Red Lodge Clearinghouse

Those who engage in non-motorized sports say OHV riders habitually break rules, endangering other users and doing environmental damage by riding off designated trails. They also assert that OHV users, who make up 10 percent of all users, denigrate the experience for the other 90 percent.

But Greg Mumm of the BlueRibbon Coalition, a lobbying group for OHV riders and manufacturers, says the complaints generalize the behavior of a few bad apples.

A Smokey Bear ad put out by the Forest Service recently created controversy when Smokey, riding a mountain bike, instructed two OHV riders not to start their vehicles (Land Letter, July 31).

The agencies responsible for the trails say that as patronage increases, so will conflict.

"The West is just filling up, and more people are going out to use public lands than ever before," said Heather Feeney, spokeswoman for the Bureau of Land Management, which is responsible for managing many of the public trails. "So conflict management is probably something that's here to stay" (Karl Vick, Washington Post, Aug. 12). -- PR

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