Treading Lightly is one of the best practices that we as public land users can do to make sure that we can not only continue to use our public lands in a variety of recreational manners, but also make sure that the natural resources and experiences remain intact for future generations. Its not about restriction, but rather about responsibility for our public lands and to ourselves, our friends and families, other visitors, and future generations.

So what does it mean to "Tread Lightly"? Well, we've developed our 5 Principles to break it down to basics:

Tread Lightly! Principles

Travel Responsibly on land by staying on designated roads, trails and areas. Go over, not around, obstacles to avoid widening the trails. Cross streams only at designated crossings. When possible avoid wet, muddy trails. On water, stay on designated waterways and launch your watercraft in designated areas.

Respect the Rights of Others including private property owners, all recreational trail users, campers and others so they can enjoy their recreational activities undisturbed. Leave gates as you found them. Yield right of way to those passing you or going uphill. On water, respect anglers, swimmers, skiers, boaters, divers and those on or near shore.

Educate Yourself prior to your trip by obtaining travel maps and regulations from public agencies. Plan for your trip, take recreation skills classes and know how to operate your equipment safely.

Avoid Sensitive Areas on land such as meadows, lakeshores, wetlands and streams. Stay on designated routes. This protects wildlife habitats and sensitive soils from damage. Don’t disturb historical, archeological or paleontological sites. On water, avoid operating your watercraft in shallow waters or near shorelines at high speeds.

Do Your Part by modeling appropriate behavior, leaving the area better than you found it, properly disposing of waste, minimizing the use of fire, avoiding the spread of invasive species and repairing degraded areas.


We gain a lot by Treading Lightly as a community. Please help us by promoting the Tread Lightly! ethics whenever you can.

For more information: Tread Lightly - Home

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Thanks for the support!! And please, feel free to ask here if you have any questions or desire for clarification, at all.

 

Tip of the week:

With many areas in western states still receiving snow (the year of the endless winter?) and high snowpack levels throughout, it is important to take a few things into consideration before heading out.

1) Check with local land managers to see if seasonal opening dates on gated trails have been extended.
2) Minimize use of extremely wet trails to avoid the creation of ruts.
3) Go through patches of snow, not around. Chains were not invented so that we could drive around snow-bashing opportunities
4) Be prepared in case the weather changes on you. Think extra clothing, water, food, and gear to spend the night if things get real bad.

Most of all... have fun and be safe out there!

 

Another thing I do, when on a mixed use trail area, if I see anyone on horseback coming down the trail, I pull over and shut off my engine,until they are past, to avoid spooking the horse. Most horses are used to machinery, but why chance it? I have gotten many tips of the hat and "thank you"s from riders as they pass. And if the trail goes by camping areas, I always slow down and just cruise by, to avoid disturbing any non-riding campers that just want to spend some quality time outside. I usually get a friendly wave as I putt on by, then when I am down the trail, I can open it up again. Just these minor things can do a lot to boost the image of the ATV/dirtbike rider.

 

i totally disagree with u. not many people buy an atv to trend lightly. have u ever seen a sport quad. especially a banshee, or maybe a quad lifted with big mud tires. trails shouldn't be closed down because in certain area we want to rip it up.

 

I would agree that there are some out there that buy an atv and have no intention of obeying any type of respect to the land. Whether it be theirs or not.

I also believe there are a great number of riders whose atv's are quite capable of destroying trails. But they do that in areas that are designated for that and not just out in a field because it looks like fun. And I think that is the point trying to be made. Ride responsibly.

 

I dont think thats what hes talking about. he was talking about trails. i find trails with big berms around corners just they way they are. perfect. where i ride we have trails all torn up. the worst way possible. but after 20 yrs i go back to these same trails. and u wouldnt even know there was a trail there unless u were looking for it. the land takes back a trail over time. these arent tires thrown or trash thrown in the woods. the land takes anything back in time. so trend lightly. plz go buy a mtn bike. this has nothing to do with fields. this all about trails.

 

I know I've come across several TRAILS that had puddles on them. Then have come back through and people have made huge mud bogs out of them. I wouldn't call that treading lightly. On a trail.

Sorry, my bike doesn't have pedals.

 

We have what we call "mud season" up here in New England. More accurately, it's trails freeze overnight, and thaw in the daytime, season. Trails stay closed up until right around now. During mud season they are more susceptible to severe damage than at other times of year. It's a good idea to protect them for a time. After this time there are still plenty of mudholes and waterholes within the trail system that are challenging and fun. But then, you get folks who don't stay on trails, damage a farmer's field, ride down fresh water streams that aren't part of the trail system, and generally rip up areas they aren't supposed to be on. This is the kind of behaviour that causes land owners to close their section of trail. We had two big loops with all sorts of trails in between the outsides of the loops. They were connected by a trail that ran behind a Burger King and out to a railtrail that had great parking on either end. Riders annoyed one landowner on this connector by disobeying the 10 mph limit in this area, opening up their two strokes, and just making a general nuisance of themselves. Guy finally got fed up and closed his section. Now we have to trailer to either section but we can't just ride between the two. This is the kind of thing we have to watch out for and police ourselves. I've seen the good ATV riders can do building bridges that were in need of repair, cutting trees that have fallen across multi-use trails, trash cleanups, etc. All of that hard work can be wiped out by a small number of riders who break the rules.

 

I agree with not going off trails in waterways or farmers fields but I kinda agree with mrwonderful. I want to go 4wheeling not down a dirt path. All around MN they have closed a lot of fun trails because of erosion. Where are we supposed to ride, railroad grade gets real boring. I wouldn't mind them closing trails if they would open up more 4x4 trails somewhere else that you can play in.

 

From what I've read, I think MN is more stringent than most other states. Where I've ridden in VT, ME, and NH, if the trail goes through a stream, waterhole, or mudhole, it's okay to ride. Seems like the holes get a little deeper each year.