Originally posted by KTM Mike
Oh...my oldest son might be a bit insulted by bbboms comment there, but he is used to me giving him a hassle, so she wont have to worry!
I wasn't worried about it anyways - no way he could catch me with a quad on our trails, it wouldn't fit through the trees!!! ;)
Seriously though, a lot of the quad riders that we deal with on the access issues are old dirtbikers that can't dirtbike anymore. They still want to get out into the woods but they don't want to go on the trails that they used to ride on dirtbikes. They want to be allowed to use the old logging roads that the FS has closed down and the wider trails that are already open to motorized use. They also want to be allowed to make their own trails and to keep them open.
They don't want to ruin the singletrack that they used to enjoy, they want to leave that for the current dirtbikers.
The problem is not the ATV vs. dirtbike it is the FS and their lack of understanding that all motorized recreation does NOT necessarily belong together on the same trails.
Our club has been working with the FS and other user groups to figure out how to share the trails. It has finally been accepted by the FS and a few other land managers that trail use is not as simple as motorized and non-motorized. Trails need to be available for non-motorized uses and for the different motorized uses - singletrack (dirtbikes), widetrack (quads & dirtbikes) and roads (4x4's, quads & dirtbikes).
In our area, many of our dirtbike trails are not suitable for quad use - they are too tight and too technical for all but the most experienced quad rider. In some sections, the trees are too close together for quads and the goattrails are way too narrow for them.
I agree that quads need trails but they don't need to take over our trails. The Land Managers need to address the need for quad trails. Our club has even volunteered to build & maintain quad trails if they will just leave our singletrack alone.
You are correct Mike, we need to work with the quad people because they are a big share of the market but we also need to make them understand why we don't want to share ALL of our trails with them.
It is interesting though, I know of only one Land Manager in our area that has actually performed on the ground research on the types of users on their trail system. It is a trail system designed for motorized use but they have 4 Rangers that basically survey the users to determine what the spread is across the different uses. The majority of their users were dirtbikes something like 37%, followed by ATV's at like 18%, then MTB's, horses, hikers & 4x4's.