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Peaceful Roads & Trails Vermont

Mission Statement

The purpose of PRT-VT is to:

• Advocate for the protection of landowner rights to quiet enjoyment of their property.
• Work to preserve the rural character and quality of life in Vermont.
• Promote a safe and pleasant environment for nonmotorized recreation on public land, trails and roads in Vermont.
• Inform the public about problems relating to motorized recreation.
• Give voice to the many groups and individuals impacted by the spread of motorized recreation vehicles.

What's New

This winter PRT-VT circulated a petition asking the Governor, state legislators, and the Governor's Working Collaborative on ATVs to prohibit recreational ATV use on our public lands, roads, and trails. Signatures from more than 1,600 registered voters were gathered from across the state in a relatively short time, demonstrating that a large proportion of Vermonters care deeply about this issue. Thanks to everyone who circulated and sent us petitions!

How were the petitions used?

First, we presented the signatures to the Collaborative as it conducted public hearings on ATV issues last fall. In addition to the many citizens at those meetings who described the problems caused by ATVs and opposed their use on public land, more than 200 people sent written comments critiquing the Collaborative’s Draft Report. Click here to see PRT’s response to the Draft. An overwhelming majority (80 percent) of the public comments strongly opposed opening Vermont’s public land to ATV recreation, but the Collaborative’s Final Report still calls for the opening of ATV corridors on public land to connect existing trails on private land. View the Final ATV Collaborative Report (75KB PDF).

More recently we also delivered copies of the petitions to key members of the Vermont legislature, and to Governor Jim Douglas. PRT supporters will be glad to know that when we met with Governor Douglas to express our views on motorized recreation, he said that he would resist any move to allow ATVs on public land.

Nonetheless, well-paid lobbyists from the motorized recreation industry are hard at work in Montpelier. Legislators, who have a very full plate of issues to address and no paid staff, often rely on lobbyists to do their ‘research’ for them. In a small state like Vermont, we can counteract the impact of those lobbyists by calling or writing our legislators to let them hear our side of the story. Please check out the Take Action box to the right, to see where your voice can make a difference.

View the ATV Collaborative Final Report (75KB PDF)