Wall Street Journal article

[Numbchux]

More evidence that our sport is under the Microscope....and we have to be careful. Someone posted this on Yotatech, and it made me very angry, so I did some research, and using my UMD database found that it was indeed published exactly as you see it here. and also found that roxanne Quimby no longer has almost any financial connection to Burt's Bees, so boycotting them won't really help much...

 

anyway, here's the article:

 

Recreation

Peeling Out, With Impunity

 

Now people who rip up the earth have their own parks; a Hummer spitting gravel

By CONOR DOUGHERTY

December 2, 2006; Page P1

 

GILBERT, Minn. -- Several weeks ago, Dan Olson took a drive in the woods, revving his blue Chevy Blazer through mud banks and over piles of boulders, coughing up plumes of smoke that smelled like a freeway accident.

In most towns, that would get you arrested. But Mr. Olson had traveled 4½ hours to an off-road park here that caters to all-terrain vehicle, Jeep and dirt-bike owners looking to tear around nature without fear of a trespassing ticket. "It's a lot of fun," says the mechanic from Colfax, Wis.

Area BFE in Moab, UtahThere's a new refuge for people whose hobbies run on the wrong side of public opinion: parks -- often on private property -- where guys (it's mostly men, but wives and girlfriends often come along for the ride) can rip up the earth without fear of the enviro cops. Over the last decade, the federal government and a number of states have banned off-roading from millions of acres of public land. Yet these vehicles are increasingly popular -- sales of ATVs over the past 10 years have almost tripled. That gap has created a business opportunity for entrepreneurs and local governments.

The parks -- there are now dozens, from South Carolina to Utah -- are gaining traction just as the off-road industry is rolling out a new generation of tricked-out vehicles: from buggies that climb up 80-degree inclines to the Quadski, a jet ski that converts into an ATV on land. The Rough Terrain Vehicle, a $30,000 buggy-like contraption from Rhino Off-Road Industries, has waist-high tires and roll bars across the roof. "Think of it as the child of a monster truck and an ATV," says Howard Pearl, Rhino's president.

Many of the off-road parks set up picnic tables and Port-o-Potties along the trails, which have names like "Axle Trap" and "Undertaker." Some offer ramps for trucks to attempt 50-foot leaps -- one park owner calls them "Dukes of Hazzard" jumps -- while others tout mogul runs of six-foot-high dirt piles and open fields for spinning donuts. At Iron Range Off-Highway Vehicle Recreation Area, the abandoned ore-mine-turned-offroad-park in Gilbert, a number of ATVers use "snorkels," or plastic extensions that allow vehicles to operate under water. The devices are banned on public lands in the state because submerged ATVs can pollute streams. Dave Schotzko, assistant manager of Iron Range, says that's not an issue at his park: "You can't really harm a gravel pit," he says.

The nation's off-roaders still spend most of their time on public forest and desert lands. But designated parks are increasingly an option, particularly for off-roaders in urban centers. Whether the parks are owned by private individuals or purchased by state and local governments to attract tourists, the goal is the same: to give off-roaders a place where they can escape the complaints about noise pollution, tire tracks and frightened animals.

In West Virginia, the government runs the Hatfield-McCoy trail system, a 500-mile network stitched together on land owned mostly by coal, timber and gas companies. Some 24,000 off-roaders used the park last year, compared with around 4,000 in 2001. In South Carolina, a pair of entrepreneurs have sunk $8 million into Carolina Adventure World, which is set to open early next year with cabins and a handful of yurts. Then there's Jeremy Parriott. The dirt biker and several partners paid around $1 million for 320 acres in the Utah desert, renamed it "Area BFE," and now let bikers and off-roaders ride free.

Iron Range Off-Highway Vehicle Recreation Area in Gilbert, Minn.For off-roaders, crackups are part of the thrill. At Iron Range, the same weekend Mr. Olson was tooling around, another Chevy Blazer tried to navigate a steep incline of mud, and tumbled down sideways, caving in the roof and ripping off a tire. A Hummer got stuck halfway up another long hill, its tires spitting gravel, and had to be bailed out with a winch.

The parks, though a popular outlet among off-roaders, aren't universally embraced. While the sales of former timber farms and other big plots provide an opportunity for well-heeled off-roaders to set up a ATV park -- they also provide an opening for conservation groups eager to rid those areas of "consumptive uses" like hunting and motorized recreation.

