NYSORVA fights for Trail System In NY!!!!!
New York OHV trails, Some Facts
•New York boasts the third largest population of OHV enthusiasts by state, only trailing CA (#1) and TX
This correlates with industry media reports that NY is third-highest in OHV sales.
State Population % of US Population % in-state participating in OHV activity. OHV participants % of total US participation
New York 14,584,200 6.8 13.1 1,915,800 4.8
•Northeast states account for a total of 1/3rd of all OHV participants in the US.
•Yet, this region is noted as having the least amount of publicly-available trail access as a ratio of ATV/OHM trail users.
The complete report, may be viewed at:
http://www.fs.fed.us/recreation/programs/ohv/OHV_final_report.pdf
This ran in Gannett Newspapers:
June 15, 2008
ATV owners protest 'raw deal,' seek trails to ride freely
Study proposed on benefits, downside
By Jay Gallagher
Journal Albany bureau
ALBANY - The state's nearly 500,000 all-terrain-vehicle owners see themselves as misunderstood by many of their fellow New Yorkers, almost desperate to find legal places to pursue their sport and abused by their state government that takes their money but won't give them trails.
Their foes see them as des-poilers of sensitive environmental land, often trespassing in areas from which they have been specifically barred.
ATV owners have come together at least to a degree as lawmakers consider whether to approve a study on the potential economic and recreational benefits, as well as possible downsides, of state support for the riders.
"We decided that ATVers were getting a raw deal," said Beacon resident Dennis Pavelock, who was part of a citizens' group that decided to take up ATV owners' cause. "They're paying all this money to the state (in registration fees) and not getting anything to show for it."
Advocates hope the study will be a first step toward the state designating some land for ATV trails.
"We need places to ride. We need support," said Jeff Binga of Pendleton, Niagara County, president of the New York Off-Highway Recreational Vehicles Association. "We feel like there's enough room for pristine forests, hiking trails and areas designated for ATVs."
The Adirondack Council, an environmental group, while not opposing the proposed study, is worried about the more widespread use of the vehicles because of what it sees as damage to the environment.
"We do have a big concern because they have been a scourge in every place they have been allowed," council spokes-man John Sheehan said. "It's the single most destructive form of recreation going on in the park. It seemed to be getting worse every year."
The numbers of ATV riders is on the upswing. There were almost 150,000 of the three-and-four-wheel vehicles registered in the state last year, compared to about 94,700 five years earlier, according to the state Department of Motor Vehicles.
The total number of ATVs in the state is likely between 400,000 and 500,000, said Chris DelGiudice, a lobbyist for the New York Off-Highway Recreational Vehicles Association, because many aren't registered.
The study bill got shot down last year. This year, environmental groups withdrew their objections after the scope of the study was expanded to include possible negative effects on the land, air and use of public land by hikers and others.
"Whether we like it or not, there are a quarter-million of these things in the state," said Neil Woodorth of the Adirondack Mountain Club. "Providing no riding areas at all has not been a success."
He said some states that have opened state parks to the vehicles, most recently Massachusetts, found other users - such as hikers - were driven off. He said Massachusetts has banned ATVs in state parks again.
Advantages listed
Still, advocates see many advantages.
"ATVs can be the summertime snowmobiles," said DelGiudice, the lobbyist, who pointed out snowmobilers are an important source of business in many rural parts of the state.
Assemblyman Joseph Mor-elle, D-Irondequoit, Monroe County, the Assembly sponsor of the study bill, said the state should either provide trails for the riders or ban them altogether. "There's no question they can do a lot of damage," he said. "But it might be possible to better control them."
The matter is expected to be taken up before the Legislature ends its annual session this month. The study is expected to take about two years and cost between $100,000 and $300,000.
