Off-Road Vehicle Appologists Angered Over Smokey Ad

The lengths to which off-road vehicle appologists will go in their frustrated attempt to burnish their tattered public image never ceases to amaze. Off-road vehicles and their riders have been tagged as one of the biggest problems besetting our national forests. 

The Forest Service was trying to do the off-roaders a favor in having the Ad Council create the cute little public education spot warning ATV riders that their machines can spark forest fires.

After all, we're now heading into peak fire season, and each year, more and more ATV riders drive off-trail in the forests. Logic says that's a potentially hazardous combination. Honestly, how would it help the cause of ATV riders if next month a passing ATV sparks a fire that burns down half of the Bitterroot?

Apparently, that logic is lost on the Blue Ribbon Coalition. This article in the Environet Daily details the complaints of BRC President Don Amador, saying that he's never heard of a fire being started by a legal spark arrester-equiped ATV.

What he conveniently seems to forget is that not all ATV users obey the law.