ATV Report

Minnesota DNR Broken! Holsten Must Go!!!

2008-09-15T20:46:00.000-07:00

The recent three part series in the Minneapolis Star clearly shows that the DNR is broken and that Commissioner Mark Holsten is the reason. Holsten has failed both the people of Minnesota the agency he leads. The policies he is pushing and defending, turning the care of our states fields, forests and wetlands over to the ATV industry, are impossible to understand and certainly indefensible for an agency that is supposed to protect the state's resources, not facilitate their destruction. Clearly Holsten is in the pocket of the ATV clubs and manufacturers, if not actually on their payroll. They way he is pandering to them smacks of a corrupt leadership at the DNR.

Virtually every DNR employee I have ever dealt with has been a staunch defender of our states public lands; everyone but Holsten. He has clearly sold the state the DNR's soul to the ATV despoilers.

Holsten must go! Now!

A. E. Northman

ATV Report Back in Action

2008-09-14T19:50:00.000-07:00

After about a 10 month hiatus, ATV Report is back with a focus on Minnesota issues as they relate to the motorized outdoor sports industry - ATVs, OHVs, dirt bikes, snowmobiles, and jet-skis (personal watercraft). All the outdoor toys of noise and destruction.

Submissions and comments are welcome.

Minneapolis Star Tribune ATV Series Indicts ATVers and MN DNR

2008-09-14T19:41:00.000-07:00

Renegade riders

September 14, 2008

By DAVID SHAFFER, TOM MEERSMAN and GLENN HOWATT • Star Tribune staff writers •

FIRST OF THREE PARTS

State Conservation Officer Matt Miller stopped his truck at the edge of the Rum River, just in time to see the wet joyrider.

A young man on an all-terrain vehicle was driving down the center of the shallow river, waves of mud and water pouring away from his machine. It was the kind of destructive fun that draws many ATV riders to Minnesota's public lands and waters. It's also against the law.

The thrill-seeking rider drove up on the bank. Miller followed in his truck, to the man's nearby home and wrote him tickets. Returning to the Rum River, a state wild and scenic waterway north of the Twin Cities, Miller photographed a stretch of once-green shoreline that had been scraped into black ruts by ATV wheels.

"It seems like some of them think they can ride anywhere they wish regardless of what guidelines and laws there are," Miller said.

Across Minnesota, as ATV ridership soars, the wildly popular pastime is exacting a lasting, costly toll on the state's forests and wild lands.

Fragile wetlands are being churned into mud. Wildlife habitats are being torn up. Lake and river beds are being rutted. Hillsides are being eroded.

Five years ago, Minnesota enacted laws to keep all-terrain vehicles on trails. But officers like Miller keep catching riders doing the opposite.

To the dismay of lawful riders, renegades on four-wheelers are being caught damaging forests and trespassing on nature areas and private lands across the state, a Star Tribune analysis of five years of Department of Natural Resources enforcement records shows. Some are ignoring signs or driving around barriers put up to stop them. Others are brazenly posting videos of destructive riding on YouTube.

With stepped-up enforcement, nearly 1,600 riders have been issued tickets or written warnings for off-trail lawbreaking, but that's only a fraction of the violators, most of whom are never caught.

"You see the damage, you see the aftereffect of what's been happening, so you assume there are a lot more out there than we're catching," said Colleen Adam, a DNR conservation officer assigned to ATV enforcement.

Regulating ATV riding on public land has become a dominant issue for the DNR, which at times is divided over how to respond to the go-almost-anywhere vehicles. As ATV registrations have nearly tripled in the past decade, to 264,000, there's also unrelenting conflict between four-wheeler fans and hikers, canoeists, bird watchers and others who prefer quiet in the woods.

The DNR hasn't documented the full extent of ATV damage on public lands or estimated the cost of repairing it. But recent DNR monitoring efforts found problems in 17 state forests.

A Star Tribune investigation of ATVs on state lands also reveals:

• Renegade riders caught trashing the environment usually face small fines, seldom pay restitution and never lose driving privileges. The DNR doesn't enforce a 2005 law to keep the worst violators off ATVs, saying it doesn't have the money to do so.

• Riders often use state-approved trails to illegally enter sensitive places. Nearly one in four tickets or warnings issued for riding in wetlands and public waters occurred near places where it's legal to go, the DNR's data show.

• ATVs now represent the third-biggest claim on conservation officers' patrol time. Officers spend more hours checking on ATVs than they do on waterfowl and small-game hunting or snowmobiling. Yet the DNR Enforcement Division is roughly the same size as a decade ago -- a little more than 200 officers and supervisors.

DNR Commissioner Mark Holsten said the department is trying to change the virtually unregulated riding culture of the past -- a difficult job that is far from finished.
"It is offensive to me to have people say that it is not better out there than it was pre-2003," said Holsten, referring to the year new laws took effect.

To get the problem under control, the DNR is now taking the controversial step of paying rider clubs to act as "Trail Ambassadors" who encourage riders to obey the law. The agency also is closing many trails, and mapping thousands of miles of ATV routes in a hotly debated five-year review of motor use in state forests.

Damage? Check YouTube

Anyone who wants to see what ATVs can do to the environment need not go into the woods. Riders' exploits are posted all the time on YouTube.com, the video-sharing service on the Internet.

That's what Conservation Officer Paul Kuske discovered last year. Acting on a tip, he searched YouTube, and spotted a clip from the Pine Center ATV Trail, a 23-mile network on county and state land in Whitefish Lake Memorial Forest near Brainerd, Minn.

Wetlands lie adjacent to that trail. Watching the YouTube video several times, Kuske said he was "90 percent certain" he recognized at least one site. The clip showed ATV riders repeatedly driving through muddy areas just off the trail, including protected wetland. Kuske couldn't identify the riders: They wore helmets; mud covered their license plates.

Kuske said he was too busy to seek a subpoena ordering YouTube to name the video maker. The investigation stalled, no one was arrested, and the video disappeared from YouTube.

To protect the areas, foresters placed keep-out signs at the sites. Kuske also warned many ATV riders that the trail could be closed if violations persisted. He said it has helped.

Still, this spring, someone ripped out two DNR signs at one site featured on YouTube. Fresh tracks led into the mud. So the Star Tribune placed a hidden, motion-activated video camera there in June. It recorded a man and a woman riding ATVs into the mud and getting stuck (see it on StarTribune.com).

Under state rules, it is illegal for ATV riders to cause erosion or make off-trail ruts. Kuske, after being shown the new video, said that if he caught the riders, he likely would issue a written warning, rather than a ticket, because the keep-out signs were gone and the area isn't a protected wetland.

Some officers are experimenting with hidden cameras to gather evidence of destructive off-road riding, and one even led to a prosecution in Kittson County. But the videos usually don't clearly show the license plate or riders' faces, enforcement officials say.

"Isn't hurting anything"

More often, it takes luck to catch ATV riders ripping up the landscape.

Last September, conservation officer Miller got a call from a radio dispatcher reporting that ATVs had been seen in the Rum River in Isanti County.

Miller drove to a boat landing. He was just in time to see Delorne Kluck, then 20, "riding down dead-center in the river."

The officer followed Kluck to his house near Cambridge, and confronted him. Kluck was polite, Miller said, but insisted that he did nothing wrong, though he later paid a $300 fine. Two friends also got tickets.

It was Kluck's second bust for damaging the environment on an ATV. In June 2006, he was caught by other officers patrolling the Red Top ATV Trail, just east of Mille Lacs Lake, after he drove into a wetland.

"I still don't think it was a wetland," said Kluck, who paid a $100 fine for that violation. "It was just a trail with mud on it."

Kluck said that "most riders want to do stuff that's a challenge and see if they can make it through it. " If his ATV gets dirty, he washes it off by riding in the river, he said.

"For the most part this stuff we ride in isn't hurting anything," he said. And the DNR "makes it sound worse than it is so that people won't do it anymore, " he added.
Officers write tickets or warnings to about 439 ATV riders each year for damaging the land or off-roading where they shouldn't, the DNR data show. That includes 52 riders, on average, caught in waters or wetlands. Another 386 people are stopped for driving illegally in parks and preserves, in roadside ditches during bird-nesting season, in hunting areas during restricted hours or on private lands.

The worst lawbreakers keep riding. At least 42 people have been charged with careless or reckless ATV violations since 2005, but they didn't lose riding privileges despite a state law. Nor did they have to take a class and pass a state test before riding again, as the law requires. DNR acting enforcement chief Mark Johanson said the agency did not get money from the Legislature to track the offenders and impose the extra sanctions.

Increasingly, officers are turning into woodland traffic cops. They issue, on average, 3,400 tickets and warnings each year for safety and vehicle registration violations. That work is crucial to reducing ATV accidents, injuries and deaths, but means less time protecting natural resources.

Powerful ATVs can alter the landscape in a variety of ways. If ATVs ride in grassy agricultural ditches during the April-to-August closed season, pheasants often won't nest there, said Carmelita Nelson, who coordinates a DNR Roadsides for Wildlife program. Seeds from invasive weeds can be carried on muddy ATVs, and damaged wetlands often grow back with Reed canary grass instead of native plants.

Rarely made to pay

Only in rare cases are destructive riders made to pay restitution for tearing up the land.

One is Trevor James John of Crosslake, a former snowmobile racer. He was caught four years ago with his ATV stuck in a wetland at Flanders Lake near Brainerd.
John said he and a friend were "just out enjoying nature." The DNR complaint said they drove unregistered ATVs past a sign that said, "No motorized vehicles allowed beyond this point," and then got stuck in a wetland. Conservation officer Karl Hadrits, who spotted the ATVs, slogged through thigh-deep mud to reach the two riders.

