Keeping ATVs Out
of the Green Mountain National Forest
by Richard Andrews, Southern Vermont Field Representative of Forest Watch
The Green Mountain National Forest consists of about 400,000 acres (625 square miles) of federally owned land along the Green Mountain spine from the Massachusetts border to Route 17. It is divided in two halves, one south of U.S. Route 4 and the other north of U.S. Route 4.
As of August, 2004, the Green Mountain National Forest is one of only two in the nation effectively closed to ATVs. Many other National Forests allow ATVers to roam wherever they choose; others are open to ATVs everywhere except where signposted closed; and some limit ATVs to designated trail systems.
No law prohibits ATVs on the Green Mountain National Forest, but a forest supervisor's order limits ATVs (and other wheeled off-highway vehicles) to designated roads and trails between Memorial Day and December 1. As it happens, there are no designated roads or trails, but they could be designated anywhere in the Forest except in the six Wilderness areas established by Congress. The supervisor's order
closes roads under the jurisdiction of the Forest Service to ATVs. No town roads within the Forest are known to be open to ATVs, and state highways are off limits as well.
Thus, with a few exceptions an ATV anywhere within the Forest is operating illegally. One exception is ATVs on private land adjacent to or surrounded by National Forest land. Forest Service employees can use ATVs for administrative work, including law enforcement. Some owners of private land surrounded by federal land can use ATVs to reach their land. ATVs can be used in search and rescue.
Finally, some snowmobile clubs use ATVs for trail maintenance work in summer. They may or may not have permits for this in particular cases.
The Green Mountain National Forest is working on a new land management plan, which may permit ATVs on the Forest. The Forest planning team has just begun considering off-highway vehicle (OHV) policy. The team has said it is considering four options:
- The status quo.
- Allow ATVs in summer on designated roads and trails only in zones where logging and snowmobiling are allowed.
- Allow ATVs in summer on a special system of trails limited to zones where soils and other conditions are favorable.
- Prohibit ATVs in the Forest.
Although ATVs are not allowed on the Green Mountain National Forest, they are often there. Forest Watch, a Montpelier-based organization championing wild forests, has monitored ATV trespass on some portions of the south half of the Forest for three years. So far Forest Watch has identified nearly 70 segments of roads and trails where illegal ATV use has taken place. In many cases deep muddy ruts have resulted from only a few ATVs.
Forest Watch has submitted reports of ATV trespass with photographs and location coordinates to the National Forest, which has responded with stepped up law enforcement. Last year the Green Mountain
National Forest law enforcement officers spent 21 percent of their time dealing with illegal ATV use, compared with an average of 10 percent in the Northeast Region. However, catching trespassing ATVers is difficult, and the problem continues.
Anyone who wishes to support prohibition of ATVs in the new Forest plan should send comments to:
Melissa Reichert
Forest Planner
Green Mountain National Forest
231 N. Main St.
Rutland VT 05701
Phone 802-747-6754.
Comments may also be submitted via the website: http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/gmfl/nepa_planning/plan_revision.htm. Written
comments are most effective.
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