The Myth of the Few Bad Apples

"We discovered that a full 50 percent of ATV riders chose to ignore the signs and go around a closure" -- Mesia Nyman, Forest Service officer

 

I can't count the number of times I've witnessed the Myth of the Few Bad Apples at work within our culture, especially within the media and state and federal land management agencies. Whenever some off-road vehicle advocate is confronted with the evidence that off-road vehicles are ripping up our public forests and deserts, it never fails — out comes the Myth of the Few Bad Apples — their claim that the damage is the result of a very small fraction of motorheads and that the majority of ATV, dirt bike and jeep operators are law abiding — they always stay on the trail and never ride in areas closed to motorized vehicles.

Never mind that these ORV defenders don't cite a single fact to back up their Few Bad Apples myth. Never mind that even agencies demonstrably in favor of promoting off-road vehicle use have come up with surveys that indicate the complete opposite is the case — that a large portion of motorized recreation users routinely break the law, ripping up untracked territory when they think they're not being watched (see Just a Few Bad Apples).

Never mind all that. You don't need it. Not when you have direct eye-witness accounts, especially when they're from law-enforcement officers hiding in the bushes. That's why this article in the Emery County Progress caught my eye. Forest Service officer Mesia Nyman  told Emery County officials about the rampant off-road violations and destruction that occured during the recent bow hunt in Utah.

...officers were inconspicuously posted at points where trails end and carsonite signs are placed to close the trail. These officers issued citations to those who chose to go around the closure signs. "We discovered that a full 50 percent of ATV riders chose to ignore the signs and go around a closure. We will continue our enforcement activities through the regular hunts," Nyman said.