I've noticed, like most of us have, that riding areas are getting more scarce every day. I know several places where we used to ride are closed and we hear of more and more closings all the time.

Are you folks willing to join some kind of state or local organizations to purchase land as a private off-road riding club? I don't mean state or local government run groups - I mean private clubs. I'm just worried that it won't be very long until 4-wheeling will banned everywhere. And our sport wil die.

We don't get to run dragsters in the woods or fields. We don't get to run sprint cars in the woods or fields. So I guess it's not too far out of line to think that soon we won't be able to run our ATV's in the woods or fields either.

I know it may get expensive to join and maintain a designated riding area in each area of our country but I concerned that it's coming to that. The insurance and liability would be outragous, too.

What are your thoughts on this? [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]

 

I think it's only smart to take things into your own hands. Instead of waiting for someone that doesn't care about our sport to do something. I mainly ride on private lands so I haven't been affected by areas closing. I don't carry insurance on my quad but it is covered under my house insurance. (theft) Registration and insurance fees are just another tax to me. (another way for people to get into our pockets) I've done well without them for the last 19 years of riding and don't need them now. But if I want to ride on public trails, I'd have to purchase atv insurance. If I was going to open a riding area. I would keep it private to it's un-official official members. The people that went together to purchase and maintain an area of land. Like any hunting club would purchase a couple hundred acres and a cabin. I would want to keep it un-official so it wouldn't require special insurance or registrations. It would probably begin with a few close friends and stem out from there depending on how many members were needed.

It would even be good if a group of atvers would open areas for public use and treat it as a small business. This would probably require that everyone have insurance and sign release forms. In this case, non-members could use the lands to ride on with certain limitations. At least the lands wouldn't be closed down at a whim.

I am currently in the process of buying more land to insure that I have my own riding area. I will not have to tow my quad a couple hundred miles to use it and I will not have to purchase insurance to ride on it.

Some people may think that it's cheaper to just pay registration and insurance fees. The difference to me is that land is an investment that you put money into and later get some back out. When you pay for insurance and registration fees, entrance fees, tags, or whatever, you're giving your money away. It also opens people up to new fees in the future. Whatever the gov can dream up.

 

This really isn't a new idea. There is an organization (about 7 miles from my home) that has a few hundred acres (maybe as much as 800 acres) that they use for hunting and atv use. They have a certain amount of members at any certain time. They even have their own web site and keep their lands for their own use. They even have members patrol the lands on atv's to keep out trespassers.

 

in wisconsin we are getting more and more trails,which is a good thing. they just opened up a bunch by my house. hopefully the town next to us passes the atv trail. the reason they don't want to open is because they say atvs are loud,make too much dust reck the land and more exscuces.but alot of the local businesses are complaining they aren't making enough money.if they opened more trails they would make more money. hopefully generations of people will get to enjoy atv trails as much as we do.

 

Minnesota we are getting more trails too...slowly but still getting more trails. I think that the states shoudl recognize that ATV's are coming on strong and catching up to snowmobile sales. I think there should be more places to ride because it would bring more money in from out side of that state...Like yellowstone when the snowmobiles were alowed to be in the parks (I think they still are but limited amounts a day)