Our work to reduce the impacts of off-road motorized vehicle traffic is rooted in our early work on roadless issues and the recognition that motorized travel has a significant impact on fish and wildlife.  

From the start, Trout Unlimited staffers staked out an angler-hunter-centric position that acknowledged we, too, were motorized users, but that unregulated motorized use was damaging the public lands where we hunted and fished. We named this program Sportsmen Ride Right.  

 In 2004, then Forest Service Chief Bosworth called unmanaged recreation one of the four top threats to Forest Service lands.  

 “We believe that off-highway vehicles are a legitimate use of the National Forest System. But it’s a use that should be managed carefully. That’s what our new rule for OHV use on national forest system lands is all about: providing access that can be used and enjoyed into the future. And if we want to sustain that use, then we’ve got to work together,” Bosworth said at the time.

In the early 2000s, the amount of motorized traffic was skyrocketing on public land, and most Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service lands were still open to cross country travel, meaning it was legal to drive an off-highway vehicle nearly anywhere, boldly blazing new roads and motorized trails.

Trout Unlimited’s staff took the issue on first in New Mexico and Arizona, both on the drafting and implementation of forest-specific travel management plans at the forest level. At the same time, we worked on state legislation to pass visible identification laws that would create funding mechanisms for education, enforcement and restoration of public lands and specifically for motorized trails. 

Trout Unlimited passed state off-road vehicle legislation in New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and Washington. We are still working on travel planning across the West and bills to manage motorized use on public lands.