Topic: Arizona gets bad publicity

[79coyotefrg]

http://www.ttora.com/forum/showthread.php?p=977381#post977381

http://pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?p=7117925#post7117925

TONTO NATIONAL FOREST, Ariz. — Near a rock formation twisting into the Arizona sky, the desert floor has been torn up by off-road vehicles. There's a tattered VCR and a bullet-riddled washing machine lying in a heap.
Unscrupulous visitors have chosen this spot filled with prickly green cacti in the Tonto National Forest outside Phoenix to tear up with their ATVS, illegally dump garbage and shoot guns.

Many national forests, especially ones near burgeoning metropolises, are suffering from the environmental damage similar to what is happening in the Tonto...."


Hey, here's a clue for the FS...
"And while per-capita visitation is falling off overall, the number of people going off-road in forests has increased — hitting about 11 million visits recently. Fewer young people go on traditional activities like hiking and more enjoy the thrills of off-road sport, said Francisco Valenzuela, a recreation program manager based in Washington D.C."

Huh??  I have yet to see any of these groups doing any resemblance of the kinds of cleanup we do....sheesh.
"Other forests rely partly on environmental organizations to go on cleanup expeditions, do maintenance on damaged trails or rehabilitate forest land hurt by off-road vehicles."
"In some places it literally looks like the apocalypse," said Arizona Sierra Club chairman Jim Vaaler, who sometimes organizes cleanups in local forests. "Forest Service people are expected to use the volunteer base, but you can only use them so much. They can be part of the trash solution, but not a huge part of the solution."


http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/environment/2007-08-11-forest-abuse_N.htm

local paper today:
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_6606614?source=rss

I wonder if this guy, Moises D. Mendoza, Associated Press, would be interested in writing about the other side of the story.

I really get tired of the press talking only about the small % of idiots as if the entire off-road community does this crap.

[Tice]

 

All I'm gonna say is, it's not off-roaders like us that are dumping floppin' trash and shooting up !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just another excuse for them to close our trails and dirt roads.


I'm gonna pass on the links to a "club" I belong to. Most of them are based in the Pheonix area.

[79coyotefrg [OP]]

im sure 90%  of them are atv's   the rest are  teenagers