Off-road vehicle debate presses Forest Service to find solution

MARK TWAIN NATIONAL FOREST, Mo. -- Norman Krutzman of suburban St. Louis bought land adjacent to the Mark Twain National Forest to enjoy a quiet retirement.

Instead, he says, he spends his time confronting off-road vehicle enthusiasts who trespass on private and Forest Service property, tear up the land and leave air pollution, racket and empty beer cans in their wake.

"I'm to the point of violence," Krutzman, 62, told U.S. Forest Service officials Tuesday at a meeting on a proposal to open trails to off-road vehicles in the Mark Twain. "They can't enforce the law. Where does it stop?"

But at the same public airing on the issue were avid off-roaders who say their clubs emphasize responsible riding and trash-pickup events in the forest.

"If we had access, it would go a long way toward allowing us to self-police the rogue people who continue to run roughshod on the land," said John Doneff, treasurer of the St. Louis-based Midwest Jeepthing. "We adhere to the principle of 'tread lightly.' You can't hear a jeep 100 yards away. You can hear an ATV and a motorcycle."

The Forest Service says it's trying to deliver a compromise between the interests of riders and a need to protect the land.

"The use is here, no matter whether we want it," said Paul Nazarenko, a recreation specialist for the Mark Twain National Forest. "We're trying to provide an area that is not that environmentally sensitive."

Opening near you

The agency proposes opening 145 miles of off-road vehicle trails in forests near Potosi, Fredericktown and Poplar Bluff in Southeast Missouri. The proposal opens some trails and stream crossings that were created by illegal off-road use. It closes others that are badly eroded, dangerous or that lead to private property or environmentally sensitive lands.

Only Palmer, a former lead-mining area near Potosi, would be open to all off-road vehicles including Jeeps and dune buggies; Cherokee Pass near Fredericktown and Blackwell Ridge near Poplar Bluff would be managed for all-terrain vehicles only.

Forest Service lands in Chadwick near Springfield and Sutton Bluff east of Salem already allow ATV and motorcycle use.

A three-year study would assess the plan's environmental impact and whether creating legal trails deters illegal riding elsewhere in the forest. Officials say enforcement will remain a challenge, but that it's still worth trying.

"We can't stick our heads in the sand," Forest supervisor Ronnie Raum said. "This is one of the most rapidly growing outdoor recreations in Missouri. "There's been a 600 percent increase over the last 10 years."

The Forest Service says it has no idea how many illegal riders use the 1.5-million-acre Mark Twain National Forest each year.

Last year, Missourians bought 28,000 new ATVs and off-road motorcycles, according to the Motorcycle Industry Council. New purchases have jumped 1,000 units each of the past three years.

The Forest Service plan was developed in conjunction with trail rider groups that pressed for more trails last year. Nationally, the Forest Service is moving toward allowing off-road vehicles on designated routes, although agencies in some states have banned them altogether.

Top four threats

Forest Service chief Dale Bosworth has said unmanaged off-road vehicle use is one of the top four threats to national forests, along with lack of open space, wildfires and invasive plants and animals.

The Forest Service says off-road vehicles erode the soil, hurt the quality of streams and disrupt habitat for wildlife and aquatic species. They also can pierce the forest's quiet for hikers, hunters, fishermen and horseback riders.

Those very concerns are what defeated the Forest Service's last proposal to expand off-road vehicle trails in the Mark Twain a decade ago. That proposal would have opened 300 miles in the Salem and Potosi forest districts. Public opposition killed it.

"It's very polarized," said Katherine Stuart, ranger for the Potosi/Fredericktown District. "People either love them or they hate them." The Forest Service has received nearly 400 letters during a comment period that ends Sunday. Officials say 60 percent oppose the proposal; 40 percent favor it.

The Forest Service now says it will conduct a formal environmental assessment of the impact. Raum says he will decide by summer whether to proceed. His decision likely will be appealed.