After long court delays, a judge last May ordered John to pay $400 restitution, on top of an earlier $377 in fines and fees. John said he paid the money to make the case go away.

His ATV wasn't confiscated. Although conservation officers seize firearms, fishing gear, boats or fish houses for various violations, the seizure law doesn't apply when people damage the land with a vehicle.

"Why would you buy like a 4-wheel-drive ATV if you can't even go in mud?" John said. "... It wasn't like we were the first ones riding there. There were tracks all over the place. People have ridden there for years ... I don't understand what it is we are ruining to drive an ATV there."

Hadrits has busted numerous wetland violators, including people driving giant-wheeled trucks. At trouble spots, he hides in the woods, binoculars in hand, his ATV parked and ready to roll.

"Sometimes to catch people you have to sit back and hide and watch -- and it takes time," he said. In one stakeout, he chased three riders on his ATV for nearly 4 miles after they rutted up a lakeshore and then sped away.

Riders sometimes help. While patrolling the Pine Center Trail in May 2007, conservation officers Kuske and Miller met two riders who said that two kids on ATVs were stuck in a bog down the trail. "Sure enough, they were right up to the handlebars," Kuske said. "... They had been in here for probably a good half-hour or better, ripping around and going around."

The boys had driven around a keep-out sign and barrier logs.

The clear-water bog, once the home of wood ducks, "was like a pudding. It was so churned up, completely devoid of vegetation, even around the edges, just one big soup hole," he added.

As Kuske and Miller questioned the 17-year-old boys, from Champlin and Dayton, the two riders who reported the incident returned -- angry at the kids' behavior.
"They wanted a piece of these guys," Kuske said, who intervened to prevent a violent confrontation.

Some ATV riders worry that destructive acts damage the image of their sport and will sour Minnesotans -- the vast majority of whom don't own ATVs -- on allowing motorized trails on public lands.

"If we have all these bad apples digging up the mud all over the place ... pretty soon no one is going to have a spot to ride," said Dan Scholl, president of the Eastern Morrison County 4-Wheeler Club. "And we are out for more trails. To get more trails, we have to keep everybody from making it look like a bad sport."

Fixing the scars

Environmental damage from ATVs, however, is more than bad PR. Scarred landscapes can be costly to fix and take years to heal.

Nowhere is this more visible than at Spider Lake Recreation Area in north-central Minnesota, where 26 miles of trails became a magnet for ATVs and 4-wheel-drive trucks early in the decade.

It once featured a hillside deliberately strewn with boulders and logs for trucks to scramble over. The eroded "challenge hill" has been closed, and the DNR has spent $450,000 since 2003 to deal with wetlands, lakeshores and hillsides damaged by illegal ATV riding.

Some areas at Spider Lake are recovering, yet new ATV damage is visible. Last Memorial Day weekend, conservation officers ticketed or warned 10 ATV riders for driving off the trail, including two who rode around in a wetland.

"You get, lots of times, younger groups maybe in their 20s or early 30s who think that they're on their own little private piece of property and they're going to do what they want to do," said DNR conservation officer Chad Sherack, who patrols the area.

Even minor damage, such as ATV ruts, can become a costly problem. At Sugar Hills, a cross-country ski area near Grand Rapids, Minn., almost every hillside has been damaged by illegal riding over the past 10 years, said Bruce Slinkman, president of the Minnesota Nordic Ski Association and a contractor who sometimes has been hired to smooth and regrade trails.

On hills, the ruts gradually erode into gullies after a few rainfalls. "I have encountered gullies that are 2 feet deep to a couple cases that are 4 feet deep -- the trail is impassible," he added. It costs $1,000 just to bring heavy equipment into the woods for a day, and a repair job can easily cost double that, he said.
Since 2006, when DNR established the first of two damage-monitoring programs, field workers have reported wetland damage or signs of illegal off-trail riding in 17 state forests and other scattered state land.

Yet many of the state's 58 forests have not been checked for such damage.
"I don't claim that we're doing anywhere near 100 percent monitoring," said Keith Simar, recreation coordinator for the DNR Forestry Division. "Our direction to foresters is to deal with the issues as we come across them in our normal work, not to go out and try to find unfound problem sites."

Simar said he sought $100,000 to systematically look for forest ATV damage, but the money wasn't approved.

State and county foresters have placed signs, downed logs, fences and boulders to keep out ATVs. Those efforts haven't always worked. At one spot near the Mississippi River headwaters, determined riders have repeatedly moved large rocks blocking a favored unauthorized riding area.

A few good boulders

In Beltrami County, foresters recently discovered a way to keep vehicles out of closed areas: 5,000-pound boulders.

Rocks smaller than about 3 feet in diameter can be yanked aside by a 4-wheel-drive truck, said John Winter, who heads county recreation programs. The county paid a contractor $14,000 to place about 35 boulders, other barriers and signs at eight closed access points to the Mississippi Headwaters State Forest.

Logs and branches also have been put on closed trails, and in another innovation, workers scatter soil over the piles. If anyone tries to cut the logs, grit will ruin the chainsaw.

At one spot where old keep-out signs and barriers had been ripped out, workers embedded new signposts in concrete. "We fortified that one and, by God, it worked," Winter said.

He believes it will take years, and pressure from riders who don't break the law, to change the thinking of those who do.

"I am hoping they will help to influence the ones who are raising hell," Winter said. "To say we are going to get all the resource damage under control, that is going to take a hell of a long time."

DNR paying clubs to monitor riders

September 14, 2008

SECOND OF THREE PARTS

On a sunny Saturday in June, a fleet of ATVs motored into the woods of north-central Minnesota for a day of four-wheeling fun and pig roast called the "Pork and Ride."

The procession of riders on the outing, sponsored by an ATV club called the Over the Hills Gang, stopped on their way to the Moose River Trail. Most left their machines for a short hike. But three riders reportedly steered their ATVs off the trail into a pond fringed with cattails, roaring through it until the fragile wetland was a muddy mess.

A few weeks later, members of the same club hopped on ATVs to ride the same trail, but in a much different role. They were "Trail Ambassadors," handing out brochures on safe, responsible ATV riding. The Over the Hills Gang was paid $34 an hour for its two-man patrols -- by the state.

Such payments, totaling $250,000 a year, are a new strategy that the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources hopes will reduce the damage that some riders are doing to forests and wildlife habitat.

But the government aid to rider clubs also has become a flashpoint in the debate over how the DNR should confront the challenge of ATVs, which are filling Minnesota forests in larger numbers than ever before.

"It's pretty discouraging," said DNR conservation officer Cary Shoutz, who is investigating the reported wetland damage during the club-sponsored ride.

"Here we have clubs that are supposed to be promoting good things about riding ATVs responsibly, and they're actually doing different when they're out there, where nobody can see them," Shoutz added.

In July, representatives of two conservation organizations resigned as advisers to DNR's Ambassador program, saying they were frustrated with the DNR's off-road policies.

But the DNR official in charge of the Ambassador program defended it and the club, saying the fact that the agency even found out about the illegal riding was a sign of progress.

"I see this as an example of something that did happen, that shouldn't have happened, that wasn't hush-hushed," Capt. Mike Hammer, the DNR education program coordinator, said of the wetland damage. "It was brought to the attention of authorities so we can deal with it. ... People are starting to step up and take responsibility in their local areas and clean this stuff up."

Indeed, Shoutz said he got a call about the incident shortly after it happened, but not from a club member. The witness who tipped off the DNR told the Star Tribune he was simply along for the ride and didn't know the culprits. He said he was unwilling to speak publicly because it might cause him trouble in his work.

Meri Lysne, president of the Over the Hills Gang ATV Club, first denied to the newspaper she knew anything about the incident. Later in the same interview, she conceded that it happened.

"If three people go off into a wetland on a designated trail ride, what are you supposed to do? Shoot them?" she said. More recently, she added, the club has discussed the matter but "as far as I'm concerned, this subject is null and void."

In Minnesota, riders of ATVs, dirt bikes or off-road trucks seldom faced sanctions for such acts until 2003, when new state laws took effect. A Star Tribune analysis of DNR data found that officers now ticket or warn about 439 ATV riders a year for violating natural-resource laws, though that is just a fraction of the violators. Riders usually are long gone when officers discover eroded hills, illegal trails and tire-tracked wetlands.

ATV registrations tripled in the past decade to 264,000 last year. To deal with problems, the DNR has stepped up ATV enforcement, closed trails, documented damaged areas and, this year, trained 69 people sponsored by 12 rider clubs to patrol trails under the Ambassador program.

Out on the trail
Perry May squinted in the summer sunlight as he drove an ATV along the Moose River ATV trail in Land O' Lakes State Forest. He stopped, swung a leg over the seat of his Arctic Cat 500 to dismount and pulled out a GPS device.

"There's some off-trail traffic happening here," he said, referring to where tall grass, daisies and Indian paintbrush had been flattened in tire tracks leading to an old logging road.

Another rider, Ken LeVoir, marked the scene by writing down the GPS coordinates and tying orange tape to a tree branch. That would alert the DNR to a potential trouble spot.

LeVoir and May, members of the Over The Hills Gang ATV Club, are enthusiastic riders who were among the first to volunteer for weekend Trail Ambassador training. The program is modeled after a similar effort in Wisconsin that has earned praise there for improving rider behavior.

The Ambassadors can't enforce ATV laws. But they are encouraged to call a conservation officer if they witness unsafe or destructive ATV use.

May and LeVoir, who weren't along on the June ride under investigation by the DNR, spent a Sunday in July motoring down the trail as Ambassadors. Their uniforms were fluorescent yellow and orange vests, and they handed out brochures and maps, not tickets.

