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Off-ROAD Vehicle
Abuse
The
widespread damage caused by off-road vehicles (ORVs) has long
been recognized. In 1979, the White House Council on
Environmental Quality stated that “off-road vehicles have
damaged every kind of ecosystem found in the United States.” A
quarter-century later, the proliferation of ORVs on public lands
has only made the problem worse.
The noise, pollution, and speed of ORVs
degrade the wilderness experiences of other recreational users,
including hikers, horseback riders, hunters, and other forest
visitors. These vehicles destroy vegetation and cause severe
soil erosion and soil compaction, which in turn leads to
increased runoff, flooding, and further erosion. The disruption
of soil also promotes the spread of invasive nonnative
vegetation. In addition, ORVs affect wildlife through direct
collisions, habitat alteration, and overall harassment. Because
of these impacts, the Forest Service recently declared ORVs to
be one of the top four threats facing our nation’s forests.
Despite the widespread damage caused by ORVs,
there is very little regulation of this activity on national
forest lands. The regulations that do exist are poorly
implemented, and agencies lack sufficient funds to monitor ORV
use to prevent trespass into unauthorized areas.
OHV Abuse in the Los Padres
The Los Padres offers 980 miles of designated ORV routes and other roads that are open to ORV use. There are
also hundreds of miles of undocumented ORV trails, most of which are
the result of illegal ORV use on the Mt. Pinos and Santa Lucia
Ranger Districts. Areas suffering from the most intensive ORV
use include the Mutau/Hungry Valley, Ballinger Canyon, the Highway 33
Corridor, Pozo-LaPanza, and Rockfront. The Los Padres also
faces increasing pressure from the popular Hungry Valley State
Vehicular Recreation Area, located directly adjacent to the
national forest boundary.
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| Resource damage
caused by ORV use on the Los Padres National Forest. ©
LPFW, Inc. |
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ORV
use on the Los Padres is expected to increase by 20% in the next
few years. To accommodate this increased demand,
the Forest Service is planning up to 494
additional miles of ORV roads within the forest boundaries. Worse, the
agency is proposing to establish 733,086 acres exclusively for
“backcountry motorized use” in areas that are currently
undeveloped and wild. The Forest Service admits that it is
unable to currently provide sufficient management and
enforcement along existing ORV routes, yet fails to explain how
it intends to prevent trespass and resource damage along these
new routes.
The
proliferation of ORV routes in the Los Padres has damaged
sensitive cultural sites, eroded hillsides, and choked waterways
with sediment. A recent report by the State Water Resources
Control Board identified ORV use as one of the major sources of water
quality problems on the Los Padres. And a report by
Forest Service whistleblowers disclosed ongoing impacts to 30
cultural sites in San Luis Obispo County, with damage occurring
"almost daily" at prehistoric rock art and other sites in the
Gold Hill area.
The
Los Padres is suffering from an epidemic of ORV lawlessness,
with 742 OHV-related violations recorded in 2004. |
