Off-roading article

If you saw this article about off-roading in the West in the Denver Post today, you only got part of the story. It is part of a New York Times series about public land use. We don't need to start an argument about what the "right" uses of public lands are, but there are a lot of issues in these articles that we as photographers should be aware of since we spend a lot of time on public land.

Some interesting stuff to check out here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/30/us/30lands.html?hp
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/p/public_lands/index.html

Thanks Josh. I'll bring this up with my jeep club as well.

Mel-

I don't know dude. We need to protect our wilderness with out a doubt, but we need to keep access to alot of our public lands for the general public. Even though idiots will probably mess things up. I hope our officials find ways of increasing resources for enforcing the laws of our forests without increasing our taxes (I think that could be done quite easily)
Me thinks we need to stand at the wilderness boundaries where people regularly violate it with rifles and shotguns okay maybe not that, but definitely need to do something with the violators

First off, I'm not an advocate for illegally off-roading, especially in a wilderness area.

Did you know that a private property owner does have the right to access his land by motor vehicle, and even construct a road if the land is surrounded by wilderness area? I'm not saying that is the case in the article above, but if you've read any of the NY Times photography articles, especially those on whether film is dead or photography can't be trusted, you'd know that they are seriously lacking in quality and thoroughness.

But as a jeeper as well as a backpacker, I do believe that is highly unethical to drive on a closed trail, off-trail and especially within a wilderness area unless the activity meets one of an extremely small number of exceptions. Most OHV riders believe the same, but there are a small number of bad apples that are souring the experience for everyone.

There is no denying that OHV use has grown sharply in recent years. Further OHV area closures only increase the pressure on the areas that remain open accelerating environmental damage in some cases.

Like Paul, I'd like to see increased funding for LEOs in the forest service. It would go a long ways towards reducing abuse in the forest. I can't remember exactly what the title is for those rangers, but there are very few of them anymore. The currently funded number is on the order of 1-3 per national forest. There is no way three people can effectively patrol Pike National Forest. I'd also like to see improvements in education programs in the Forest and BLM lands so that users know that it is not OK to drive off trail.

Mel-

Oh yeah,

And to you photogs who four wheel to your destination or trailhead (not that I think it needs to be said).

Stay on the trail and be courteous to other users.

Mel-

I've been involved in a number of meetings (town hall meetings, hearings, meetings with legislators, a working group at the Pawnee National Grass Lands, etc.) involving National Forest access and use issues. It is my personal impression that there are SOME forest service employees who have forgotten who they work for and want to abandon the multiple use principal and restrict access. The first targets are those who use off road vehicles, camp in other than designated camp grounds (disbursed camping), or plink (informal target shooting). People who ride horseback and camp inevitably are included in disbursed camping as horses are prohibited in most designated camp grounds.

Access to public lands is an issue that requires constant vigilance.

Dave
Photographer, horseback rider, camper, ex-backpacker, and Vice _President of the Colorado State Shooting Association