The Positive Things ATVs Have Done To Improve Lands

If you have an ATV, you've probably heard from at least one well meaning friend about how your ATV is going to destroy the eco-system and you are not quite as eco-friendly as they thought you were. That's an unfortunate image that gets played again and again in the media, but the fact is, yes there are a few bad apples in the ATV barrel that gave a lot of responsible ATV riders a bad rap.

Colorado has a great program for ATV riders to contribute back to the community. Their Adopt a Road program allows an ATV club to adopt a road or ATV trail and maintain it. Nearly 100 ATV trails are currently being maintained in this manner. Several other States including Texas, Michigan,California, and Oklahoma have ATV clubs that participate in road clean ups, trail management, and even free education courses on the "leaving no trace" style of ATV riding, to insure up and coming ATV riders learn how to have fun on their ATVs but leave the terrain as natural and untouched as when they began their ride. Many ATV groups donate several weekends a year to carefully creating new ATV trails to allow vegetation to reclaim old trails so there is always not only a fresh trail to explore, but minimal damage to the land.

To give you an idea of how much trash an ATV group can remove, the Long Island Off Road Trail Cleanup reported they removed 18 tires, a freezer, loads of trash including a torn plastic bag filled with dirty diapers, lots of scrap metal, including pieces of appliances and signs. And this was before they reached the ATV trailhead to begin the clean up!

Another great cause that ATVs are used for, is the The Four Wheelin' Women of Ontario. This group has a fund raiser every year since 2000 to raise money and awareness about male breast cancer in honor of the father of a Parry Sound resident who passed away from the disease. As you can see, ATV groups and the great people who ride them, quietly do a lot of good things!