chardical’s Recent Comments

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  Now, let's not get dramatic

  Backcut - I don't think anyone here wants to close down all that many established, maintained roads, but there is a very strong case for limiting use on the little used trails, ways and routes that may show up on an arial photograph, but only see occasional travel. If you look closely at how BLM, FS and other agencies have essentially designated every track out there, regardless of purpose or need, you may see the need for scaling back the size of these route systems. It also makes for a much easier enforcement scenario (less mileage to patrol = greater LE presence) so that conscientious riders and bad apples are not thrown in the same basket and the renegades are actually caught and punished once in a while.On Utah ORV trail system a poor model posted 10 months ago 24 Responses

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  ORVs, fugitive dust & drought

  One aspect of this debate that is often overlooked in the debate over ORV access is that ORV use in particular and soil disturbance in general in the desert, lead to drought. Increased route proliferation and ORV use in general, whether planned or not, generate fugitive dust that in places like Utah, lead to epic dust storms that oftentimes close I-70. Given the prevailing winds in the region, a large amount of this fugitive dust ends up in the snowpack of the Rocky Mts and has been documented to cause, by simply absorbing more of the sun's heat, the depletion of seasonal snowpacks up to a month ahead of historical timeframes. This may be an important factor in the drying up of the Colorado River basin and recent low water flows in the summer. The solution, protect more, larger expanses of land, close redundant and unnecessary routes and roads and save the cryptobiotic crust. Check out USGS scientist Jayne Belnap's research on this topic: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol13/iss2/art28/On Utah ORV trail system a poor model posted 10 months ago 24 Responses