ORV Science

Technological advances have given ORVs more power and control, allowing even beginners to access remote wildlands.  These advances have increased the amount of motorized activity in wildlife habitat and a variety of sensitive ecosystems.  The result is an increase in impacts on the landscape and increased conflicts between off-roaders and non-motorized forest visitors.  The ecological and physical impacts of their use have been well documented in hundreds of scientific articles and several literature reviews. Summary of ORV literature reviews

Wildlands CPR continues to maintain and update a bibliographic database of over 20,000 citations documenting the physical and ecological effects of roads and off-road vehicles. We compiled this bibliography to help people access relevant scientific literature on erosion, fragmentation, sedimentation, pollution, effects on wildlife, aquatic and hydrologic effects, and various other up-to-date information on the impacts of roads and off-road vehicles. Search our Bibliographic Database

For literature reviews of the most searched topics, check out our Biblio-Notes.

New Resource: Off-road vehicle best management practices for forestlands: A review of scientific literature and guidance for managers.  Wildlands CPR and Wild Utah Project recently co-authored this abridged version of our full ORV BMP report.  It was published in the peer-reviewed journal, Journal of Conservation Planning.  This publication reviews the current research on ORVs and provides a set of Best Management Practices for planning and implementing ORV routes.  This will help conservation-minded land managers address the environmental concerns associated with ORV management on forestlands. ORV Best Management Practices