Where two trails met in the forest, three young dirt-bike riders pulled up and stopped at the sight of the men on the ATVs.

"This area is closed to motorcycles," LeVoir said to them.

"We didn't see the signs," came the reply.

Then May jumped in. "We are not enforcement officers," he said. "So we are just trying to explain, you know, compliance rules and that. This trail system isn't marked as well as it should be and we'll definitely report that to the DNR."

The bikers, on the other hand, wouldn't be reported to a conservation officer. They drove off.

LeVoir said he thought the three dirt-bikers made an honest mistake. The rules can be confusing, he said, and his approach is "to give people the opportunity to do it the right way" before calling an officer.

Although Ambassadors are volunteers, each of their hours on the trail earns $17 for their club. The club can then reimburse volunteers for expenses such as gasoline, according to the program rules.

One rule limits ATV Ambassadors to riders sponsored by clubs that belong to the All-Terrain Vehicle Association of Minnesota (ATVAM). It is a statewide group that has lobbied the Legislature for more trail funding and against tougher regulations and enforcement. Ambassadors also must be certified to teach ATV safety training classes under a separate DNR program.

Ken Irish of Inver Grove Heights, the group's president and a founder of another rider club in Crow Wing County, was one of the first Ambassadors to complete the DNR training program. Though he had been nabbed by a conservation officer in 2003 for illegal ATV riding, the offense didn't disqualify him from the outreach program.

"I got caught -- I'm not ashamed to say it," said Irish, who was ticketed, and paid an $80 fine, for riding on a posted non-motorized trail in the Crow Wing State Forest. He also got a ticket in 1999 for riding an unregistered dirt bike.

Irish said the 2003 ticket taught him a lesson and got him involved with the Cuyuna Iron Range Riders, an ATV/dirt bike club, to push for legal places to ride. "I took a positive approach," Irish said.

The DNR's Hammer agrees. He praised Irish, and expressed no concerns about a handful of other trail Ambassadors whose violations of fish, game or other regulations turned up in DNR background checks. Unless people have "gross violations," such as a driving while intoxicated, or patterns of less-serious offenses, they are not excluded from the program, Hammer said. So far, no one has been turned away from the Ambassador program because of a background check, he added.

"Somewhere along the line they may have screwed up," said Hammer, who believes the Ambassadors will help discourage illegal, destructive riding.

Skeptical of riders
Nobody is quite sure who screwed up at the June 7 "Pork and Ride" fundraiser and trail ride.

Before a pork barbeque, more than 100 ATV riders took off in groups for trail rides. In one group, riders parked their ATVs at a shallow pond just off the trail, and most of the group walked away to see the ruins of an abandoned homestead, according to the witness who alerted the DNR. Several riders stayed behind, including three who drove back and forth through the pond and surrounding cattails for the next half hour, the witness said.

When the others returned, the witness said, the pond had been turned into a "slough of black mud" and one ATV was stuck. The group pulled it out and rode on. The witness said he didn't know the riders who entered the wetland, or whether they were club members.

Audubon Minnesota and the Jack Pine Coalition, two groups that support more regulation of ATVs on public lands, are skeptical that rider groups are a solution to illegal, destructive driving. They say the start-up funds for the Ambassador program should be used to hire more conservation officers instead.

"There is no sense in having people who are associated with other people who are breaking the law trying to police them," said Susan Solterman, policy director for Audubon Minnesota.

Solterman and Gene Larimore of the Jack Pine Coalition, a loose collection of outdoors enthusiasts, briefly served on the DNR's advisory group for the Ambassador program. But they grew frustrated with the DNR's rules, and resigned in protest in July.

"There was no opportunity for advice," said Larimore, who believes the Ambassador program does little more than hand over public money to rider groups.

He and Solterman said they believe state law required the DNR to include non-motor groups in the program. They said conservationists, hunters and other outdoors enthusiasts should be allowed to serve as Trail Ambassadors to promote conservation and environmental protection and also bridge the gap between rider and non-rider groups.

Hammer of the DNR said the department is "not trying to include or exclude anybody." He said Larimore and Solterman quit before giving the program a chance to succeed.

Hammer and other conservation officers believe ATV rider clubs can help promote responsible behavior, just as snowmobile clubs did in that sport 25 years ago. Yet that view is not universal within the department.

Shoutz, the officer who was first contacted by the witness to the Over the Hills Gang incident, said that ATV club members are unlikely to turn in friends for illegal riding. The witness who reported the incident was not a club member or in the Ambassador program.

"I'm in one of the busiest ATV areas in the state and I have not received one complaint from an Ambassador about anybody," Shoutz said.

Control at last or inviting trouble?
A massive DNR program to decide where ATVs may go in state forests is meant to reduce damage and resolve conflicts. But some agency experts say the plan leaves too much land open to motors.

Third of Three Parts

After five years of meticulous mapping, Minnesota is on the verge of ensuring that thousands of miles of backwoods trails and roads are open to all-terrain vehicles.
It will be the state's biggest step yet to gain control over ATV riding in its public forests, and it's stoking a contentious debate over what place motors have in the woods.

The immense trail project will have lasting consequences for outdoor recreation in Minnesota. It also is bitterly dividing the state Department of Natural Resources, which manages 4.2 million acres of state forests.

Some DNR experts are worried that the changes will leave forests and other wild lands vulnerable to damage from ATVs.

Others call the newly sanctioned trails, which could exceed 7,700 miles, the best way to control what had been a motorized free-for-all on public land.

In shaping the plan, top DNR officials repeatedly overruled field staff by approving motorized access near riverbanks, bogs and old-growth forest, and in areas that harbor red-shouldered hawks and rare plants, interviews with DNR staff and a review of agency records show.

The agency says riders tend to stay on marked trails. It contends there is no need to route trails away from wetlands and other critical areas that can be ravaged by the wheels of wayward ATVs.

"We're trying to give the users the benefit of the doubt, instead of the agency coming out and always saying 'No, no, no, no, no, no, no,'" said Bob Leibfried, DNR regional manager for ecological services.

But many of those who camp, fish, canoe, watch birds and ride horses on public lands are finding those pursuits less enjoyable or impossible in the presence of noisy and fast-moving off-road vehicles.

"You don't mix motorized recreation with a wild experience. You can't have it," said Matt Norton, forestry and wildlife advocate for the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy. "One is going to lose out. Guess which one that is going to be?"

ATV rider groups say they deserve trails in state forests because four-wheelers are excluded from wildlife management areas, most parks, the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and other public lands.

Riders generally give the DNR high marks for its mapping work. Len Hardy, first vice-president of the All-Terrain Vehicle Association of Minnesota, said rider clubs in the state want a completed trail system. He sees it as a way to repair the scars, rather than cause more.

"We've been riding on these trails now for 20 years, some of them, and nothing's ever been done to them," he said. "We know there's damage out there."

Once a trail system is determined, Hardy said, clubs will be able to apply for state money to fix the problems.

'We failed as an agency'

The sweeping trail survey has its roots in a debate that flared six years ago. In 2002, the Star Tribune reported that ATVs and four-wheel drive trucks were running off trails into wetlands and gouging hillsides in many forests and wildlife management areas, including one of the first motorized trails in the state, the Spider Lake Recreation Area northwest of Brainerd.

The Legislature ordered the agency to get control of the situation at Spider Lake and elsewhere by taking inventory of roads and trails in all 58 state forests and, by the end of 2008, identifying routes where off-road enthusiasts should be allowed to drive.

"We failed as an agency in the management of ATVs," said DNR Commissioner Mark Holsten. He said the situation has improved significantly in the past five years. Holsten became deputy commissioner in 2003 and commissioner in 2007.

"My job is to bring some order to an unordered world," he said.

The trails in question are already there. Almost all were blazed over the years by loggers, hunters and, more recently, ATV riders who went wherever they wanted in the state forests.

The DNR spent $2.3 million to map all roads, trails and other corridors in state forests. Then the agency assigned teams of experts from various divisions, including trails and waterways, forestry, fish and wildlife, enforcement and ecological resources, to recommend which routes remain open in each forest. After holding public meetings and reviewing citizen comments, the commissioner makes the final trail decisions.

So far, the DNR has approved about 3,300 miles in 33 forests as open for recreational riding and closed 2,070 miles. The DNR expects to close about 1 mile of trail for every 2 miles kept open. When the remaining 25 forests are approved later this year, the state could end up with 7,700 miles of recreational routes.

Wisconsin, by contrast, has about 180 miles of ATV trails on DNR land, and its state forest system is about one-eighth Minnesota's size.

"Here in Wisconsin, our lands were designated as closed to ATVs until we decided to open some of them," said Steve Petersen, DNR superintendent of Northern Highland-American Legion State Forest in northern Wisconsin. "That's different than Minnesota where initially everything was open to ATVs and now you're trying to close some trails."

Most ATV riding in Wisconsin is on county lands, he said. Minnesota also has thousands of miles of trails and roads open to ATVs in county and federal forests.

Ideas were rejected

If it had been up to some DNR trail planning teams, many more places would be off-limits to ATVs.

Teams recommended closing areas to ATVs to protect nearby wetlands and other natural resources, but top DNR managers repeatedly ordered revisions that favored motor access.

Mike North, a DNR ecologist who reviewed motor policies in north-central Minnesota, said it only takes a few riders illegally driving off the trail and "the next thing you know you can have some pretty significant wetland damage." Other agency experts said they feared for their jobs if they spoke out publicly about such concerns.

