The off-road motorcyclists have identified some 600 miles of trail we ride in the Santa Fe National Forest. We are asking that the Travel Management decision keep these trails open to our use. Forest Service staff said that about half of that mileage consists of old, official roads that have narrowed to trails. Only 300 miles is 'unauthorized' trail. After more than 30 years of legal cross-country travel, only 300 additional miles of trail have appeared. They are legal, and developed from repeated use by mountain bikers, horse-riders and hikers, as well as motorcyclists.

It's not much compared to some 5,000 miles of authorized roads. How much impact is there from those 600 miles of trails? Let's do arithmetic. A mile is 5,280 feet long. Trails are generally 2-feet wide or less, but we'll say 3 feet to be conservative. A mile of trail has 15,840 sq. ft. (we'll use 16,000 for convenience). An acre has 43,560 square feet. Hit the calculator buttons, you'll find that 600 miles of trail is 9.6 million square feet; 220 acres. Now put that in context. Here is the acreage and management policy from the proposed action on the Santa Fe National Forest's Web site, page 7:

1. National Forest System lands total approximately 1,553,426 acres.

2. The Forest Plan currently allows cross-country travel on approximately 53 percent (821,664 acres).

3. On approximately 16 percent (246,225 acres) of the national forest, travel on open roads (but not off-road) is allowed.

4. The Forest Service plan prohibits cross-country motor vehicle use on 31 percent (484,305 acres) of the forest by designating them as non-motorized areas or because they are federally designated wilderness areas (290,512 acres).

Motorized use is allowed on 69 percent of the land; 1,067,889 acres. Divide that into the 220 acres taken up by trails. 220 / 1,067,889 = 0.000206. Six hundred miles of trails occupy two one-hundredths of 1 percent of the forest surface area. This does not even include the 484,305 acres of non-motorized areas like the Pecos Wilderness. Now add the Wilderness and 'non-motorized' lands of 484,305 acres. The total is 1,552,194 acres. We're only asking to share the 220 acres that hold our trails. That's 0.000142 of the land, less than one and a half one-hundredths of 1 percent. Anti-off-highway-vehicle people complain they are losing recreation because of OHV use. When you look at the real numbers, it is mind-boggling how inaccurate that claim really is. Some people are so selfish that they won't share a one-hundredth of 1 percent of the forest with us.

What Forest Service Travel Management will do: It regulates one class of user. It decides where motorized use will occur, and limits it to designated roads and trails on the 69 percent of the forest that is open to motorized use.

The other 31 percent remains closed to motorized use. It does not physically close or repair any trails. It does not regulate any non-motorized uses.

What this means: Non-motorized recreation will still use every trail that is closed to motorized use. Hikers, horse riders and mountain bikers do not have to stay on trails. They can go everywhere on 100 percent of those 1 million acres. Same applies to everyone (except mountain bikers) on designated wilderness. Not one square inch of land is protected from unmanaged non-motorized recreation.

Non-motorized users may continue to create new trails, leave trash, set fires, deposit human waste, fragment habitat and disturb wildlife. They will continue to bring human presence everywhere; near nesting sites for endangered birds, caves with bats, archaeological sites, putting endangered plants and small creatures at risk of trampling, etc. Which is the greater impact? Humans on 1.5 million acres, or off-roaders on 220 acres?

All we ask is to share this absurdly tiny sliver of the land. Non-motorized reacreationalists get the other 99.9985 percent. Next time you see the hateful propaganda against OHVs, remember how little we use, and how little we are asking for.

Santa Fean Joanne Spivak is a retired general contractor and designer of passive solar homes. She and her husband co-founded the New Mexico Off Highway Vehicle Alliance.