State May Allow ATV Riders Limited Access to Public Lands

Kate Duffy

ATV riders who are now limited to private lands could soon have more trails to ride on. The state may allow all-terrain vehicles on small amounts of public land -- short corridors that would link existing trails on private land.

"It's been a long summer waiting to get to this point so I was glad to see it come out," said Danny Hale, executive director of the Vermont ATV Sportsman's Association, or VASA.

Under final rules proposed this week, the Agency of Natural Resources would allow a pilot project of riding on two or three tracts of public land for one season. The decision has been a closely watched process since it was proposed back in June -- both by ATV riders and environmentalists who say it would damage protected lands.

Hale says ATV use is always scrutinized, even on private lands, and riders don't want to squander this or any opportunity.

"Every project we get is a pilot project." he said. "We are held to higher standard than other trail groups because of the nature of what we do and the misconception that it's automatically going to be an environmental disaster."

The state received about 2,000 comments after its public hearing back in mid-June. Opponents of allowing ATVs on public land outnumbered supporters by a ratio of 4 to 1.

"We're certainly in favor if there are private landowners allowing ATVs on their property and it's being done the right way," said Jamey Fidel of the Vermont Natural Resources Council. "We're not opposed to ATV riding in the state. State lands is a different issue. The public has very strong sentiments about what their public lands are managed for. A lot of those have been purchased with federal funds that don't allow motorized vehicles. There's environmental impacts, there are social impacts, and we feel the public has spoken on this issue. They're 4 to 1 against it."

The proposal still needs approval from the Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules, known as LCAR. That is expected to consider the change on November 3rd. Even if that gets the green light, VASA says they'll still have to go through a lengthy permitting process. It would be at least next year before ATVs are allowed on state-owned lands.

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Source: http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=11368691

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