste and insufficient public input may lead to an inadequate bill.

David Chanen

Grant Yonke's back yard borders pristine Sandhill Crane Natural Area in East Bethel, filled with hundred-year-old trees, nesting cranes, rare turtles and wildflowers. The 533 acres that make up this preserve have escaped any real drastic disturbance in 150 years. Until, authorities say, Yonke decided he wanted to build an ATV track the size of a football field near his property.

Yonke, 27, appeared in Anoka County court last week after being charged in March with felony first-degree property damage, an offense usually associated with smashed-in car windows or spray-painted graffiti on a building. He declined to comment after the brief hearing in the case, which dates to last summer.

Evan Klonsky

In a training exercise that also cleans up a sensitive environmental area, an air team from the New York Army National Guard extracted and dropped abandoned vehicles from the Pine Barrens region of Westhampton yesterday.

The team, led by Chief Warrant Officer Richard Siracusano, worked in collaboration with the New York State Department Of Environmental Protection and local law enforcement to rid the area of "derelict" vehicles.

Josh Harvison

Officials with the Poinsett County Sheriff's Office Wednesday said more teenagers and younger adults are taking to city streets on all terrain vehicles, a violation of state and local law. According to Poinsett County Sheriff Larry Mills, they've witnessed an increase in the number of ATV riders this summer. He said with the additional of several ATV riders comes the possibility of more accidents.

"You've got kids out of school and when they're out of school, we were the same way, you know they're going to find something to do with their time," said Mills. "If they have access to an ATV, then they're probably going to be on it."

April Reese

The Bureau of Land Management has proposed several new protected areas for northern New Mexico -- including a stretch of the Rio Grande Gorge that Congress wants to designate a national conservation area -- and would close many off-highway vehicle (OHV) routes, drawing mixed reactions from user groups.

The Taos field office’s draft resource management plan (RMP), which covers 595,100 acres across eight counties in northern New Mexico, tackles a host of new issues that have arisen since the current plan was crafted 22 years ago, including renewable energy development, an increase in of off-road recreation, and growing public interest in protecting sensitive areas along the Rio Grande, which bisects New Mexico on its path to the Gulf of Mexico.

Susan M. Cover

AUGUSTA -- Gov. John Baldacci is concerned that state regulations involving all-terrain vehicles may lead landowners to restrict access to their properties, so he's asked a work group to take a second look at the issue.

Baldacci signed an executive order Tuesday to create a 16-member group to examine the issue of all-terrain vehicle riders on private property.

Dee Holzel

WINNEMUCCA — A Grass Valley resident went before the Humboldt County Commission on Monday (June 14) to express concern over ATV use in the outlying areas and to ask the commissioners to take action.

The Humboldt County DA’s Office is researching the actions that may be taken by the commissioners and the item will appear on later agendas. Roberta Rothwell reviewed some of the activities that have taken place in her neighborhood, which include an instance where young girls raced each down the road, taking their hands off the steering to wave their arms in the air as they went, while their parents cheered nearby.

Loren Genson

Ross County farmers are pleased legislation to license all-terrain vehicle use went into effect earlier this month.

The plates can help farmers identify ATVs who are trespassing on their property and report them to police.