This post was a good read up until the last several posts.
Very well said by Scott and Largo.
Mudboy, I've heard people bitch about different groups but its a little hard to justify someone tearing up a bog in a huge ass truck as having respect.....its just tough. All the other groups you mentioned have very little impact.....one truck through a bog can destroy a spot for quite some time. The groups you mention can coexist pretty easily, coexisting with atv's nearly hitting you or doing donuts around you while you hike is a little tough. Going to one of your favorite spots only to have it destroyed and trashed by ATV's is discomforting....maybe these are the bad eggs though. I have no problems with someone riding there car on trails at a safe and respectful speed...its the people who tear the crap out of things the chap my ass. I sometimes get the sense that you are a bit misinformed about how ATV's affect wildlife....I have a feeling since you are open that if you saw its affect with actual examples you may change you stance on ATV's a bit.....maybe I'm wrong. The problem with your arguement is that ATV's take away from all the other groups enjoyment. Driving by Guy looking for stones and has no effect on me looking for reptiles, walking by someone on horseback has no effect on me, or vice a versa. Walking by someone who is ripping a area apart does though.....so it kind of different.
Eduro's riding through the pines 3x a year isn't that big a deal to me.
In no way am I trying to say that the guys who tear stuff up on purpose should be accepted. There are people who could ride atvs,have fun and do less damage to the road than a horseback rider, however there are the idiots that like to do donuts in the middle of a trail or at a historic site or in the middle of a swamp. There are also people who could drive a truck on 54" boggers (tallest DOT approved mud tire) and do little to no damage by driving threw a puddle rather than a truck on 33s that has to stuggle its way threw throwing mud and making ruts. I'm just saying it is possible. I also do understand the impact that assholes on powerful machines can do, maybe not to the extent that you do, but i get the drift and i do care. What i am getting at is just as you are going to your favorite spot you see it torn up by ATVs or trucks, you get pissed, upset, something, right, I would. However leaving that same spot is a guy who thought he seen ruins at the same spot on google earth. he's hiking threw the woods, walking on top of wintergreen, stirring up the swamps, breaking a few branches off of some huckleberry, until he gets back to the many trail. at this point he meets up with his and as they are walkiong the hikers buddy steps in a pile of horse shit. this guy is mad, really mad, so mad that he believes they should ban horse from being ridden back here.
Then along comes some dumb city moron who believes he a environmentalist just cause he got a year membership with the Sierra Club. He notices where the hiker came walking out of the woods so he does a little following (carefully on his tip toes)and sees the squished wintergreen, broken huckleberry, stirred up swamp and a stepped on frog that the hiker must have not noticed. At this point the little city boy is fuming in anger to see "his" woods destroyed and believes all hiking should be banned.
oooh lets not forget thehiker. he decides he going to do some hiking down the side of a popular canoe route. he notices beer can stuck in branches and even some fast food trash off to the side, howver there is no way the trash was placed were it is from land, must have been canoers. he gets pissed and believes canoeing should be banned because these people trash the waters.
So all of these guys, the reptile dude, the hikers friend, the enironmentalist and the hiker all contact there senators and let them know how these other people made them feel. However the senator could care less he's worried about politics and the stripclub that he's going to hit, he trashes there letters and gets ready to head out to the bar and is thinking to himself, would just make these people quit thier crying and whining???? what do you think it would be??
