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Paul Brewster, Forest Supervisor September 14, 2001 Dear Mr. Brewster: In August I went on a hike with the Ottauquechee Section of the Green Mountain Club on the Appalachian Trail in Bridgewater. I am a member of the club, and I often work on trail maintenance, but I had not been on this piece of the trail before. A substantial stretch of the trail was a rocky and eroded roadway beaten to gravel and dust by all-terrain vehicles, although motorized travel on the trail is illegal. There was also a network of pathways torn up by ATVs on both sides of the trail on National Park land, where the machines are also illegal. Other members of the section, which maintains the AT between Maine Junction and Route 12, tell me that the ATV damage has gotten worse since August. This is just the latest of dozens of occasions that have confirmed for me the fact that ATV owners are among the worst outlaws there are. It should come as no surprise to you that many of these occasions have occurred in the Green Mountain National Forest, where illegal ATV use also is widespread. As you know, off-road vehicles are legal only where they have permission; on public highways (if they are registered and inspected); or on trails designated for them. This is true on both public and private land. Yet anyone who spends any time in the woods can find hundreds of places where ATVs have gone in defiance of the law. Their drivers seem to be victims of gasoline intoxication. ATV drivers claim theirs is a clean, law-abiding sport, but nobody is going to believe them unless they stop their wanton trespassing. If they can't police themselves, someone else ought to do it. I understand that the Green Mountain National Forest is responsible for management of the Appalachian Trail in Vermont, though the corridor is owned by the National Park Service. There is no question that the ATV issue needs more attention and much better law enforcement. Does the Forest Service have plans to step up its efforts to combat this problem? Yours truly,
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