NOHVCC Off-Highway
Vehicle Exec
Tells Congress Active Trail Management is Working
Washington, D.C. (3/14/2008) -
The top executive at one of the nation’s leading
off-highway vehicle recreation organizations told
a Congressional panel today that active management
of OHV use on federal lands is working and that
the closure of public lands to the millions of Americans
who enjoy motorized recreation would be “a
step backward.”
Russ Ehnes, Executive Director of the National
Off-Highway Vehicle Conservation Council (NOHVCC),
made his remarks during a hearing on the impact
of off-road vehicles on federal lands. The Natural
Resources Committee Subcommittee on National Parks,
Forests and Public Lands in the U.S. House of
Representatives called the hearing.
Mr. Ehnes cited numerous examples where OHV
management has been successful, including the
Hatfield-McCoy Trail System in West Virginia,
the Paiute ATV Trail in Utah and the San Bernardino
National Forest in California.
“The key to success in these areas –
and many others – has been active management,”
Mr. Ehnes said.
Mr. Ehnes pointed out that NOHVCC has worked
hard over the years to emphasize the need for
active OHV management in many ways, including
through a series of multi-day workshops held across
the country. These sessions have brought together
OHV management experts, land managers, OHV enthusiasts
and non-motorized recreationists to review the
“four E’s” of management, the
cornerstone of every successful trail system in
the country, he said.
“Simply stated, trail systems can be successful
by applying education, engineering, enforcement
and evaluation,” Mr. Ehnes said. “The
results are high quality, environmentally sustainable
trail systems that meet the needs and desires
of the public.”
When OHV management first became an issue in
the 1960s and early 1970s, the federal agencies
generally had an approach that amounted to “ignore
it or close it”, Mr. Ehnes said. However,
through work by OHV activists and groups like
the Motorcycle Industry Council and the American
Motorcyclist Association, partnerships were established
with the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S.
Forest Service that have resulted in many well
managed opportunities for OHV recreation.
“We will continue to work to implement
successful management techniques across the nation,
though it won’t be easy,” Mr. Ehnes
said. “It will take the continued commitment
of the OHV community through the hundreds of thousands
of hours of volunteer work it performs each year.
And it will take continued commitment from the
agencies, which I believe, in part, lies in your
hands. We are aware that budgets are extremely
tight, but outdoor recreation and pride in our
public lands define the American people and we
believe recreation budgets deserve all necessary
support to help maintain our public lands,”
he told the Subcommittee.
www.nohvcc.org
Great Falls, MT 59404
800-348-6487
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