• In Sturgeon River and Crow Wing state forests, planning teams recommended 50 areas where even hunter use of ATVs would be banned. These areas included wetlands with rare plants, pristine lakes and old-growth hardwoods. Top DNR officials have overruled 80 percent of the closures, allowing hunters to drive ATVs off-trail at certain times.

• In Mississippi Headwaters State Forest, which features 40 miles of near-wilderness riverfront, three of the five planning team members recommended that the entire forest be closed to off-trail riding because of sensitive soils and past illegal ATV riding in the river. DNR Regional Director Mike Carroll in Bemidji kept part of the forest open to ATVs.

• In Nemadji State Forest, on the Wisconsin border in Pine County, the planning team proposed to close a trail that borders an old-growth forest containing rare plants. DNR managers rejected the closure, saying someone would have to prove the trees and plants would be harmed before they took such an action.

• In Cloquet Valley State Forest, north of Duluth, DNR's team recommended that dozens of trails that dead-ended at wetlands be closed. DNR managers rejected that advice, saying riding off-trail into wetlands is already illegal, and closing trails near them would be "layering on" regulations.

Top DNR officials said it's no surprise that some ideas were challenged and overruled. Holsten, the DNR commissioner, said he wanted specific reasons to tell the public why trails needed to be closed, such as proof that unique natural features needed extra protection.

"We asked hard questions," Holsten said of his meetings with experts. "We asked them to look at it from this perspective, and none of them looked at it from that perspective."

The DNR still is considering how many areas should be limited to hunting on foot and whether all recreational trail riding should be banned during the firearms deer season, officials said.

Costs not considered

Jim Weseloh, once a Grand Rapids-based planner for DNR, said he retired last year rather than continue with a process he thought was leading the agency into trouble.
Weseloh said agency managers had a goal of keeping as many trails open as possible. When planning team members brought up costs to maintain trails or enforce rules, he said, they were told: "Don't worry about that."

Forrest Boe, director of DNR's trails and waterways division, said that the maintenance costs were not considered because the five-year planning effort focused mainly on environmental issues.

At two heavily used ATV trails -- Spider Lake and the 25-mile Red Top Trail just east of Mille Lacs Lake -- the state has spent about $650,000 to deal with erosion and other damage since 2002. Even so, both trail systems need more work.

Foresters who checked on Spider Lake in June concluded that one trail segment, "will continue to cause serious erosion, cutting, and damage to the trees themselves" without repairs. In July, parts of the Red Top trail were in such bad shape that Aitkin County, the main landowner, closed segments until they were renovated.

Boe said maintenance costs will depend on such factors as how many riders use a trail, whether it is susceptible to erosion and the frequency of storms that saturate soils and down trees. Holsten said the DNR will look closely at costs and other issues.

"This isn't a trail designation system that's locked down in granite forever," Holsten said. "It will be under constant analysis and review once it's put in place."

Star Tribune photographer Brian Peterson contributed to this article.
© 2008 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.

ATVers Continue Efforts to Block Basic ATV Safety Bills in South Carolina

2008-01-23T09:43:00.001-08:00

All-terrain vehicle bills
By thestate.com
For two years, the legislature has passed ATV safety bills only to have them vetoed by Gov. Mark Sanford. Each year, the vetos were upheld. A copy of that bill, named Chandler’s Law after Chandler Saylor, who died in an ATV accident in ...
SC Politics Today - http://thestatecom.typepad.com/ygatoday/

Florida Six Year Old Girl Passenger Injured in ATV Roadway Rollover - ATV Driver Charged

2008-01-23T09:35:00.000-08:00

6 Yr Old Injured in ATV Accident
MyFoxOrlando.com - Lake Mary,FL,USA
King was pulling into her driveway Monday evening when she saw the 4-wheel ATV tip over on the other side of this fence. She saw the girl lying in the ...

Irresponsbile ATVers Ruin Things for Others

2008-01-22T19:23:00.000-08:00

Irresponsible few ruin things for the responsible many
KEVIN PROESCHOLDT
Article Last Updated: 01/18/2008 06:07:37 PM CST

Many hunters in Minnesota and elsewhere enjoyed the hunting season this fall. The season brought them crisp days in the woods or fields, a chance to enjoy the outdoors and, for some, success in the hunt. But increasingly, many hunters and anglers are finding their experiences marred by a minority of off-highway-vehicle (OHV) riders who either don't know or don't care about the impacts their machines have on our natural resources.

Off-highway vehicles are important to the lifestyles of many, both for work and recreation. Many hunters and anglers ride them responsibly every day in Minnesota and in other states.

But hunters and anglers here and elsewhere are also witnessing how a growing contingent of reckless riders damages wildlife habitat and ruins hunting and fishing experiences for the majority of hunters, anglers, and riders who use public lands responsibly.

In the Izaak Walton League of America's recent report about OHV impacts on hunting and fishing ("Collision Course?" available at www.iwla.org/ohv), Matt Norton of Minnesota tells the story of an incident in which he spent nearly a full day hunting whitetail deer on public land near the Mississippi River by Hastings. After he saw two other hunting parties and quietly scouted the locale, an OHV rider sped through the hunting area and scared off any deer in the vicinity.

Like Matt, many hunters and anglers are becoming increasingly upset as inconsiderate off-road riders ruin fish and wildlife habitat across the backcountry. In addition to scaring away wildlife and ruining well-planned hunts, some of these OHV drivers also damage fishing streams by driving down stream banks and into stream beds, churning up the stream and washing silt into the waterway. Even where driving may be legal, OHVs can often have unintended consequences that harm natural resources.

As part of our recent report, the League released a survey of agency managers from all parts of the country, which found that irresponsible riders harm fish and wildlife habitat and ruin hunting and fishing experiences for many people. More than 80 percent of state wildlife managers say they have seen "resource damage to wildlife habitat" caused by OHVs, followed closely behind by 72 percent who cited "disruption of hunters during hunting season" as another impact from OHVs.

Perhaps the most important conclusion that can be drawn from the survey is the need for more law enforcement to protect hunting and fishing areas from damage. With effective enforcement, agency managers can then implement other needed measures such as posting trail signs so that riders know where to legally ride, restoring damaged areas, and closing unofficial user-created trails.

Another critical need centers on educating drivers and the public at large about responsible and irresponsible use of our public lands, and the impacts and unintended consequences of OHV driving.

At the state level, we need to urge the Minnesota Legislature to provide the Department of Natural Resources with tools to better enforce rules regarding the riding of OHVs. The Legislature also needs to stop allowing cross-country riding off designated trails in our state forests north of U.S. Highway 2, and we need to protect special areas like the Mississippi Headwaters State Forest and the Cloquet Valley State Forest from OHV damage.

At the federal level, the League has called on Congress to conduct oversight hearings on OHV management and enforcement, examine whether the federal agencies have sufficient administrative and financial resources to enforce the laws, and determine whether current rules and penalties serve as effective deterrents to reckless riders. We believe we can develop affordable, common-sense solutions that can keep use of the outdoors responsible and safe for riders, hunters, anglers, and nature enthusiasts.

We can - and should - do a much better job of protecting our precious natural resources, hunting and fishing opportunities, and responsible OHV riding from the damage that comes from irresponsible riding. Future generations will expect no less.

Kevin Proescholdt is the director of the Wilderness and Public Lands Program for the Izaak Walton League of America in St. Paul. His e-mail address is kevinp@iwla.org.

7-year Old Carolina Boy Recovering After Losing Leg in ATV Collision with Car

2008-01-21T19:50:00.000-08:00

Courageous amputee healing after accident 9:32 PM
WCNC (subscription) - Charlotte,NC,USA
... he was hit by a car while riding an ATV. Andrew underwent several surgeries, but the bones in his left leg did not heal. He had extensive nerve damage, ...

Trust the Minnesota DNR No More?

2008-01-20T19:44:00.000-08:00

It appears that most Minnesotans no longer trust that state's Department of Natural Resources to protect the North Star state's great outdoors as they aid and abet those who would see the Land of Sky Blue Waters go down the drain.

Most Minnesotans grew up with a warm feeling for the folks at the DNR. Their usual interaction was with a conservation officer, most often when being checked while fishing, hunting, or perhaps just a casual encounter while hiking a state park or forest. I always came away with certain knowledge that these were folks who could be trusted to protect the state’s natural heritage. No more.

Indiana Teen Injured Doing Wheelies on ATV on Highway

2008-01-20T19:38:00.000-08:00

Teen injured in ATV crash
Zanesville Times Recorder - Zanesville,OH,USA
ZANESVILLE — A 17-year-old boy was injured Sunday afternoon after his ATV flipped while he was riding on Ohio 146 (Chandlersville Road), a trooper with the ...

9-year Old ATV Operator Killed In Oklahoma

2008-01-20T18:57:00.000-08:00

Boy Dies In ATV Accident
NewsOK.com (subscription) - Oklahoma City,OK,USA
Colton Keith Green of Davis was driving the ATV on private property near Interstate 35 and State Highway 7 when the crash occurred about 1 pm, ...

Residents of the Michigan Upper Penninsula Are Saying No To ATV Travel on County Roads!

2008-01-20T14:32:00.000-08:00

Ordinance would allow ATVs on roadsTraverse City Record Eagle - Traverse City,MI,USA31 to oppose a county draft ordinance that would allow ATV riders to drive along local secondary roads. "It's a dangerous situation to have that type of ...See all stories on this topic

What Can the Minnesota DNR Be Thinking????

