Off Road Issue in the NY Times

December 30, 2007
Public Lands
Surge in Off-Roading Stirs Dust and Debate in West
By FELICITY BARRINGER and WILLIAM YARDLEY

DURANGO, Colo. — In the San Juan National Forest here, an iron rod gate is the last barrier to the Weminuche Wilderness, a mountain redoubt above 10,000 feet where wheels are not allowed.

But the gate has been knocked down repeatedly, shot at and generally disregarded. Miles beyond it, a two-track trail has been punched into the wilderness by errant all-terrain-vehicle riders who have insisted on going their own way, on-trail or off.

From Colorado’s forests to Utah’s sandstone canyons and the evergreen mountains of Montana, federally owned lands are rapidly being transformed into the new playgrounds — and battlegrounds — of the American West.

Outdoor enthusiasts are flocking in record numbers to lesser-known forests, deserts and mountains, where the rules of use have been lax and enforcement infrequent................

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/30/us/30lands.html?hp=&pagewanted=print