ORVs

Over the July 4th holiday (and some days after), a large group of people rented out the Bitterroot National Forest's East Fork Guard Station and caused an incident with forest officials. During the time they were up there a few motorcycle riders rode cross-country off the nearby Needle Creek trail #434 (the trail is in an official Roadless Area).

The Montana Wildlife Federation ran a two part series in their last newsletters detailing how motorized use can spoil hunting opportunities and chase big game onto private land where hunters cannot follow. In Part 1, MWF identified four categorical issues, in addition to habit damage and impacts to wildlife, that continue to be significant in Montana: user behavior; user education; the inability of agencies to enforce regulations due to the lack of manpower and funding; and the lack of regulations or laws governing ORV uses while hunting.

I stumbeled across the article below in the most recent issue of the Backcountry Hunters and Anglers journal. The entire journal is online in PDF format, but I've reproduced the article here to encourage more folks to read it. The author, Mark Clifford, was born and raised in northern California and completed a Ph.D. in Comparative Pathology at the University of California, Davis. His passions include hunting, fishing and habitat conservation.

Apparently, some pro-ATV provincial officials in Canada used state funds to purchase some kiddie ATVs and the resulting controversy has stirred a call for a wider investigation of how all ATV-related regulations are being implemented. The retired journalist who penned this guest editorial in a Halifax newspaper suggests that the Department of Natural Resources is getting pressured to forestall ORV route closures. Perhaps this points to a need to initiate a similar investigation in the Western US.