2008-01-20T14:28:00.000-08:00

Commentary: Close Headwaters State Forest to ATVsBemidji Pioneer - Bemidji,MN,USAMotorized damage of this part of the river has already caused extensive damage and must be stopped. The Mississippi Headwaters State Forest should be closed ...See all stories on this topic

Amery-Dresser Wisconsin Trail Protected from ATVs

2008-01-19T14:52:00.000-08:00

Motorized use not allowed on Amery-Dresser TrailGregg Westigard 16.JAN.08BALSAM LAKE – The Amery to Dresser Trail has been ruled closed to all motorized use. Polk County Circuit Court Judge Molly GaleWyrick issued a decision Jan. 7 granting the request of the petitioners in the case, Friends of L.O.G. Greenway and Richard Roos, a landowner. The case, which was filed last April, protested the Department of Natural Resources Environmental Assessment which would have allowed snowmobiles and ATVs to use the former railroad bed. The issue now goes back to the DNR.

GaleWyrick cites the Wisconsin statute establishing the system of state trails which she says “plainly limits” the trails to nonmotorized use. She notes that the permitted uses in the statute includes “riders of electric personal assisted mobility devices” and says that if snowmobile and ATV use had been intended, the statute would have said motorized devices rather than list one specific device.

Any Merit to ATVer Promises of Self Regulation?

2008-01-19T13:31:00.000-08:00

Silver Pen letter: ConsiderAppleton Post Crescent - WI, USAI've yet to hear all ATV users seriously address the noise issue. They've mentioned self-regulation. But does this have merit? It seems many motor sports ...See all stories on this topic

Oregonean Teen Injured in ATV Accident

2008-01-17T05:49:00.000-08:00

The World Link: Coos Bay teen injured in ATV accidentThe World newspaper provides local and regional news coverage for Coos Bay, Bandon, Reedsport and other southern oregon cities.

A Coos Bay teenager was life-flighted to a Portland hospital Saturday after sustaining serious injuries in an all-terrain-vehicle accident.According to a Coos County Sheriff’s Office press release, at approximately 1 p.m., deputies and personnel from the Hauser Rural Fire Protection District responded to a report of an injury ATV accident in the Oregon Dunes near Waterplant Hill. There, they found 17-year-old Jordan Waletich, of Coos Bay, who had dropped 25 to 30 feet from the top of a dune while operating his ATV. He had flipped over the handlebars and the vehicle landed on top of him. Jordan was transported to Bay Area Hospital and then life-flighted to Oregon Health & Science University Hospital in Portland with serious injuries. He was listed in fair condition this morning, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Lagging ATV Sales Take Out Polaris CEO

2008-01-17T05:47:00.001-08:00

Polaris CEO plans to step down by end of 2008Trading Markets (press release) - Los Angeles,CA,USAWhile his departure marks a difficult time in the industry ATV sales have flattened and snow mobile sales have been hurt by 10 years of lackluster snowfall, ...See all stories on this topic

In Utah It's WWJD re the Environment, ATVs, Etc.

2008-01-17T05:45:00.000-08:00

Rebecca Walsh: Can faith mend rift on ecology?Salt Lake Tribune - United StatesIn Utah, I'd add the environment to that list. But Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance organizers are mixing up a soup of all three. In the next month, ...See all stories on this topic

DNR Presses Plan for Mississippi Headwaters State Forest ATV/ORV Trails

2008-01-17T05:35:00.000-08:00

DNR fields concerns: Proposal would mark state forest land as ...Bemidji Pioneer - Bemidji,MN,USA... Environmentalists and off-highway vehicle enthusiasts brought different perspectives to the microphone at a public meeting to review proposals for motor vehicle use classification and route designation proposals for Mississippi Headwaters State Forest land.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources meeting, held Wednesday evening in Bemidji State University’s Beaux Arts Ballroom, drew more than 100 people. After an informal review of the draft plans, maps and other materials, and presentations by staff from the DNR and other agencies, about 30 people gave public comments in what was a mostly civil portion of the meeting.

The DNR’s proposal would classify the state forest land south of U.S. Highway 2 as “limited,” meaning that forest roads would be open to motorized vehicles unless posted closed, and forest trails would be closed to such use except where designated.

To view the draft plan, maps and other documents, visit www.dnr.state.mn.us/input/mgmtplans/ohv/designation/status.html. Scroll to West Central Group — North Unit for documents.

..See all stories on this topic

ATVs Unsafe on Hard Surfaces - Off Road Use Only!

2008-01-16T05:12:00.000-08:00

ATV. Safety Points to Remember.By monch(monch) Also being distracted by the passenger on the ATV could cause an accident. Never ride a ATV on hard surfaces such as concrete or asphalt as they have been specifically designed for off road use only, not only do you have the added ...Au78 Articles - http://au78articles.blogspot.com/

Florida County Continues Ban of ATV's on County Roads

2008-01-16T05:09:00.001-08:00

Collier keeps ATV ban on county roads in placeMarconews (subscription) - Marco Island,FL,USACollier County has been wrestling with finding an ATV riding spot since commissioners made a deal in 2003 with the South Florida Water Management District ...See all stories on this topic

ATV Threat to Timber Rattlers NOT Solved by Proposed USFS Action

2008-01-15T13:06:00.000-08:00

TAKE ACTION! Help protect timber rattlesnakes from ATV’sBy Ryan Talbott The Forest Service is inviting damage to these wetlands by proposing this reroute. ADP surveyed the existing trail and the proposed relocation and posted numerous photos of the project area on our website, which you can see here: ...The Hellbender Chronicles - http://www.alleghenydefense.org/hchronicles

ORVs Trash Arboretum

2008-01-15T13:03:00.000-08:00

Group blames ATV riders for trail damage - bignewsnetwork.com"We got to get serious about stopping them because first, they are running over my gardens, and we got a lot of money invested in this place, and at one point it's going to be a showdown," Hetrick sai...Trail Running - FeedUp.com - http://www.feedup.com/news/readFeed?v=312&impact=1&cluster=1

Sonora Desert Under Assault

2008-01-13T17:59:00.000-08:00

OFF-ROAD ABUSE TEARING UP NATIONAL MONUMENT IN ARIZONA — Sonoran Desert National Monument Overwhelmed by Off-Road Traffic and Impacts
Tucson, AZ — The Sonoran Desert National Monument is considering banning off-road vehicle traffic altogether because of the resource damage and user conflicts, according to internal memos released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Agency officials cannot cope with the “exponential” increase in recreational demands on the nearly half-million acre federal preserve south of Phoenix – particularly abusive off-roading by excessively large groups.

Minnesotan Hospitalized After ATV Accident

2008-01-13T17:41:00.000-08:00

Latest: Watkins man injured in ATV accidentRICHMOND — Jacob Hayes Coe, 20 of Watkins was transported to St. Cloud Hospital Saturday night after he was injured in an ATV accident.Headlines from the St. Cloud Times - http://www.sctimes.com

Watkins ATV driver released from hospitalSt. Cloud Times - St. Cloud,MN,USAJacob Hayes Coe, 20, of Watkins was released from St. Cloud Hospital Sunday after he was treated for injuries received Saturday in an ATV accident. ...See all stories on this topic

Ongoing Concern in Oklahoma Over National Forest Damage by ATVs

2008-01-13T08:35:00.000-08:00

Public outcry over ATVs has led to some changesNewsOK.com (subscription) - Oklahoma City,OK,USA"Using an ATV to access hunting areas or to go off-road to retrieve game, set up camps, etc., has an extremely low impact on the environment. ...See all stories on this topic

Honda ATV Recall for Sticky Throttle Continues

2008-01-13T08:31:00.000-08:00

American Honda Motor Co. Recall ATVs Due to Loss of Speed ControlInjuryBoard.com - Tampa,FL,USADoing this could cause the throttle to stick open and the rider would lose control of the speed of the ATV. This poses a serious risk of injury or death for ...See all stories on this topic

Wisconsin Judge Blocks DNR ATV/Snowmobile Trail Plan

2008-01-11T05:30:00.000-08:00

Eau Claire, WI — In a closely watched and very significant case for users of Wisconsin’s state trails, Polk County Judge Molly GaleWyrick issued a decision earlier this week which prohibits the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) from allowing the use of motorized all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) and snowmobiles on the new Amery to Dresser State Trail in Polk County, Wisconsin. Full Report

ORVs on Public Lands - Bleak Picture

2008-01-11T05:20:00.000-08:00

Off-Road VehiclesNew York Times - United States30) paints a bleak yet accurate picture of the consequences of poorly managed motorized vehicles — our national lands and land managers overwhelmed by ATV’s ...See all stories on this topic

Pot + ATV Accident + Dead Six Year-old = Four Year Sentence

2008-01-11T05:16:00.000-08:00

ATV driver sentenced in death of 6-year-oldNew Philadelphia Times Reporter - New Philadelphia,OH,USAAccording to Carroll County Prosecutor Donald Burns Jr., it was determined Garrison had marijuana present in his bloodstream at the time of the accident. ...See all stories on this topic

ATV Trail Erosion Cause Farm Crop Losses

2008-01-10T20:07:00.001-08:00

Heavy rain continues to cause problems for local farmerWATE.com - Knoxville,TN,USAInspectors found ATV trails that aren't allowing the development's drainage system to perform properly. It could be one of the reasons why so much water and ...See all stories on this topic

Another ATV Safety Recall

2008-01-10T20:04:00.001-08:00

ATV Recall Following Six Accident ReportsBy joshua Consumers can identify their ATV by looking for the MXU logo on the front and the model number printed on either side of the gasoline tank. Those who registered their vehicle with the company were sent notification of the recall through ...accident injury blog - http://accident-injury-blog.com

Insurer Ordered to Defend Homeowner in ATV Liability Case

2008-01-10T20:02:00.000-08:00

Court Orders Home Insurer to Defend Claim Arising Out of ATV AccidentBy Cavanagh Williams ... by Economical Mutual Insurance, for a declaration that it owed no duty to defend its insureds against a claim brought on behalf of a teenaged girl who had been injured at their cottage while driving an all-terrain vehicle (”ATV”). ...Cavanagh Williams - http://www.cavanaghwilliams.com/blawg

Minnesotan Dies from ATV Accident Injuries

2008-01-10T20:01:00.001-08:00

Record Jan. 10Fergus Falls Daily Journal - Fergus Falls,MN,USALex was injured in an ATV accident Monday, Jan. 5. He was driving an ATV north of Perham, on County Road 53 near Big Pine Lake when he lost control, ...See all stories on this topic

So You Think You Want an ATV Track in the Neighborhood? Think Again!

