Outdoor Update

OUTDOOR UPDATE

At the risk of sounding like Chicken Little, the off-road sky does indeed seem to be falling. Take a look at almost any Off-Highway Vehicle area, and you’ll see regions threatened by closure from any number of environmentalist groups. “Part of the reason for this is President Clinton’s Roadless Initiative,” says the AMA’s Bill Wood. “It’s provided a lot of momentum to people who want to see all public land closed to motorized recreation.” In Tennessee, for example, state officials recently announced an “emergency” ban of OHVs from all state forests, except on designated roads. This prohibits off-roading in the state altogether. Violating the ban can result in a $2500 fine and a year in prison. Similar carnage is occurring in Kentucky’s Daniel Boone National Forest and its 800 miles of trails. Last year, 90 percent of those trails were shut down. In spite of efforts from the AMA and the Ohio Valley Trail Riders, courts upheld the Forestry Service’s right to close them. Also threatened are more than 9 million acres in Utah, for which the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance requested a temporary restraining order against OHVs. Thus far, they’ve been denied, but the group is also seeking a precedent-setting ruling that would close any land that has been proposed as a wilderness area. “If this works in Utah, it could work elsewhere,” warns Wood. For more info, sign on to www.amadirectlink.com.