Excerpts from Field Notes on
Illegal Off-Road Vehicle Use
Today I surveyed FR 266 in and near the proposed Lamb Brook Wilderness, as far as the upper gate, where the VAST (Vermont Association of Snow Travelers) Corridor 9 snowmobile trail leaves FR 266 and follows the Old Stage Road east. I also checked about a quarter mile of the Old Stage Road, easterly from FR 266. The last time I checked these roads was September 25, 2002.
The weather report was misleading. It said there had been an inch or so of snow on the higher peaks of the Adirondacks, but only rain elsewhere. However, there was snow on the ground in Manchester and Bennington, and snow covering all of Searsburg, Readsboro, Stamford and Woodford. The predicted high temperature was 45 degrees, but the temperature never rose above freezing.
This made spotting ATV tracks more challenging than I had expected. Nevertheless, it was evident that FR 266 and the Old Stage Road have been used by ATVs regularly this year, though my sense is they were not quite as heavily traveled this year as the year before, because not all of the grass on the vegetated portions of FR 266 was killed in the ATV ruts.
Although FR 266 is gated at its start from Vermont Route 100, and it is also gated where the Old Stage Road leaves it, both gates are bypassed by ATVs. The bypass of the lower gate appears to have had less recent use than it did last year.
It appears that most of the ATV use continues to originate from several parcels of private land bordering national forest land along the lower stretches of FR 266. The most intense ATV use of FR 266 is near and between these private ATV trail connections to the road. Judging by ATV donuts cut in the road and other tracks, kids are still doing most of the driving on the lower part of the road.
At the gate at the bottom of FR 266 there are no signs indicating the permitted or forbidden uses of the road. There is a “No Snowmobiling” sign, apparently posted by an adjoining landowner, and there are hostile signs in several places along the lower portion of the road warning against snowmobiling. Land on the westerly side of the road also is signed with “No Trespassing” signs. This year the signs have been signed “Mary Jones” and are dated 2003-2004. Last year the signs were unsigned and undated.
Photo Identifications
513: Recent ATV tracks on FR 266, revealed by differential snow melt in a spot with intermittent sun.
514: ATV ruts connecting FR 266 and private land on the west side of the road. Note red Forest Service boundary blazing, and distant signs warning against trespass.
515: Tracks left by regular ATV use on FR 266.
516: The upper gate on FR 266, and two ATV bypasses of the gate leading into the brush and woods to the right of the gate.
517-519: ATV tracks on the Old Stage Road, near its junction with FR 266.
523: Recent ATV tracks on the Old Stage Road, revealed by differential snow melt.
524: Close view of an ATV bypass of the upper gate on FR 266.
525: Recent ATV tracks on FR 266, revealed by differential snow melt.
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