2008-01-09T20:45:00.000-08:00

Family worried about kids riding on dirt track 7:04 PMWCNC (subscription) - Charlotte,NC,USA“They are breaking just about every ATV law that there is,” said Adam Donaldson of the people who drive all-terrain vehicles on a dirt track next door. ...See all stories on this topic

Injured Boy Likely to Lose His Leg

2008-01-09T20:43:00.000-08:00

Boy injured in ATV crash facing amputation 5:33 PMWCNC (subscription) - Charlotte,NC,USAHe has extensive nerve damage, and only 20 percent of his calf muscles. “Basically you look at his leg and you see skin but underneath the skin there's ...See all stories on this topic

New York Times Opines On ORV Damage to Public Lands

2008-01-09T17:15:00.000-08:00

On January 8, 2008 The New York Times in an editorial lamented the lack of action by government to protect our public lands from the depredations of off-road-vehicles.

"There are now nine million off-road vehicles, meaning all-terrain vehicles and dirt bikes (snowmobiles are a separate category). And their owners, with little resistance from the authorities that ought to be policing them, are transforming some of America’s most sensitive public lands into their personal playgrounds. "

Massive Honda ATV Recall Over Sticky Throttle

2008-01-09T13:33:00.000-08:00

Honda recalling 40000 ATVsNewsChannel 9 WSYR - Syracuse,NY,USA(CPSC) They were sold at Honda ATV dealers nationwide from June 2006 through December 2007 for between $6500 and $7600. Consumers should immediately stop ...See all stories on this topic

7-Year Old NC ATV Victim Dies

2008-01-08T08:55:00.000-08:00

Young Girl Dies After ATV AccidentWSOCtv.com - Charlotte,NC,USAGASTON COUNTY, NC -- Haylee Ledford, 7, died Saturday in Lowell after the ATV she was riding on flipped over. Haylee was riding the ATV with her mother's ...See all stories on this topic

Funeral Today For Young Girl Killed In ATV Accident (WSOC-TV ...An autopsy shows the girl died from head trauma.TNC Travel Deals - http://tnctraveldeals.com/blog

WV ATVer Hits House

2008-01-08T05:42:00.000-08:00

ATV AccidentVictim hospitalized with head injury; ATV collides with house.WSAZ - HomePage - Headlines - http://www.wsaz.com/home/headlines

ATV Crash at County Road Intersection Injures Driver

2008-01-08T05:38:00.000-08:00

New York Mills man injured in ATV crashIn-Forum (subscription) - Fargo,ND,USAMichael George Lex, 37, was southbound on Ottertail County Road 53 when he lost control of his ATV at the intersection with 505th Avenue just before 5 pm, ...See all stories on this topic

"DNR and Governor Give Away Minnesota Resources to the ATV Industry" says Retired C O Greg Spaulding

2008-01-07T19:21:00.001-08:00

Greg Spaulding, retired long-time DNR conservation officer, is quoted by columnist Joe Fellegy recently in Outdoor News as follows:

Q. ATVs are a big issue. What’s your take?

Spaulding: “When I got hired, in 1980, DNR had no Trails & Waterways. Public accesses were typically acquired by game wardens, who’d arrange property purchases and work contracts. For example, I’m the one who had ramps put in at Red Lake. Now, we’ve got this huge and powerful Trails & Waterways Division, through which our DNR and governor give away Minnesota resources—our wildlife management areas, state forests, etc.—to the ATV industry. They sound like they’re protecting natural resources. But they make laws that are difficult for COs to enforce. The civil penalties for violations are small. And we’re really permitting people to tear up Minnesota!

“This whole ATV mess was avoidable. Years ago, some of us cautioned DNR not to license and register three-wheelers, and to say they can’t be used on public land. Simple enough. But they got greedy and collected all this license money. Then the ATV folks could say, ‘Hey, you’ve got the bucks, so let’s have ATV trails across state land.’ This is not enhancing our natural resources.”

Obviously, neither Joe nor Greg Spaulding are interested in keeping or making friends at the Minnesota DNR, but Spaulding's assessment is on the mark. Neither the ATV industry nor those of us who are fighting to save Greater Minnesota doubt that the governor's office and the folks on Lafayette Road have sold both their souls and the state to the ATV lobby.

Young NC ATV Victim Didn't Wear Helmet

2008-01-07T19:09:00.000-08:00

7-year-old killed in ATV incident not wearing helmetHaylee Dawn Ledford, a 7-year-old killed in an ATV accident near George Poston Park in Lowell Saturday, was not wearing a helmet, as required by law, Gaston County Police reported Monday.The Gaston Gazette : - http://www.gastongazette.com

Environmentalists, Conservationists, Hunters and Fishermen Together in Opposition to BLM Plans in Oregon

2008-01-07T19:05:00.000-08:00

BLM Oregon Logging Plan Draws FireKOIN.com - Portland,OR,USA... allow more motorized ATV use, cause more logging roads to be cut through critical habitat, thus causing stream erosion and damage, and generally degrade ...See all stories on this topic

Floridian Highschool Girl Killed in ATV Accident

2008-01-07T19:01:00.000-08:00

Teen killed in ATV crash ID'dMyrtle Beach Sun News - Myrtle Beach,SC,USABy Kurt Knapek - The Sun News A 16-year-old St. James High School student was killed in an ATV accident Sunday afternoon. Caitlyn Sanford was a sophomore at ...See all stories on this topic

Wisconsin Looking at More ATV Trails near Woodruff

2008-01-06T18:08:00.000-08:00

WI ATV Trail Plans Stir Controversy WJFW-TV - Rhinelander,WI,USAWoodruff - The idea for new ATV trails here in the Northwoods is now on its way to the state board. For the past few months, DNR officials and a ...See all stories on this topic

ATVs Caused $30,000 Damage in 2007 to El Paso Sports Field - Now a $97,500 Fence Needed!

2008-01-06T17:59:00.000-08:00

"Parks department spokesman Wayne Thornton said the ATVs caused about $30,000 in damage last year. Last week, City Council approved $97,500 for parks officials to hire A&R Contractors to build a temporary fence around the complex. "It will help us immensely in helping us being able to provide quality facilities ... and protect the field from past concerns we've had with ATVs," " El Paso times, El Paso TX.

Fence to be installed to deter more ATV damageEl Paso Times - El Paso,TX,USABy Adriana M. Chávez / El Paso Times Officials with the city's Parks and Recreation Department are continuing to see a rash of ATV vehicles tearing up new ...See all stories on this topic

NC ATV Accident Blocks Highways

2008-01-06T17:56:00.000-08:00

ATV accident in Horry County blocks trafficSouth Carolina Now - South Carolina,USABy Patricia Burkett An accident involving an ATV temporarily stopped traffic on Highway 31 in Horry County near the intersection with highway 544. ...See all stories on this topic

Avid ATVer says ATVs are Dangerous and Need to Keep Off Roads

2008-01-06T06:37:00.003-08:00

This composition on yamaha r1 was written with the purest ...By Scott Smith(Scott Smith) Take great care in riding your ATV and be sure to avoid any tricks or stunts that will encourage an accident. Furthermore, avoid improper interaction with other individuals, whether they are on an ATV or not. 10.) Use common sense. ...atv atvs - http://atv-blog11.blogspot.com/

New NFS ATV Restrictions in Oklahoma

2008-01-06T06:34:00.000-08:00

New hunting, fishing proposals also to be reviewedNewsOK.com (subscription) - Oklahoma City,OK,USA"Ten years ago it was unusual to see any ATV riding here,” said Gary Rose, federal law enforcement officer with the US Forest Service in the Ouachita ...See all stories on this topic

Young Girl ATV Passenger Killed in North Carolina

2008-01-06T06:31:00.000-08:00

7-Year Old Girl Killed in ATV AccidentWBTV - Charlotte,NC,USAInvestigators say a 7-year old girl was riding an ATV when the accident happened. That was just before 5 this afternoon at George Poston park in Gaston ...See all stories on this topic

7-year-old girl dies in four-wheeler accidentCharlotte Observer - Charlotte,NC,USAThe man was uninjured when the ATV flipped, but when he saw that the child had serious injuries, he ran into the park and told a Lowell Police officer, ...See all stories on this topic

Young girl killed in ATV accidentGaston County police are investigating an ATV accident that happened Saturday afternoon at George Poston Park in Lowell. A 7-year-old girl was killed.News 14 Carolina Top Stories - http://news14.com

Major Curtailment of ATV Riding Areas in Nebraska at Hand as NFS Ranks ATV Threat With That of Fire!

2008-01-05T18:40:00.000-08:00

Outdoors: New rules to close down most open riding areasOmaha World-Herald (subscription) - Omaha,NE,USANew regulations may ban most ATV use on forest land, including the Nebraska National Forest at the Pine Ridge, Oglala National Grassland, Nebraska National ...

