Well, that last I knew, many public lands are open for recreational atv riding. So that makes it legal to ride...

RoostKing...

 

QUADS ARE JUST FOR GOING FROM POINT A TO POINT B, and SEX IS JUST FOR MAKING BABIES. Personally, I RIDE FOR THE LOVE OF RIDING!! My bikes aren't just like some tool hanging on my workshop wall, that I take down and use once in a while. I expect to (within reason) ride on public land. And I expect my government (again within reason) to HELP me do it!

The National Geographic article you refer to is certainly a piece of bad PR for us all. Sorry, I don't have the thing in front of me, but it did have a map of BLM land. As I recall, there wasn't any in Texas or anywhere else east of the Rockies (???). Here in So. Calif., there are MASSIVE areas of public land, and this is why off-road is such a big PART OF THE CULTURE here!! For many of us it is a WAY OF LIFE!! People from areas where there is no public land have a hard time immagining what this is like!

If you stand on a freeway overpass on a Friday afternoon on the routes leading form LA to the deserts, you will see literally THOUSANDS of off-road vehicles pass by in a couple of hours. Off-roaders probably outnumber any other single political special interest group there is, and we should expect the government to help us, not stand in our way. We just aren't organized enough to flex our political muscle, yet.

 

I've never dug a deep mud hole with my Banshee, that sounds more like something a 4x4 quad would do. I'm sure most riders who are on true sport machines would never even think of trying to go places your 4x4 would go. If erosion is a big issue then require those who use the riding system use bald tires! The issue is really regulating the idiots and not the sport as a whole. In addition, the problem with erosion is usually due to the excess run off of water which is primarily caused by over building, over paving, over farming etc. Heck we could all ride horses and then we would have the horses slogging thru the creeks and streams muddying them up, eating the endangered grasses, AND eroding the trails. Have you ever seen what a dozen horses can do to the ground? I submit that a dozen horses do more damage than a dozen sport quads.
Or maybe we can turn the fields and forests over to the government, since they know absolutely everything, and we can all move to the cities where we can ride the bus for fun. Then we can go on new "city forums", since there will be no need for an ATV forum, and brag that we have a new 30 day bus pass and the people who only have a weekend pass suck. Then we can have creative postings like...'Onions banned on all public lands' and there will be some genius who will say ...'that's what's gonna happen alright...if you onion eaters don't stop eatin' onions. I have a friend of a friend of a friend who works in the onion control department and he says there's way too many stinky bus riders out there so there thinkin' about puttin' breathalizers on the bus passes so you can't get on the bus if your breath is too bad...'. Then the hard boiled egg delegation will chime in and say 'you mother !@#$%^ son's of +_*(&^% If you think I'm gonna stop puttin' onions in my egg salad your crazy. And just to prove it I'm gonna fart on the bus the next time I go ridin' to go along with my kickin' breath...'. Before too long the busses will be so filled with renegade belchers and farters that the busses will begin to spontaniously explode from the buildup of methane. This will cause chaos in the cities where people will rush to the overgrown countryside and trample all of the endangered plants and cause huge amounts of erosion allowing all of the mountains and hills to be washed into the creeks, rivers, and oceans where humanity will be covered with mud. With the exception of one boy and one girl who managed to stay alive by floating on their 1971 atc 90's. They will then place in effect laws that will guarantee the right to ride atv's for all humanity to come. This will finally be a happy time for all mankind.

 

Holyman,

ROTFLMAO...That was good...

Score-
springdrl = 0
others = 5

Mike

 

springdrl.....I'm a sport rider. And I ride up in your neck of the woods, Cypress Creek in Spring, Tx. On any given weekend there can easily be 100 or so quads riding the creek, going back and forth. We don't create any more erosion on the land than you do ridding the same trails on the leased land that you ride. The only reason that land is lost to us is because of lobbyist spreading lies and them being believed and/or politicians giving in so that vote.

 

Know that area well. I pass by each day on my way to work. I often wonder if all the landowners along the creek have given their permission to these 100+ riders or if they just ride (like so many) until the cops show up. As far as I know there are no public riding areas along Spring Creek.

 

springdrl.....the creek is public land....no one owns the creek, therefore no permission is needed to ride the creek

 

look is see good points and bad.but i also live in texas,there's not a lot of public land or open places to ride.there was a place to ride just north of me it was 5000 acres with a big lake the deal was do what you want but don't ride on the dam well guess what poeple continued to ride up the dam until eroded and started to shift,end of riding area

 

Gabe,

That was an awesome post. Really well done!

 

Don't guess you've ever floated too many of our rivers here in Texas. Texas laws dictates that only the water in a creek or stream is considered as public property. You are on private land once you step beyond the edge of the water and onto dry land. Learned this many years ago while floating the Guadalupe. The landowners over there have a continued problem with people who float the river coming onto their property. They can't say a word to you so long as you stay in the water.

We both know the trails along Spring Creek are well out of the water and up it's banks.

I know you kids don't like hearing this but you simply don't go riding on private property without being subject to a fine for trespassing.