Tired of ads? Subscribers enjoy a distraction-free reading experience.
Click here to subscribe today or Login.

Sunday, March 05, 2000     Page: 5B

It is my understanding that the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and
Natural Resources is planning to significantly increase the number of trails
open to all-terrain vehicles within our state forest and park lands. The DCNR
intends on implementing this policy without soliciting public comment, which
means without having to acknowledge the adverse effects an increase in
off-road motorized traffic would have on the environmental quality of our
public lands and on the majority of people who use our state parks and
forests.
   
Increased ATV use would be detrimental to the ecological health of our
parks and forests. Air pollution, erosion, water contamination, habitat
destruction and further forest fragmentation would all follow in the tracks of
heavy ATV use. The DCNR plan actually calls for so called “rip and tear”
zones areas officially designated for total environmental degradation along
trails, .
    I support multi-use of public lands, however, increased ATV use would
disproportionately disrupt and diminish the quality of experience and
enjoyment available to other visitors and users and would limit – and in some
cases preclude – other legitimate uses.
   
The high decibel noise and pollution generated by increased ATV use would
have a negative impact on people who wished to fish, hunt, hike and backpack,
birdwatch and ride horses. Imagine simply trying to have a family picnic or
listen to the song of a gurgling stream in the cool shade of Penn’s woods amid
the dust, roar and exhaust of rampant ATV activity.
   
DCNR is poised to ignore common sense and its own stewardship
responsibility because of pressure from the motorcycle/ATV industry, which
wants publicly funded playgrounds for its products.
   
Such a marked departure from current usage deserves, at a minimum, a period
of public input and open hearings. Such an ill-advised change in policy, which
promises to turn our state parks and forests into subsidized racetracks at the
expense of the outdoor activities of the majority of visitors should be
carefully reconsidered and abandoned.
   
If you value our state parks and forests, now is the time to contact your
state legislators and express opposition to DCNR’s planned expansion of
motorized vehicle use on state lands.
   
Ed Lawrence
Orangeville