Click here for more links to environmental problems caused by Off-Road vehicles.
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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Enviromental 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 increase, 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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