"The National Forest Service ranks the threat from off-road riding on a level with fire, invasive pests and development. The popularity of off-road riding has surged nationwide, with the number of riders growing ten-fold from 1974 to 2004, according to the Forest Service."

See all stories on this topic

Another ATVer Dies Road-Riding

2008-01-05T08:07:00.000-08:00

ATV Accident Kills ManKFYR-TV - Bismarck,ND,USAAn accident involving an ATV has taken the life of the driver in North Central North Dakota. The state Highway Patrol says an all-terrain vehicle went into ...See all stories on this topic

Kentucky ATV Accidents Increasing

2008-01-04T19:23:00.000-08:00

"Robert Parks tore open his leg, below, broke his collarbone and gashed his head when he crashed while riding an ATV on a neighborhood street -- carrying a 10-year-old passenger. She wasn't hurt." Click here for full article.

44 Killed in ATV Accidents in West Virginia in 2007

2008-01-04T19:16:00.000-08:00

In 2007 the number of all-terrain vehicle-related deaths dropped in West Virginia, but officials warn they remain a serious problem.

According to the West Virginia Injury Control Center, 44 people have died in ATV related accidents to date this year. Click here for complete report.

Pennsylvania ATV Trail Plan Under Further Assault

2008-01-04T19:06:00.000-08:00

The Pensylvania Forest Coalition came out solidly against the state's DCNR plan to expand the ATV trail system. "Allowing unlicensed, uninspected ATVs (on roads) with vehicular traffic is a recipe for disaster," said Richard Martin, coordinator of the Pennsylvania Forest Coalition. "The DCNR is confusing transportation with recreation. The ATV is not a second car." Click here for full report.

Save New York City's Ridgewood Reservoir

2008-01-04T19:00:00.000-08:00

New York City's Ridgewood Reservoir is under assault by illegal ATV use as park rangers ignore lawless riders.

Pennsylvania ATV Trail Plan a Likely Disaster

2008-01-04T18:53:00.000-08:00

Pennylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources ATV trail connecter plan faulted for potential harm to the environment and because it "encourages more mischief, not less".

Errant ATV Trails a Major Problem

2008-01-04T18:34:00.000-08:00

ATV's Off The Beaten PathBy Annie(Mr Lyons) ATV riders are pretty much able to create new trails without consequences, and the environment is paying for it. If riders want newer, more exciting trails, that is their choice, and they can drive somewhere new to find them, ...JFK Wonks - http://jfkwonks.blogspot.com/

Arctic Cat Earnings Prospects Drop as ATV Sales Go South!

2008-01-04T18:26:00.000-08:00

Arctic Cat Revises Fiscal 2008 Third-Quarter and Full-Year OutlookFOX News - USA"After reporting seven consecutive years of record sales, we are disappointed with these results and the sluggish ATV environment," said Christopher A. ...See all stories on this topic

Arctic Cat Revises Fiscal 2008 Third-Quarter and Full-Year Outlook ..."After reporting seven consecutive years of record sales, we are disappointed with these results and the sluggish ATV environment," said Christopher A. ...
Shares of Arctic Cat fall 23 percent today"We are disappointed with these results and the sluggish ATV environment," said Christopher Twomey, CEO and chairman of the Thief River Falls-based company. ...

Tenessee Six-year-old Boy Injured Riding ATV on Road

2008-01-04T18:22:00.000-08:00

Boy sent to hospital after ATV accidentJeffery Beshears, age six, of Damascus was operating a Honda Rubicon 500 on South Street in Beedeville when he attempted to turn around in the road and drove into a ditch. The four-wheeler turned over and the victim landed in a ditch ...News from www.newportindependent.com - http://www.newportindependent.com/

Search for Missing ATVer Dropped

2008-01-03T20:11:00.000-08:00

Thiessen search suspendedOntario Provincial Police have suspended their search for an Alberta man missing since an ATV accident on Christmas Eve southwest of St.AM 980 London - http://www.am980.ca

ATV + City Street + Parked Trailer = Tragedy

2008-01-03T07:26:00.000-08:00

Questions arise over whether trailer struck in fatal ATV crash was ...The Citizen's Voice - PA,USAIt was a freak accident.” Bielecki compared the accident to having an ATV rider hit a parked car and then hearing someone say a parked car should be in a ...See all stories on this topic

ATV Crash Victim Airlifted

2008-01-03T07:22:00.000-08:00

ATV crash rescue:Hornell man hurt while riding near Canisteo ...Hornell Evening Tribune - Hornell,NY,USACANISTEO - Joe Zanghi had a rough start to the New Year, airlifted from a field after his ATV rolled over on him in Canisteo. Zanghi, 59, of 55 Crosby St., ...See all stories on this topic

U. S. Forest Service Rules Process in New Mexico

2008-01-03T07:20:00.000-08:00

Forest Service plans travel management workshopsCarlsbad Current Argus - Carlsbad,NM,USAThere are about 417 miles of authorized trails with approximately 154 miles under management for motorcycle and/or ATV use. On NFS motorized trails, ...See all stories on this topic

Just a Few Bad Apples? - WRONG!!!!

2008-01-02T21:49:00.000-08:00

"Research shows many off-roaders break the law ...... Analysis includes a review of three state-level surveys revealing that a majority of off-roaders break the law."

http://www.wildlandscpr.org/biblio-notes/just-few-bad-apples-research-shows-many-off-roaders-break-law

Nothing is Sacred or Safe - DNR ATV Trail Proposal Endangers the Mississippi Headwaters Area

2008-01-02T19:05:00.000-08:00

Only you can save the Mississippi HeadwatersBy Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy The proposed network of routes will destroy or damage the headwaters’ wild character, valuable wildlife habitat, a cultural & historic landscape, and an ancient canoe route. But it’s not over yet! You can help save the Mississippi ...Minnesota Center for Environmental... - http://www.mncenter.org/minnesota_center_for_envi/

Bennington Vermont Trail Issue Unresolved

2008-01-02T06:36:00.000-08:00

Bennington Vermont -

Though in August of 2007 residents came out in droves to voice opposition to a proposal, offered by the Bennington Trail Conservancy, to allow ATV usage on a some Class 3 roads in Pownal, no final decision had been made by the board by year's end.

http://www.benningtonbanner.com/headlines/ci_7861044

ATV Driver Still Missing

2008-01-01T20:03:00.001-08:00

Search continues for Alberta manLondon Free Press - CanadaBy JOE BELANGER, SUN MEDIA The search continued yesterday for a 61-year-old Alberta man missing and presumed drowned after a Christmas Eve ATV accident in ...See all stories on this topic

Maine Teenager Injured

2008-01-01T20:02:00.001-08:00

in ATVKennebec Journal - Augusta,ME,USAVASSALBORO -- A Vassalboro teenager suffered a head injury in an all-terrain vehicle accident Monday afternoon. Police said the 16-year-old boy was ...See all stories on this topic

Environmental Damage in Pennsylvania

2008-01-01T19:59:00.000-08:00

Illegal ATV riding now out of controlRepublican & Herald - Pottsville,PA,USA - They run up and down stocked trout streams, damage crops on farmland, rip out fencing and gates on public lands, intimidate landowners who try to stop them, ...See all stories on this topic

Pennsylvania ATV Trail Expansion Concerns

2007-12-31T18:56:00.000-08:00

Given the documented destruction that ATVs are exacting on public lands, including state game lands where they are banned, you have to wonder what the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources is thinking in moving to expand ATV trails in state forests. The scheme includes permitting ATVs to travel on 170 miles of township roads between 29 miles of new ATV trails to be built in Sproul, Bald Eagle and Susquehannock state forests. The state forests already are home to 247 miles of ATV trails. In addition, there are more than 100 miles of ATV trails in Allegheny National Forest and countless other miles on private property. While ATV proponents claim that only a small number of users violate the rules and ride where they are prohibited, the evidence of widespread damage speaks for itself. And one thing you don't do in this situation is reward bad behavior. ATV users would be well advised to clean up their act. Rather than providing more opportunities for ATV-abuse of forests, their wild inhabitants and those who search in ever-growing futility for the tranquil sounds of nature, DCNR should be bolstering the ranks of the state's forest protectors and giving them the tools, resources and legal authority to confront this menace to sustainable forests. Fines for violators need to be significantly increased from the current $50 to $1,000 or more and their machines confiscated. If the ATV violations continue in the face of such enhanced enforcement measures, then the vehicles should be completely banned from state lands as antithetical to healthy forests.DCNR also needs to reconsider permitting ATV travel on township roads. Pennsylvania already leads the nation in ATV-related deaths, and it would seem to be the height of irresponsible public policy to encourage what oftentimes are children too young to have a driver's license to travel on public highways in a vehicle that enhances the prospects that they will be killed or injured.

http://olyecology.livejournal.com/71853.html

ATV Rollover Kills Hunter

2007-12-31T18:42:00.000-08:00

Iberville Parish Fatal Hunting AccidentKLFY - Lafayette,LA,USAOfficials say it was just a tragic accident. Officials say his ATV slid off and fell off of an embankment near the water, and rolled on top of him. ...See all stories on this topic

Fundraiser for Teen Victim

2007-12-31T18:35:00.000-08:00

ATV Accident Leaves Former Marion Teen Paralyzed; Fundraiser Set ...Times of Wayne County - Macedon,NY,USA11th, Monica and Arney Deyo's 17-year-old grandson, Nicholas Newman, was critically injured in an ATV accident in Medina . He was ejected from the machine ...See all stories on this topic

