Two letters in the March 30 New Mexican supporting off-road vehicles give a very clear idea of the mind-set of the devotees of ORV use on public lands. One argues that there are too many "environmentalist organizations" represented in the deliberations on the Travel Management Plan of the Santa Fe National Forest. This seems a clear enough recognition that ORV use destroys the environment that the Forest Service is supposed to protect. The other seems to argue that the only way youth of today can "develop a love" of the outdoors is by tearing through it in a cloud of dust and exhaust smoke. What they are learning to appreciate is the machine they are riding, not the natural world they are degrading. Neither writer chooses to recognize that the main thrill for many ORV users is blasting a new trail through areas not yet scarred by ORVs.
Wendell Harris
Santa Fe

Two years ago, I began riding an off-road motorcycle in the Santa Fe National Forest. Prior to that, I was an avid mountain biker and hiker, thankful for the work done by motorcycle groups to build and maintain trails for the enjoyment of many.

We've spent countless hours working with the Forest Service to come up with a plan that is fair to all users of the national forest. If it weren't for our work, they wouldn't even know that many of these trails exist. We've offered to do anything necessary to maintain a functional and sustainable set of trails. Unfortunately, the Forest Service appears ready to present a plan that would effectively devastate our current system. What's left will be impractical and unsustainable. I'm troubled by a quote in the article March 30 article, "Reining in off-roaders" stating that the "great divide" between groups could have been avoided with "a bigger sense of community." We have been present and actively involved at each and every community meeting.
Jon Bernard
Los Alamos

The New Mexico Department of Tourism has no business promoting off-road-vehicle use in New Mexico and must stop its misguided effort to draw the dirt bike/ATV crowd to New Mexico's federal lands on its Web site and through its officials. The department hopes to make New Mexico an ATV destination, something that would be disastrous for our native cultures, public lands and our tourism economy.

ORV use on federal lands is already vulgar and rampant. ORVs trash our streams, wetlands, trails, wilderness areas and our solitude and quiet. They harass cattle, kill wildlife, trespass on private lands, cut fences and leave permanent ruts everywhere, all for selfish thrills. Much of the ORV mob has contempt for conservation laws and private property rights. Our tourism economy is based on quality visitors who appreciate native culture and protect quiet public lands. The state should not promote destructive recreation.
Tom Ribe
Santa Fe

An essential quality for off-road-vehicle riding on public land seems to be denial that the rider is doing any damage or disrupting wildlife or traditional culture. It's always someone else's fault — those few, illusive and naughty "bad apples."

Really? A 2002 Utah study found that many all-terrain-vehicle riders (49 percent) and dirt bike riders (38 percent) prefer riding off-trail. A 2006 U.S. Fish and Wildlife study found near universal disregard for motorized guidelines in Nevada. The study found that half the places where riders violated guidelines were near signs. A 2001 Colorado study found that two-thirds of adults go off-trail.

Survey participants also stated that "others" ride off-route and cause most of the damage. In 2007, a survey revealed that Forest Service rangers think off-road vehicles represent "a significant law enforcement problem" in their jurisdictions. One respondent said, "90 percent of ORV users cause damage every day they ride." The documentation is extensive.
Bob Funkhouser
Santa Fe

I am an off-road-vehicle enthusiast and have been riding in the Jemez Mountains for years. I understand that the Forest Service now wants to drastically limit the areas where we can ride. I fanatically am against a Santa Fe National Forest Travel Management Plan that limits our riding areas.

Most of us are responsible riders and obey the Forest Service rules and respect other trail users and the environment. I want the Forest Service to know that there are many people like myself who are against the limiting of trails for off-road vehicles in the Jemez Mountains and other state and national forest areas. The Forest Service needs to understand that the environmental special-interest groups are not the only ones who enjoy and use these public lands. I ask the Forest Service to please not discriminate against us.
Duane Parsons
Los Alamos

After research showed that 90 percent of invertebrate life in the all-terrain-vehicle-ravaged desert areas of Southern California had been destroyed, zoologist Robert Stebbins lamented that what upset him most was not the damage already done, but the devastation he saw coming. ATVs were invented by the Japanese in the 1970s for farm use. Illegal in Japan for recreation, they have been aggressively marketed to the U.S. as, you guessed it, recreational vehicles! China is now the leading manufacturer; and if you purchase one for each member of your family, you can get a special ''pallet price'' as low as $300 per machine. See why Stebbins is worried? So when I read advocacy group op-eds about motorized recreation being a great way to get kids into nature, it reminds me of the time President Ronald Reagan tried to convince us that ketchup should be counted as a vegetable in school lunch programs.
Tom Brady
Santa Fe

More trail destruction
On April 1, 35 or so of my neighbors, my wife and I attended a public meeting regarding the "improvement" project at the intersection of Old Pecos Trail and Cordova Road. The same people who totally destroyed the beauty of Old Pecos Trail south of the intersection now have permission (they say) to completely and irreparably ruin the trail north of it. This was the second such meeting, and again it appears as if the function of the meeting was to tell us what the city was going to do to us, while trying to couch it in terms of what it was going to do for us.

A public meeting should be a chance for the city to hear what concerned citizens have to say, and to pay attention to it. We will continue to oppose the destruction of the historic entry.
Eliot Kohen
Santa Fe

Restore OCD budget
I attended the open house held by the state Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department, last Saturday at the Community College. I wish to commend the work of Mark Fesmire of the Oil Conservation Division and his staff, who spent nearly an hour answering my long list of questions. I am convinced the OCD people are doing all they can within their limited powers to protect the interests of the public with regard to oil and gas drilling.

The sparse attendance at the open house should not be interpreted as lack of interest on the part of the public. The open house was very badly arranged and organized. We must urge our elected officials to restore the budget to the OCD. This agency is all we have to protect our landscape, water and future.
Susan H. Bell
Santa Fe