On the recordFebruary 18, 2011
This amendment would stop a very careful planning process that determines what routes off-road vehicles can use through our national forests. Now over the past few decades, we know that the availability and capability of off-road vehicles has increased tremendously. That means more Americans are enjoying access to, and recreational opportunities in, their national forests, but the resulting proliferation of random routes results in severe impacts, particularly on the quality of our water supply and the physical safety of national forest visitors. The national forests are spectacular lands. There are 193 million national forest acres all over this Nation. Oftentimes, we take them for granted and fail to realize that the national forests are the headwaters for much of our Nation's surface waters. The clean, pure water produced on a national forest is a national treasure and the economic resource that supports industry and agriculture nationwide. In fact, half of the American West gets their drinking water from national forests, while in many rural communities, it is 100 percent. The proliferation, though, of random trails created by off road vehicles, increases erosion and pollution into water sources with no possibility for mitigation by culverts or other measures that would be available to land managers on designated routes. This amendment is poorly considered.
