Vermont

Vermont State Police say an Enosburg man's blood alcohol content was over four times the legal limit when he crashed his ATV.

Police say at about 6:30 on Monday evening a passerby found 31-year-old Shane Mercy lying face down under his crashed ATV on Route 118 in Montgomery. He reportedly refused to go in the ambulance and fled the area.

Don Dickson

The decision by Gov. Shumlin and Secretary Markowitz to repeal the rule allowing all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) on state-owned lands is very good news. I hope they follow through on it.

Quite a lot of my recreation activities take place on state lands, and I oppose any intrusion of all-terrain vehicles there. I have photographed deep, wide, muddy tracks of illegal use in the Green Mountain National Forest, and there's no reason to believe that the state will do a better job of preventing illegal use. Experience elsewhere has amply shown that if legal ATV trails are created on state land, they will provide access to create more illegal trails in the interior.

Candace Page

Debate over the use of state lands by all-terrain vehicle riders burst out anew late Thursday after new leaders at the Agency of Natural Resources revealed plans to reverse a rule opening the door for ATV trails on public land.

ATV riders deplored the policy reversal, saying it is important to provide more legal trails to reduce illegal riding. Praise came from those who believe the big-wheeled vehicles do environmental damage.

Zeke Wright

POWNAL -- A forester with the Vermont Land Trust, Pieter van Loon, met with the Pownal Select Board Thursday to discuss the use of all-terrain vehicles on the town's former tannery forestland -- property concerning which the town signed a conservation easement with the VLT in 2002.

Former tannery land

Bob Engel

Many moons ago I was with a Marlboro class in the Chiracahua Mountains of southeastern Arizona. We were all watching a mountain biker make his way through a wet meadow at a place called Rustler’s Park. He left a deep track in the saturated grass and soil and single-handedly was establishing a new hydrological regime for the spot. His rut would help channel water out of the meadow, drying it out. We asked him about it. He was clueless.

On another front, I was reading a motomag not long ago and some guy was so out of control on a trail ride that he got his motorcycle stuck in the crotch of a double-trunked tree. They cut the tree down to get the bike out.
So there you have it, the ugly side of off road riding of ... nearly anything. But maybe we can agree on some terms and conditions that allow for the fun and minimize the costs? Let’s see how far we can get.

BETHEL, Vt. — A Vermont state trooper is recovering after being knocked down by an all-terrain vehicle he was trying to stop.

State police say Trooper Paul Feeney walked up to the ATV Friday morning in Bethel and tried to stop it for operating on a public highway. After he told the driver to turn the vehicle off, the man drove away, knocking the officer down.

Dave Gram

Advocates for the elderly worry about changes in Medicaid funding for nursing homes, environmentalists say state park land would be sold too easily and regional planners say they can't be rushed into a merger with economic development offices.

Those are among the complaints being voiced about a package of efforts to trim the state budget dubbed "Challenges for Change."

I just read the "Happy trails" editorial about the ATV controversy on state lands (Jan. 12). There is a common assumption by those advocating for ATV use on public property that somehow because they pay a tax that gives them a right to tear up state lands and disturb the solitude of other people with their machines. Proponents are disingenuous when they use the well -worn argument that because a machine is banned, one can't access public lands.

Public lands are open to all people — just not to all their machines. One can hike, ski, snowshoe, bike, boat, sail, even drive a vehicle on open roads designed for traffic.

Daniel Barlow

BARRE TOWN – Three of the five Democratic candidates for governor tried Saturday to woo what has recently become a political focus in Vermont: ATV riders.

Sens. Susan Bartlett, Doug Racine and Peter Shumlin, all Democrats hoping to be elected Vermont's next governor in November, met with more than 100 members of the Vermont All Terrain Vehicle Sportsman's Association at the group's annual meeting at the Canadian Club in Barre Town.

The meeting comes while the Vermont Legislature is in a battle with Gov. James Douglas' administration over a new state rule that would allow limited ATV use of state-owned lands. It's a rule that is strongly supported by ATV owners and riders and strongly opposed by environmental groups.

That had some of the Democratic candidates trying to straddle the line between populist recreation and environmental conservation.

"In every sport, there are people who are idiots," said Bartlett, who represents Lamoille County. "The biggest problem for any of these sports is, how do you manage these idiots? Because it's this 1 percent, these idiots, who are making you look bad."

Bartlett and Racine both said they are open to the idea of some state land being used to connect private ATV trails. Striving to find some common ground, the two senators said there are bad apples in the ATV crowd who ruin the reputation of the whole sport. They were also critical of the route taken by the Douglas administration to enact the new rule, which kicks in, on a trial basis, later this month.

"I believe that Vermont lands should be open to all Vermonters," said Racine, who represents Chittenden County. "If we can begin the discussion from that point of view, I think we can figure out this situation."

But Shumlin, the Senate president pro tem from Windham County, staked out a strong – and unpopular, with this crowd – position.

"I don't support the new rule," Shumlin said. "I have an ATV. I understand the joy of the sport. But it doesn't take many people not following the rules to turn the public off."

Shumlin said allowing ATVs to use public lands is a divisive issue. Vermont should look to what other states such as New Hampshire have done, he said. And ATV riders will need to prove they can be good caretakers of these lands by continuing to do what they have done: Build up responsible local ATV groups, sign up members, and ensure that all riders know that riding is a privilege, not a right.

"Let's find a solution that doesn't divide us," Shumlin said. "I know this isn't what you would like to hear, but at least you will never wonder where exactly I stand."

Shumlin's position was not greeted kindly. Danny Hale, the ATV association's executive director, said it was "extremely disappointing." A woman named Anna told Shumlin that she was "very disappointed" in him. But Ernie Pappas, a member of the Tri-County ATV Club, noted that "just because someone owns an ATV, it doesn't mean they have to agree with us."

"Let's not pick on him," Pappas said. "At least he is honest."

All three Democrats said they disagreed with how the Douglas administration is bringing this rule change. Bartlett said legal counsel for the Legislature has said the state does not have the right to push through the change without legislation. She said ATV riders are caught in the middle in a power struggle between lawmakers and the governor.

"You are innocent bystanders in this squabble," she said.

Racine said Vermont's system of managing snowmobile usage on public land works well. He said ATV riders should be given the opportunity to show the rest of the state that they can responsibly use the land.

"We've seen how this can work," he said. "It ought to work the same way for you and your sport."

Jonathan Wood, the secretary of the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, the man who has pushed the rule change allowing limited ATV use on public lands, denied that he is overstepping his authority. Attorneys working for the state have told him he is within his rights to increase access, he said.

He got a standing ovation from the crowd when he stood to speak.

"I appreciate that, but I'm just doing my job," he said.

Democratic gubernatorial candidates Deb Markowitz, Vermont's secretary of state, and Matt Dunne, a former state senator, did not attend Saturday's meeting, nor did Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie, a Republican who is also running for governor.