HAPPY TRAILS

Just in time for mud season, the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee should be commended for moving ahead with new restrictions on all-terrain vehicles. The Legislature would be wise to follow the committee’s lead.

According to deputy IF&W Commissioner Paul Jacques, in the wrong hands one ATV can do $10,000 worth of damage in 15 minutes. Considering that retail sales of ATV have risen 574 percent in the last decade, there’s increasing potential for lots of costly damage. The rise in ATV ridership has come with a growing number of complaints about people riding where they should not and tearing up fields and polluting streams. In hopes of minimizing conflict, Gov. John Baldacci last year created a task force to come up with solutions. Surprisingly, the group’s report, which included 46 specific recommendations, was well received by both landowners and ATV users.

Now, the IF&W committee has pushed many of those recommendations ahead. Under the proposed rules, which will soon go to the full Legislature, ATV riders would be allowed without prior permission only on designated trails or on corporate-owned property with a policy of welcoming the vehicles, such as some large forestry companies. To ride on other land, they would need verbal permission from the landowner or, in the case of farms or woodlots, written permission. ATVs would be banned from riding in streams, lakes, bogs and vernal pools. A portion of IF&W’s gas tax revenue would be dedicated to a small grants program to fund local law enforcement of ATV crime.

Basically, the committee approved any suggestions that didn’t cost money. This is a good start, but a simple mathematical problem remains – ATV use has far outpaced the number of trails where the trails are allowed. Building new trails need not cost a lot of money since local clubs will provide willing volunteers for the work. Last year, ATVers supported a $21 increase in their registration fees believing that much of the new money would go to trail building. Instead, it went to balance IF&W’s budget. Redirecting the additional fee money, about $634,000 a year, to trails will further the department’s shortfall, but it will help solve a vexing problem for landowners and wardens.

Given the fact that the legislative session is nearly over, the committee’s desire to rush some policy improvements through without long debates about money is understandable. The fact remains that more trails are needed and that providing ATVers with more places where they can legally ride will cut down on complaints. As the governor’s task force continues its work, this should be their primary goal.