Wall Street Journal Article on ATVs
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124831007584074147.html
JULY 23, 2009
The Wall Street Journal: States Warm to ATVs to Drive Tourism
Some Counties Are Building New Trails and Lifting Bans on All-Terrain Vehicles in Order to Spur Spending During the Recession
By SIMMI AUJLA
In May, Michigan's Roscommon County made it legal to drive all-terrain vehicles on the shoulders of county roads. A few weeks later, Patrick Driscoll bought a new $9,900 ATV to ride around Roscommon's back country -- exactly the kind of response county commissioners had in mind.
Two enthusiasts enjoy the mud and water in a 144-acre ATV play area in upstate New York in September. Lewis County recently cleared several forested trails, started selling permits to pay for off-road expansions and hosted a fund-raiser in May. Officials hope to connect their trails to towns, businesses and neighboring counties so riders can eventually drive to Vermont.
Local officials across the country are trying to develop ATV tourism in an effort to boost their economies. The vehicles, long regarded by conservationists as loud, dangerous and destructive to the natural landscape, now seem like a promising new source of revenue.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that 9.5 million four-wheel ATVs were in use nationwide in 2007. That's nearly double the 4.8 million it estimated in 2001.
Some public officials see ATV tourism's economic potential as akin to that of snowmobiling, which has, by some estimates, generated billions in annual vehicle sales and tourism revenue. A study of one of the biggest ATV trail networks, West Virginia's Hatfield-McCoy system, found that consumers spent $7.7 million for lodging, permits, meals, machine repairs and fuel while visiting in 2005. A spokesman for the trail network estimated that figure is now about $10 million a year.
Mr. Driscoll, a robotics engineer who lives in a suburb of Detroit, said he had been considering buying his first ATV for a while. The county's new law sealed the deal. If he had driven the ATV onto county roads before May, he would have faced a $135 fine.
"We put over 60 miles on it in the first weekend," he said. "I can just throw my helmet on and drive down the road to the trails."
Now local officials in states including Michigan, Maine, Vermont and New York are extending trail networks, building new systems for ATVs and other off-road vehicles, and making routes more accessible.
Towns that can connect ATV trails to main thoroughfares and local businesses will be able to reap economic benefits, said Brian Hawthorne, the public-lands policy director for the Blue Ribbon Coalition, an Idaho-based advocacy group for off-road vehicle users.
In the past year, 36 counties in northern Michigan began to allow people to drive off-road vehicles on the sides of all county roads. That makes it easier for ATV riders to access trails, grocery stores, restaurants and gas stations.
The new laws appear to have encouraged ATV usage. From March through June, the state issued 112,954 permits for off-road vehicles, up from 99,819 over the same period last year.
Local officials in other states are also trying to lure riders of ATVs, off-road dirt bikes and dune buggies. In upstate New York, Lewis County recently cleared several forested trails, started selling permits to pay for off-road trail expansions and hosted a fund-raising event to add to the kitty.
Fans say that ATVs -- usually one- or two-seat vehicles that can hit 65 miles per hour -- provide fun and access to remote parts of the country. Critics say that their loud motors shatter tranquility, and that their wheels tear up the ground and plants.
In Vermont, ATVs are banned from public land, but the state's Agency of Natural Resources proposed a rule in May that could lift the ban. It would create a process for vetting an ATV club's proposal for trails on state property that would connect with those on private land. Rogue ATV riders have long created their own paths, damaging land in the process.
Residents opposed to the proposal have sent hundreds of letters and emails to the agency. George Longenecker, a professor who lives in Marshfield, Vt., protested in a letter to his local newspaper. Mr. Longenecker said ATVs damage land and are excessively noisy and more destructive than the snowmobiles that pass by his property in the winter. The costs of enforcing the rule would outweigh any gains, he said, adding, "We don't have money in Vermont right now for that."
Back in Michigan, some businesses are already seeing a return from the new ATV policy. Kurtis Norton, the owner of two hardware stores in Roscommon County, said sales at one of his stores were up more than $2,000 in June -- a 4.5% increase over last year -- as more travelers visit from southern Michigan.
"We're trying to do whatever we can to help our businesses," said Robin Seymour of the Roscommon County Board of Commissioners' Office.
Write to Simmi Aujla at simmi.aujla@wsj.com
