Should state open lands to ATVs?
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By Peter Hirschfeld Vermont Press Bureau - Published: June 15, 2009
MONTPELIER - State officials tonight will take testimony in a hearing that could help decide whether Vermont opens up state-owned lands for all-terrain vehicle use.
The controversial issue has galvanized both ATV enthusiasts seeking to broaden their network of trails and environmental organizations concerned about the potential impacts. The long-debated topic resurfaced in recent weeks after the Agency of Natural Resources proposed a rule change that would lift the existing ATV prohibition and allow limited off-road use on short stretches of state land.
"The rule is very specific to corridors for connecting existing (legal) trails," Secretary of Natural Resources Jonathan Wood says. "It would not apply in many places, and it's very limited to the connector concept alone."
Danny Hale, executive director of the Vermont All-Terrain Vehicle Sportman's Association (VASA), says the existing prohibition prevents his organization from connecting segments of a 600-mile network of legal trails, most of which are sited on private property. The small "connector" trails through state land his group is seeking, Hale says, pose little environmental threat.
"As it stands now, if there's a piece of state property between two trails, we cannot connect those trails," Hale said.
The proposed rule change was prompted by a VASA request to use approximately 500 feet of state-owned land in Island Pond to connect two trails there. Residents can weigh in on the issue at a public hearing, scheduled to run tonight from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Pavilion Building on State Street.
"We're simply talking about 500 feet on the shoulder of a highway," Hale says. "This rule simply is going to allow that process to move forward."
Jamey Fidel, with the Vermont Natural Resources Council in Montpelier, said his organization worries that the proposed rule could create a scary new precedent.
"There are a lot of people who are very passionate about the experiences they have come to expect from public lands ... and they're concerned about additional environmental impacts that may occur on that land," Fidel says.
While the VNRC isn't necessarily opposed to Island Pond connector trail specifically, according to Fidel, the state lacks sufficient safeguards to protect state lands against the wider-spread ATV use the rule change could eventually allow.
"Our main concern is that it's being looked at in a vacuum, without the broader perspective of the ATV Collaborative's work."
The ATV Collaborative, created in 2004 by Gov. James Douglas, convened interested parties from across the state to examine the issue of ATV use in Vermont. The effort was intended to decrease illegal riding, increase enforcement, mitigate land damage and ensure a legal outlet for ATV enthusiasts.
Fidel says the Agency of Natural Resources' own ATV Committee issued a 2000 report that urged the state to keep state lands off limits to ATVs "until there is a sufficient knowledge base to assess whether Vermont's public land base can accommodate environmental protection demands and existing non-motorized and snowmobile usage before accommodating more."
Director of State Lands Mike Fraysier issued similar concerns in a 2004 letter to Wood, who was then the commissioner of Forests, Parks and Recreation,
"While we must acknowledge that ATVs are here to stay and should support the need to expand legal ATV trail use in Vermont," Fraysier wrote, "the ATV community has much to prove before we should consider opening up state lands for ATV use (including even small connector trails)."
Fidel says the ANR has yet to conduct any meaningful study assessing the impacts of ATV use on state lands, nor he says has it instituted increased registration fees or an illegal-trespass fund - two proposals the Collaborative recommended to bolster funding for enforcement of ATV laws.
Without such safeguards, Fidel says, ANR staff will be ill-prepared to monitor the slew of new ATV activity that might accompany the rule change.
"The ANR is under-funded and understaffed, and a lot of a illegal ATV activity is occurring already on state land and private land," Fidel says. "So we feel that the timing of this proposal is out of step with addressing the broad issues of managing and accommodating ATVs in the state."
Wood counters that the proposed rule is sufficiently stringent to address any potential environmental concerns. Applicants, he says, will have to prove that connector trails won't unduly alter the environmental qualities of the state lands on which they're proposed. The rule requires approval from local boards as well, Wood says.
"It's not something we're planning on doing on a widespread basis on state land whatsoever," Wood says. "In fact I worry that even with this rule in place, even appropriate connector trails are going to get turned down. Our folks are pretty conservative about what they allow to happen."
Both Hale and Wood say the rules would help curb illegal riding on state land. Providing the state's 16,000 registered ATV riders with a legal outlet for riding, Hale says, reduces the probability that they'll resort to illegal use of state lands.
Hale says the rule change would have the added bonus of fostering a burgeoning ATV economy, in which rural towns, like Island Pond, can generate summertime commerce in otherwise depressed areas.
"It will absolutely have a positive impact economically in the state," Hale says. "Especially in the northeast corner of state where many of these businesses rely in the winter on traffic that is generated by the (snowmobile) trail system."
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