Florida ATV Operator Dies

2007-12-31T18:29:00.000-08:00

ATV Accident Kills Man In Richmond HeightsCBS 4 - Miami,FL,USARead more in our Privacy Policy Police said the 37-year-old male fellow ATV riders immediately entered the water in desperate attempt to rescue the victim, ...See all stories on this topic

Wild West

2007-12-30T19:14:00.001-08:00

Surge in Off-Roading Stirs Dust and Debate in WestBy tomkrol ATV Some hunters say the noise scares away the prey. But the gate has been knocked down repeatedly, shot at and generally disregarded. Miles beyond it, a two-track trail has been punched into the wilderness by errant ...CTU NewsBlog - http://ctunewsblog.wordpress.com

ATVs Rollover the West

2007-12-30T15:54:00.001-08:00

ORVs stirring up dust, debatesDeseret News - Salt Lake City,UT,USA"Help us Save Factory Butte," says one appeal, in reference to a rock formation, a favorite area for daring motorcyclists and ATV riders that was closed on ...See all stories on this topic

ATV Scofflaws of Stealth Vandalize Public and Private Lands

2007-12-30T15:52:00.000-08:00

ATV Criminals-Vandals of the SilenceBy quaker_mole(quaker_mole) And whether it’s ATV’s, horses or climbers, it’sa traffic jam.” Any user can contribute to the traffic jam, but the off-highway vehicles do damage disproportionate to their numbers. In addition to loud engines, they have soft tires and ...quaker_mole - http://quaker-mole.livejournal.com/

Georgia Sheriff Dies

2007-12-30T15:50:00.001-08:00

Hall County Sheriff Sgt. dies in ATV accidentAccess North Georgia - Gainesville,GA,USABy Scott Kimbler Staff Sgt. James Evans was critically injured in an Saturday evening when the ATV he was on collided with a car on Hillcrest Drive. ...See all stories on this topic

Quilt in Memory of 6-year-old ATV Victim

2007-12-30T15:49:00.001-08:00

The QuiltBy The Happy Hollister's(The Happy Hollister's) So I took on a task of helping a friend who had lost her 6 year old boy last year to a tragic ATV accident. I made a quilt using all of his old clothes and then I had it put together and wrapped it up for her for an early Christmas ...The Happy Hollister's - http://my2monkeyz.blogspot.com/

Kentucky ATV Deaths Roll Along

2007-12-30T15:48:00.001-08:00

ATV deaths, injuries continue rising in Ky.Louisville Courier-Journal - Louisville,KY,USAParks, who sold his ATV and vowed never to ride one again, said his accident happened as he was moving to the side of a subdivision road to get out of the ...See all stories on this topic

26-year-old Kentuckian Dead

2007-12-30T15:46:00.000-08:00

Man dies in ATV wreck; police suspect alcohol involvedKentucky.com - Lexington,KY,USAA 26-year-old Sandy Hook man died in an all-terrain vehicle accident early Friday morning, police said. Jordon W. Whitley died after the Suzuki ATV he was ...See all stories on this topic

No Helmet on Nova Scotia Boy

2007-12-30T15:45:00.000-08:00

Boy on ATV wasn’t wearing helmetChronicleHerald.ca - Halifax,Nova Scotia,CanadaBy MONIQUE MUISE Police have released the name of a 12-year-old Lunenburg County boy killed Christmas morning in an accident involving an all-terrain ...See all stories on this topic

More on Man Swept Into Stream

2007-12-30T15:42:00.000-08:00

Man tried to warn pal of danger London Free Press - CanadaBy JOE BELANGER, SUN MEDIA So when Manfred (Manny) Aszmies, 68, was swept off his ATV into a swollen Talbot Creek near here on Christmas Eve, there's little ...See all stories on this topic

Nova Scotia Accident Kills 12-yearold

2007-12-30T15:41:00.001-08:00

RCMP release name of 12-year-old NS boy killed in ATV accidentThe Canadian Press - LAPLAND, NS - RCMP have released the name of a 12-year-old boy killed Christmas morning on an all terrain vehicle in Lapland, NS Staff-Sgt. Steve Mills says ...See all stories on this topic

ATV Accident in Nova Scotia

2007-12-30T15:40:00.001-08:00

Patrolling the highwaysThe Amherst Daily - Amherst,Nova Scotia,CanadaJohnson climbed back into the cruiser and I was told we were heading to an ATV accident out toward Wentworth. The driver and passenger had collided with a ...See all stories on this topic

Virginian Killed Driving ATV on Highway

2007-12-30T15:39:00.001-08:00

Floyd County man killed in ATV accidentRichmond Times Dispatch - Richmond,VA,USAA Floyd County man was killed Christmas Day when he lost control of an all-terrain vehicle on state Route 709 in Floyd and overturned. ...See all stories on this topic

ATV Driver Washed Away

2007-12-30T15:34:00.000-08:00

Search for man thrown from ATV while crossing swollen creekGlobe and Mail - CanadaAn extensive search for a missing man is set to resume this morning following an all-terrain vehicle accident on Christmas Eve. Elgin County OPP originally ...See all stories on this topic

ATV Riders Hit and Run Victims

2007-12-30T15:23:00.000-08:00

Hit And Run Driver Injures Two On An ATVCBS 4 - Miami,FL,USAThis ATV was not the only accident this evening. An eight-year-old boy on a motor bike in Overtown suffered a broken leg when a driver hit him. ...See all stories on this topic

ATV Accident Leaves Lasting Grief

2007-12-30T15:21:00.000-08:00

A reflection...By Megan(Megan) For those of you that do not know, my wonderful 20 year old brother was killed in a tragic ATV accident on September 26, 2000. The day I learned what grief truly was. I realized many years ago that you grieve the way you love. ...OH NO! - http://megatannbaby.blogspot.com/

ATV Victim Tells Santa

2007-12-30T15:20:00.000-08:00

Who Cares If He's Not The Real Santa?By Alter-ego(Alter-ego) Two years ago, Huey recalls, a little boy who had been blinded in an ATV accident described the event -- quietly sharing with Santa details he'd never told his parents. "He wanted Santa to know that a dog ran in front of him, ...Parenting For Him - http://parenting-for-him.blogspot.com/

Another Pennsylvanian Dead

2007-12-30T15:19:00.001-08:00

Mill Run ATV driver dies after being hit by truckPittsburgh Tribune-Review - Pittsburgh,PA,USABrian Sanner, 34, of Mill Run was pronounced dead at the scene of the 1:15 am accident near King's Auto Parts on Route 381 in Springfield. ...See all stories on this topic

ATV + Horse = Injuries

2007-12-30T15:18:00.000-08:00

Horse Drawn Carriage AccidentKRGV - Weslaco,TX,USAA group from the Shining Light Youth Church was giving out toys to neighborhood children when an ATV scared the horse. The animal took off, and knocked the ...See all stories on this topic

ATV Passenger Killed in Truck Collision

2007-12-30T15:17:00.001-08:00

Rider Killed In Fayette County ATV AccidentKDKA - Pittsburgh,PA,USA(KDKA) ― State Police in Uniontown are investigating a deadly accident involving an ATV overnight. Police say 34 year-old Brian Sanner, of Mill Run, ...See all stories on this topic

One Year Old Washington Baby Killed

2007-12-30T15:16:00.001-08:00

By Eleanor Chute, Ashlyn Post Gazette.By odellaremedios Tragedy on Thanksgiving ATV accident kills year old. By CARL HULSE and SHERYL GAY STOLBERG WASHINGTON, Dec. You don’t have to send a present. Police Man charged in child endangerment. Local mom sends gifts to Iraq. ...TPA is a thrombolytic agent approved... - http://journals.diablerie.org/saleatwork

Injured ATV Victim Dies

2007-12-30T15:15:00.001-08:00

Man killed in ATV crash in CollinsvilleBelleville News Democrat - IL, USAMeanwhile, a Belleville man critically injured Sunday in an ATV accident in Belleville has died of his injuries. In the Collinsville crash, ...See all stories on this topic

Grandfather Charged in Grandson's Death

2007-12-30T15:12:00.000-08:00

Grandfather faces charges in death of boy in ATV accidentGreensboro News Record - Greensboro,NC,USAWayne David Shepherd, 49, was driving an ATV on Aug. 24 when he lost control and the all-terrain vehicle overturned, killing 3-year-old Kaleb Curtis. ...See all stories on this topic

Rollover Lawsuit Advice

2007-12-30T15:10:00.000-08:00

ATV Rollover LawsuitsBy subpejaa(subpejaa) If you or a family member has been injured or killed in an ATV accident, it is important to consult with an experienced personal injury attorney in your area as soon as possible, to protect your right to compensation. ...zybdgjgqabm - http://uhnkkqgvxhgd.blogspot.com/

Operator in Fatal Crash Gets Off

2007-12-30T15:09:00.000-08:00

Vance found not guilty of vehicular homicideGrays Harbor Daily World - Aberdeen,WA,USASuperior Court Judge Michael Sullivan ruled Vance was not criminally liable for Sarah Stratton's death, despite the fact that he was driving the ATV while ...See all stories on this topic

Fatal Oregon Crash

2007-12-30T15:08:00.001-08:00

NB man killed in ATV crashCoos Bay World - Coos Bay,OR,USAThe accident occurred when a group of off-roaders, including Watson, drove their vehicles across the quarry and up a steep hillside, the press release said. ...See all stories on this topic

Parents and ATV Safety

2007-12-30T15:07:00.001-08:00

Parents cautioned on ATV safetyChattanooganow (subscription) - Chattanooga,TN,USAFortunately her son, Noah, was wearing a helmet during the accident earlier this year and suffered no injuries, though the family had to shell out $1200 to ...See all stories on this topic