While the park in Gilbert was proposed in the mid-1990s -- at the time, the land was a popular spot to (illegally) dump old couches and refrigerators -- it took several years to realize. That's because of noise complaints, a lawsuit and the discovery of a rare fern on the stripped iron land.

It took Richard Mull four years to open his off-road park, Brushy Mountain Motorsports Park in Taylorsville, N.C. The first time Mr. Mull, a real-estate developer, tried to buy and rezone land, his plans prompted a big enough backlash, including threats of sabotage if the park were opened, that he abandoned the project without a fight. "We basically walked away from a year's time and $25,000 and started again," he says.

The off-road community argues that dedicated parks minimize the environmental harm. Trailpass, a network of private trails mainly in the Eastern U.S., says that its 1,000-plus miles of trails are built with bridges, to keep riders out of natural creeks, and switchbacks that counter erosion. Mr. Mull says he won't let in tires with more than a 3/4-inch tread because they rip up his trails, which he then has to pay to repair.

The off-road park clientele ranges from kids to retirees, and the trails are set up to appeal to novices as well as thrill seekers. The parks have borrowed the ski industry's green-blue-black nomenclature to rate the difficulty level of trails.

PLAYING DIRTY

 

A snapshot of some of the off-road parks that are popping up.

NAME PRICE DISTINGUISHING FEATURE COMMENT Area BFE

Moab, Utah Free Ramps are set up for a 50-foot leap -- the owner calls it the "Dukes of Hazzard" jump This park, on a uranium deposit in the Utah desert, is one of the more extreme in the country; among other tricks, it has metal railings that cars jump onto and slide down Hatfield-McCoy

Lyburn, W.Va. $19/day ATV riders can hit a McDonald's drive-through because the trail system runs through some small towns Among the country's largest off-roading networks, with 500 miles of trails spread over four counties in southern West Virginia Durhamtown Plantation

Union Point, Ga. $25/day ATVers have to share the park with hunters, anglers and skateboarders The 8,000 acres are deep with history, from remnants of moonshine stills to a cemetery that holds plantation families and slaves Paragon Adventure Park

Hazleton, Pa. $25 to $35 Off-road classes ($500) teach truck owners how to wade through water -- and recover their truck when it gets stuck The park has everything from green trails ("Turtle Trail") to trails that can't be accessed without a park guide ("Death Valley")

ATVs have also come under fire for their safety record, especially when the riders are children. The Consumer Product Safety Commission estimated that in 2004, the latest data available, ATVs were the cause of 136,100 emergency-room-treated injuries, up 48% from 2000. Mike Mount, spokesman for the Specialty Vehicle Institute of America, the trade association for the ATV industry, says that because of the big increase in ATV usage, the injury rate has remained flat for the last couple of years. "We still want that number to go down," he says.

For towns like Gilbert, off-roading represents a chance to diversify an economy hit hard by the decline in mining jobs. The town's population has plummeted about 30% over the past two decades, to 1,800. The off-road park has spawned some new businesses in town. Fun Time Rental, which rents out ATVs and snowmobiles, runs out of stock most weekends. Across the street, Milt Lerfald, a laid-off miner, used savings and a bank loan to build a $500,000 car wash that caters to all the trucks and trailers that now pass through town.

But others are using their money to keep offroaders away. Roxanne Quimby, former CEO of cosmetics and candle company Burt's Bees, has spent just under $40 million since 2000 buying some 70,000 acres of forest land. She has shut down dozens of miles of ATV and snowmobile trails. For riders that ignore the new mandates, Ms. Quimby has erected gates, destroyed bridges and culverts that patch together trails, and laid boulders across access roads. "It's bad news for them when I buy a piece of property," says Ms. Quimby.

 

 

 

And some real information about the Iron Range OHV park, from personal experience, and from some of the congressmen that spoke at the MNOHV.org rally at the capital last month (these are my words, copied from my reply to the thread on yotatech):

the Iron Range Off-Highway Vehicle Reacreation Area (IROHVRA) in Gilbert, MN was an iron ore open pit mine until 1985. from 1985, until 1997, it sat unused. in 1997 when volunteers started cleaning it up, they removed hundreds of thousands of tires, something like 8 abandoned, and burned vehicles, hundreds of appliances, etc. etc. and it was a 3-4 year project before it could be opened to the public.

