Concerning all-terrain vehicles: there are inconsiderate people in every activity. I am an outdoorsman and participate in many activities, including camping, kayaking, and hiking. I’ve seen campsites where green trees were felled. I have put out a fire in pine needles someone abandoned. I have seen major erosion on hiking trails and read about fire towers vandalized by hikers.
Do you see efforts to eliminate these activities? Natural disasters like microbursts and Irene cause way more damage than ATVs. ATVs have been singled out because the environmentalists hate anything with a motor. Snowmobiles are next!
Concerning the letter associating gangs with ATVs [“ATVs abet serious crime,” November/December 2011]: the writer encountered a bunch of bad people who happen to drive ATVs. The problem was the people, not the ATVs. I recently drove a friend on one of the closed ATV trails in Tug Hill. He laughed at the fact that it was open to my 5,200-pound truck but not ATVs. Those trails are all hard-pack.
I hope people get common sense and we can have an ATV trail system in New York State, even if it involves paying for a permit so folks can be hired to police it.
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Tim Stanka, Rochester NY
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