Forest Service Stemming Use of Illegal Trails

Forest Service officials released new rules for OHVs (Off-Highway Vehicles) last week, citing the problems created by dirt bike and ATV enthusiasts creating huge networks of new trails in the National Forests. As usual, there seems to be some cognitive dissonance at work here, since the current administration encourages opening more roads into federally protected lands, while Forest Service managers complain that they don’t have enough resources to enforce the rules. “Some 270,000 miles of roads and routes are legally available to off-road vehicles — nearly six times the length of the interstate highway system, he said. Meanwhile, at least 60,000 miles of unauthorized routes zigzag through public forests.” Matthew Daly in the Corvalis (Oregon) Gazette-Times.