 

which also proves the irrelevance of their statistics. the 30% population 'plummet' in the last 2 decades was since the mine was shut down, and has nothing to do with the off road park, which has only been open for about 5 years (IIRC it opened in 2001).

 

and, the $40 3-year entrance sticker pays for much of the cost of keeping the park open. not to mention annual events like the Crawl 4 the Cure, the MN4WDA spring convention, and the MN-Jeep summer run.

 

You're also required to clean your rig off before leaving the park.

 

 

another interesting tidbit. By acreage, the state of Minnesota is the 3rd largest land owner in the country, after the Federal Government, and the State of Alaska. and yet, of all that land, there are 11 miles of trails outside the 1,500 acre park where ORV's are legal.

 

for more information, visit http://www.MNOHV.org

 

 

If you want to do something productive. write a letter to your state and federal senetors and representatives. a letter, not an email. evey a postcard has much better chance of getting read than an email. most congressmen have a secretary go through their email boxes and show them the ones worth reading. Tell them were you stand on issues like this, make sure they know what you beleive, and how you stand.

 

DON'T be offensive. be careful of your wording, otherwise you'll get dismissed. but make sure they understand that at least some of their constituants value their ability to enjoy the land this way.

 

another tidbit. the Minnesota congress almost made it completely and totally illegal to use an OHV (that includes bikes and ATVs). The House of Reps approved the bill, but the Senate turned it down....but just barely.

 

Our hobby is under the microscope. So be careful when posting pics (the extreme opposition likes to take things out of context). and make sure you are keeping it legal. the more illegal use there is, the more leverage there is for taking away legal places. Fighting with other people who agree is pretty dumb. Get out and do something productive.

[Rollie715]

For off-roaders, crackups are part of the thrill. At Iron Range, the same weekend Mr. Olson was tooling around, another Chevy Blazer tried to navigate a steep incline of mud, and tumbled down sideways, caving in the roof and ripping off a tire. A Hummer got stuck halfway up another long hill, its tires spitting gravel, and had to be bailed out with a winch.

 

I read most of it. The above quote struck me as an example of what some think are negative aspects of this hobby, while others such as myself think these mentioned attributes are the positives that make it all a lot of fun.

 

I can't wait to bash up the body, get stuck and have to get winched out.

It a good thing!

 

Rollie

[heep70]

This piece of info is really important.

 

"Our hobby is under the microscope. So be careful when posting pics (the extreme opposition likes to take things out of context). and make sure you are keeping it legal. the more illegal use there is, the more leverage there is for taking away legal places. Fighting with other people who agree is pretty dumb. Get out and do something productive."

 

There are users here that are basiclly spies looking for this kinda crap to take to there leaders and use agianst us. I have seen it happen on other offroad forums. They even watch for events that will take place so they can see if they can shut it down. Ask the Faithwheelers about that.

 

It isn't cool anyhow to be distroying what ain't yours and going in places that are private or even just plain common sense to stay out of. I know there are some extreme temptations to it just to get a rise, but we need to use our heads if we want to see this recreational activity stay alive.

[kingbobdole]

When it comes to a community sport, there are always asshats. Personally, my "smoke spewing monster" is perfectly street legal which means happy skies. plus its a subaru... what kinda damage could it possibly do?

[dixracing]

what i find disturbing is the lack of respect for the orv land use areas themselves.......example:we went camping/quadding/4x4ing at tahuya....an area in wa. maintained by quadrapaws......on the 4x4 loop you could follow the path a soul took by following the red dog beer cans..... :mad: i saw alot of beer cans matter of fact......i just don't understand these fools.....same weekend these here city boys rolled in with their "late night party as i want" attitude in their lowered-mega diesel trailer pulling a castle on wheels .......sheesh....when they left i went to their campsite just to see what kind of dudes they were........what a bunch of no respect AZZWHOLES.....they left it filthy........ :mad: HEY CITY BOYS ............KEEP IT IN THE CITY ....WE DON'T NEED OR WANT ANY.

 

i can see why the naysayers are as they are....

 

ok i'm off my soap box.