A good friend of mine on the forums just shared a story with me about a trail he and a group of riding buddies have been working on in partnership with a very particular land owner. This group had worked for years to convince them to let them build a trail and made a lot of promises that they would police it, mark the ecologically sensative wetlands etc and generally act in partnership with the landowner to provide a public trail.

All that hard work just went out the window with some very stupid riders that ignored the warning signs, and destroyed a wetland area. Whether it was some joy riders, or hunters etc, it doesn't matter. The damage is done, and the landowner is pulling back his offer. A few minutes of fun ruined hundreds of hours of labor, soiled relationships that took litterally years to put together. Not to mention, the trails will never be available to the next generation of riders.

If that doesn't really upset you, nothing will. I don't care where you live in this country, people need to stand up to this kind of reckless idiocy. People need to be told that they don't have the right to ride like an idiot. Write down their license numbers, take pictures of them, keep a camera handy so you can show police officers and let them do their jobs. We need to get rid of these types of riders. We don't need them in our sport, and we don't want them.

This is not a subject you can stay on the fence any longer. We need all of you out there to do your part. And mom's and dad's, get out there and teach your kids good habits, and respect for other people's property and "rights". Teach them right from wrong. And if they don't listen, sell their quads. Be the PARENT.
DB

 

It might be fun to rip and tear around the countryside, but the riders who do that might as well call themselves "trail closers." They are not only closing existing trails, they are making sure new trails don't get opened.

 

Can't put it any better myself. We used to have two loops connected in the middle that allowed to access the Northern loop from a railtrail that went right through a town where we could get food and gas. Some riders ticked off one of the landowner's and the trail that connected the Northern loop to the railtrail. Now we have to park way up in the woods to get to that trail. And no food or gas right off the trail.

 

It does not end there. My fav trail got closed becouse trucks and jeeps got in and tore it up. The DCNR tried to chain it off, but they just busted that down. I had seen them and never thought anything about it. The next thing I knew the whole place was posted. Seems the DCNR did not mind the ATV's, but the trucks and jeeps did us in. To bad as that was one nice spot.

 

We had a Jeep enter our trail system illegally at 2am on a Sunday morning. The driver got around some pretty tough terrain before driving her Jeep over a bridge not designed for the weight. She busted the bridge and ended up with a bill of $2300 or so to pay for half the bridge which we paid the other half. We upgraded it to hold a snowcat that the snowmobilers use to groom the trails in winter. Oh, and her husband sprained his ankle walking out to get help to get the Jeep out of the deep stream.

 

Idiots are all over the place......generally young, sometimes drunk, or just plain stupid. It's unfortunate. Everything can't be policed. There's got to be something that can be done, like install some HD fences in the ecologically sensitive areas. The wetlands will eventually repair themselves....I hope the landowner can see through the initial mess and give it another try with barriers in place. Question is who's going to pay for the barries and install them? -Not the landowner. With so much apparent work involved, they can't give up on the trail due to one mishap.

 

Let's face it These machines are designed for rough riding. The manufacturers' advertising shows a lot of fun in the mud. Pictures on this website show fun in the mud. I'll admit to having fun in the mud before I realized the extent of the consequences. Since then, I've seen trails closed after too much fun in the mud. People tend to need to see it to believe it. Then, it's too late. Hopefully websites like this can help people understand the consequences in time to keep the trails open.

 

I know it's straying from topic a little, but loud pipes don't help either. Every bike I've owned that wasn't a track only bike has had a stock or forest muffler on it, I gave up trying to explain to others that a can only adds .1 hp yet it cuts down on riding spots & makes it easier to get caught by the cops, none of them care because "it sounds cool" and for some reason it inflates their ego.

 

This sounds like a tread that I once started http://forums.atvconnection.com/land...-sick-too.html
And YES there are a bunch of retarded people that do dumb things out there. If we don't start to band together now and protect what we do we are ALL going to loose what GREAT thing we have!!!

 

Fact is ATV's do honestly attract a good amount of people that tend to be destructive, self-centered, radicals. To think that they will respect laws and property rights would be expecting too much. Pretty much the same thing with the dirt bikers. I enjoy my four-wheeler, but understand that many people see them as very damaging to the woods and intrusive to what most would call a 'nature experience'. I'm an avid hiker and enjoy solitude just as much as I like going ATV'ing. I understand both sides of these issues but see much more fault when it comes to a lack of respect and courtesy, coming from the ATV/motorcycle crowd. It's easy to understand why landowners are extremely reluctant to allow these people access. Even at public riding areas I see garbage (beer cans, wrappers, soda bottles) strewn all over the place and trail signs ignored. Often time mufflers are taken off and loud pipes abound. It get's tiresome and disapointing....and makes me feel ashamed at times that I am associated with this group. Don't get me wrong....some real decent folks do exist in ATV circles....and try very hard to respect and preserve the areas we ride in. But......I fear the good folks are overshadowed by the fools and idiots that ruin nearly every fun activity eventually.