February 2000
ORV Rulemaking Petition
The BSA, along with Wildlands CPR, The Wilderness Society, and more than 100 other organizations, submitted a rulemaking petition asking the Forest Service to strengthen its regulations pertaining to the management of off-road vehicles (ORVs) on December 9, 1999. The use of ORVs on Forest Service lands is, in many cases, out of control, and the agency has so far been unable or unwilling to do much about it. These improved regulations would clarify the Forest Service's duty to manage ORVs prudently and carefully and to ensure that natural values of the forest and non-motorized recreation are not adversely impaired. In addition the regulations would ensure that the use of ORVs is accompanied by fully-funded monitoring and evaluation efforts.
Specifically, the petition signed by the BSA requested the following changes to the current ORV management framework:
- Motorized vehicles are only allowed on system roads and trails designated and posted as open for specific vehicle type. Cross-country travel by motorized vehicles is prohibited.
- Designation of ORV routes can only occur where the Forest Service can demonstrate that use of the route by ORVs will not cause adverse environmental impacts.
- Designation of ORV routes, upgrading of existing routes to accommodate new or additional ORV use, and the construction of upgrading of facilities for ORV use must be fully analyzed under the National Environmental Policy Act
- ORV use is prohibited unless adequate monitoring and enforcement of the use and its impacts is fully implemented
- ORV use is prohibited in legislatively or administratively proposed wilderness areas, inventoried roadless areas, and other areas with roadless values, except on roads for which their use has been formally designated.
For more information on this effort, please contact Jacob Smith, Wildlands CPR, 303.247.0998 or prebles@indra.net.