11/19/2023
NUISANCE ATVers - BECAUSE OF THEM, IT MAY JUST BE A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE ATV ACCESS IS LOST TO ALL IN THE JACKMAN REGION
The ATV Trails in the Jackman region closed on November 15th. Yet people are still riding ATVs on the trails.
The ATV Access Routes along many roads in the region also closed on November 15th. Yet ATVs are still being driven on the roads. (As this is being written on November 19th at 7:30 in the morning, numerous ATVs have driven down Main Street in Jackman already this morning.)
The landowners in the region who allow ATV trails on their property do not allow off trail riding. But more and more ATVers seem to think that if landowners allow ATV trails on their property, then that property is fair game for ATV riding anywhere on the property.
On the land that we manage where we allow ATV trails, we mark all of the side roads off the ATV trails with NO ATV signs, even though we do not have to post the side roads to keep ATVs out. (Under Maine law, you can NOT ride an ATV on land of another without the owner’s permission. This is not a new law. This law was passed in 2003 and took effect in 2004.) Yet over the last few years we are finding increasing evidence of ATV use on the side roads that are marked with the NO ATV signs. And in some cases the ATVers have caused significant damage to some of these roads. If this illegal activity does not diminish during the 2024 season, then we will have no choice but to consider closing the ATV trails on the properties that we manage.
In August we reviewed a property for a possible winter timber harvest operation. The road that we will need to use in the winter WAS in pretty good shape. “WAS” is the key word here. We were in the same area less than two weeks ago and what did we find? That very same road has been heavily damaged by ATVs. A road that needed no work to be used in the winter is now going to require many thousands of dollars of excavator time to repair the road to make it usable again. This road is NOT part of the ATV trail system. There should have been no ATVs on this road. And in fact, the area is posted with NO ATV signs.
If you followed ATV news during the summer of 2023, there were numerous reports of ATV trails being closed around the state because of nuisance ATVers who do what they want, when they want, with a total disregard for what the landowners want. Is this type of nuisance ATVer behavior occurring in the Jackman region? Yes. Could this nuisance ATVer behavior result in the closure of ATV trails in the Jackman region? Yes.
Last spring a major landowner in the Jackman region seriously considered no longer allowing ATV trails on their property due to repeated illegal ATV activity. Because of proactive work undertaken by Border Riders Sportsman’s Club, that landowner decided to allow ATV trails in 2023. But what about 2024? And there are many other landowners in the region who are also fed up with the nuisance ATVers and their illegal activities; landowners who are also considering no longer allowing ATV trails on their property.
We hear people say that the local game warden should be stopping ATVers who are breaking the law. In fact, he does. But he is just one warden, working 40 hours a week, in a coverage area of several hundred thousand acres. He can’t be everywhere all of the time.
The only way that ATV use is going to continue in the Jackman region is if a lot of us work together to minimize the nuisance ATVer problem. There are many people with Border Riders who are doing their best to ensure that there are ATV trails in the Jackman region, but they cannot do it alone.
We have supplied the local game warden with numerous photos over the last few years from surveillance cameras of ATVers riding ATVs where they legally can not do so. The game warden, with assistance from others, has been able to identify only a few of these ATVers, and those ATVers have been issued summonses. But most of the time the lawbreaking ATVers are not identified, and thus they get away with their crimes.
We will be using new and improved cameras in 2024 in hopes of getting better photos of the lawbreakers. Maybe, just maybe, if others hear about more lawbreakers being caught, potential lawbreakers will behave themselves. Wishful thinking? Perhaps. Is the expense of these cameras something that we should not have to incur? Definitely. But the new cameras will be an increased attempt on our part to help minimize a problem in order to ensure that ATV trails in the Jackman region continue far in to the future. We are ATVers, and we enjoy riding the trails. And we do not want to see the trails go away.
What can you do? If you see someone using an ATV where they should not be, say something. Also try to get photos of the ATV, the ATVer and the registration sticker on the ATV and provide your information to a game warden, a forest ranger, or a deputy. If you own a local business that ATVers visit, you and your employees should say something to those ATVers when they are using an ATV when the ATV Access Routes are closed, or when the ATV Access Routes have not opened for the day. (The ATV Access Route signs clearly state that the Access Routes are open from Memorial Day to November 15th, from 8:30 am until dusk.) If you own a local lodging business where ATVers stay, share the Maine laws about ATV use with the ATVers, and stress to these people that they must stay on the marked ATV trails or landowners will close the trails.
We believe that most ATVers are not the problem. However, the number of problem ATVers is growing, and if things do not change, the problem few are going to eliminate ATV riding for all of us.
