Financial Impact
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- Motorized trail users represent a small minority of the people
who enjoy public lands. But 70% of funding for trail construction
supports motorized recreation. According to a national survey
conducted by Outdoor Recreation in America, only 5 percent of
the survey population stated they participated in motorcycling
or other motorized recreation.
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Environmental Impact
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- Two stroke engines (used for personal watercrafts, dirt bikes
and snowmobiles) discharge 25-33% of their fuel unburned into
the air. A snowmobile with a two-stroke engine operating for four
hours can emit between 10 and 70 times as much carbon monoxide
and between 45 and 250 times as many hydrocarbons as an automobile
driven 100 miles.
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Off-Road Vehicles:
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- Off-road vehicles (ORV) cause irreparable environmental damage.
Motorized vehicles are capable of traveling into backcountry areas,
contributing to habitat fragmentation, exotic weed dispersal,
air and noise pollution, soil compaction and erosion.
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- ORV's cause intense soil disruption, destroying soil structure
and increasing vulnerability to wind and water erosion. They also
compact the soil, inhibiting infiltration of water. This increases
runoff during heavy rains and results in increased erosion.
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- ORV's facilitate the spread of noxious weeds. Bare soil is exposed,
providing the ideal habitat for aggressive, invasive weeds. The
vehicles are then the perfect vectors to spread weed seeds into
the prepared substrate.
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Personal Water Crafts:
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- An average two-hour ride on a personal water craft (PWC) dumps
2 1/2 gallon of gas and oil into the water.
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- PWCs shallow draft and high maneuverability allow PWCs to enter
sensitive areas not accessible to larger motorized boats and disturb
nesting birds and wildlife and uproot aquatic vegetation.
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- Increased Erosion: PWC users typically spend long periods of
time in an area that traditional boats can not reach and can generate
significant wave action. Increased and continuous wave action
contributes to shoreline erosion.
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- Operating a PWC in shallow waters stirs up bottom sediments,
which decreases light penetration and oxygen needed by aquatic
life. Also operating too close to nesting colony birds cause the
birds to fly away from the nest exposing the eggs to temperature
fluctuations and leaving them open to predation. (Research Paper,
Dr. Joanna Burger study of PWC effects on colonial nesting birds
in Barnegat Bay).
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Snowmobiles:
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- Due to a last minute rider in the Consolidated Omnibus Appropriations
Bill, the National Park Service is blocked from regulating snowmobiles.
This rider allows snowmobiles to continue to pollute our National
Parks with 118 times as much smog-forming pollutants as modern
automobiles on a per-mile basis. The rest of public lands, of
course, are subjected to this abuse all winter long.
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- According to Dr. Mary Meagher, the worlds leading expert on
Yellowstone National Park bison, the snow-pack created by and
for snowmobiles is the "largest factor in contributing to population
decrease, major distributional changes, and ultimately habitat
impact."
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- This decrease in winter-killed bison directly influences the
grizzly bear population of Yellowstone. Adult females and grizzly
cubs rely on bison carrion in the spring. Bison carrion makes
up 70% of their diet according to D.J. Matson's 1996 article "Use
of Unulates by Yellowstone Grizzly Bears Ursus arctos."
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- According to the US Department of Agriculture's report, "Off-Road
Vehicle Use: A Management Challenge" by Aasheim (1980); "Snow
compaction affects vegetation productivity and growth, organic
matter decomposition, humus formation, and microbial activity,
by decreasing soil temperature and slowing snowmelt."
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