Introduction to Off-Road Vehicles

Off-road vehicles -- dirt bikes, ATVs, side-by-sides (or UTVs) dune buggies, snowmobiles, jet skis, rock crawlers and new multi-purpose vehicles -- are one of the major threats to our wildlands. Registrations grew from about 5 million machines in 1972 to more than 36 million in 2002. Though sales topped off in 2003, ORVs continue to proliferate, threatening our last wild places. Off-road vehicle use on most public lands is poorly managed, covering the landscape with a web of motorized paths and roads. The vehicles can cause severe damage to resources and wildlife habitat and they ruin the quiet natural experience for millions more who visit our public lands. Off-road vehicles cause erosion, contaminate waters, spread noxious weeds, and stress, harass, and sometimes kill, wildlife.

Inadequate management plans, irresponsible use and insufficient enforcement have resulted in hundreds of thousands of miles of unauthorized "renegade routes" across the lands owned by all Americans. Transportation planners, biologists, and law enforcement officers on public lands now recognize they are vastly outnumbered and badly under-funded to properly manage out of control recreational use. After years of turning a blind eye, public officials are trying to catch up with the growth in off-road vehicle use, the damage they leave behind, and the conflicts they create with other forest uses as well as private landowners.

Deep ruts, Turkey Bay, KY. Note the person in far right rut. Photo by Howard Wilshire.