upstate rider
07-04-2003, 01:29 AM
NEW TRAILS OPEN JULY 4, 2003
A positive development in the history of OHV recreation in New York
occurs this July 4th holiday, giving a new meaning to Independence Day.
That is, independence of riders having to wait for the State to get its
act together to reasonably accommodate trail riders or to at least
remove impediments placed on our community that are keeping it from
implementing its own solutions.
See www.trailpass.com for the full details. The basic information is
that on July 4, three legal riding areas for ATVs and trailbikes are
opened around New York to riders who have purchased a "TrailPass" from
one of several powersports dealers listed on the above web site (can
also buy online). And according to the TrailPass site, a dozen more
areas spread across the state are slated to open over the course of the
Summer.
This is Big News for several reasons:
First, in more than a decade of trying, due to an uncooperative
state government and stiff resistance from anti-access groups who have
forgotten resource management is better for the environment than
prohibition, off-road advocates and NYSORVA have been unsuccessful in
creating a comprehensive, statewide, organized and managed trail system
and funding program to accommodate the growing and deserving rider
community (NY is now the 3rd largest state for ATV sales). It became
apparent to the folks at TrailPass that a private-industry agency of
sorts had to be created to finally get that ball rolling toward
fostering broad-scale legal riding opportunities.
Of great note, TrailPass secured a previously unavailable
insurance product to protect clubs and landowners in the event of a
lawsuit, where many had tried and failed in doing so including the State
Insurance Agency. Clubs can now protect their host landowners when their
trails are included in the TrailPass network, thereby making it more
likely that landowners will offer to permit recreational access.
Regardless of the insurance crisis, clubs still would have no
funding and technical assistance to groom the trails for sustainability
thanks to the 11th year of failure of the State Legislature to
re-establish ATV trail funding. TrailPass also solved that problem,
politician-free, by establishing a trail mapping, monitoring, and
funding program for the clubs, to work much like a public-based trail
grant program would have, but instead funded through the sale of the
TrailPass retail product. Simple idea but remarkable in its effect.
So, Happy Independence Day to my fellow NY riders. It seems there is
some hope that our trail riding interests will finally be accommodated
in the otherwise OHV-repressive Empire State. We wish the best of luck
to the TrailPass organization for success in helping clubs to open
legal, safe, and sustainable riding areas all over New York.
Alex Ernst
www.nysorva.org
www.nyatvsafety.net
A positive development in the history of OHV recreation in New York
occurs this July 4th holiday, giving a new meaning to Independence Day.
That is, independence of riders having to wait for the State to get its
act together to reasonably accommodate trail riders or to at least
remove impediments placed on our community that are keeping it from
implementing its own solutions.
See www.trailpass.com for the full details. The basic information is
that on July 4, three legal riding areas for ATVs and trailbikes are
opened around New York to riders who have purchased a "TrailPass" from
one of several powersports dealers listed on the above web site (can
also buy online). And according to the TrailPass site, a dozen more
areas spread across the state are slated to open over the course of the
Summer.
This is Big News for several reasons:
First, in more than a decade of trying, due to an uncooperative
state government and stiff resistance from anti-access groups who have
forgotten resource management is better for the environment than
prohibition, off-road advocates and NYSORVA have been unsuccessful in
creating a comprehensive, statewide, organized and managed trail system
and funding program to accommodate the growing and deserving rider
community (NY is now the 3rd largest state for ATV sales). It became
apparent to the folks at TrailPass that a private-industry agency of
sorts had to be created to finally get that ball rolling toward
fostering broad-scale legal riding opportunities.
Of great note, TrailPass secured a previously unavailable
insurance product to protect clubs and landowners in the event of a
lawsuit, where many had tried and failed in doing so including the State
Insurance Agency. Clubs can now protect their host landowners when their
trails are included in the TrailPass network, thereby making it more
likely that landowners will offer to permit recreational access.
Regardless of the insurance crisis, clubs still would have no
funding and technical assistance to groom the trails for sustainability
thanks to the 11th year of failure of the State Legislature to
re-establish ATV trail funding. TrailPass also solved that problem,
politician-free, by establishing a trail mapping, monitoring, and
funding program for the clubs, to work much like a public-based trail
grant program would have, but instead funded through the sale of the
TrailPass retail product. Simple idea but remarkable in its effect.
So, Happy Independence Day to my fellow NY riders. It seems there is
some hope that our trail riding interests will finally be accommodated
in the otherwise OHV-repressive Empire State. We wish the best of luck
to the TrailPass organization for success in helping clubs to open
legal, safe, and sustainable riding areas all over New York.
Alex Ernst
www.nysorva.org
www.nyatvsafety.net