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These slide shows chronicle a very small portion of the damage caused by ORVs in the Santa Fe National Forest. The pictures only demonstrate the affect that off-roaders have created on the ground. What these photos do not reveal is the impact Off Road Vehicles have on wildlife, on the air, the water or on other visitors to the forest while this careless damage was taking place.
These photographs were taken in the summer of 2007 in the Santa Fe National Forest near the village of Canada de Los Alamos.
The Black Feather Motorcycle Club has wreaked major havoc in the Santa Fe National Forest in the Jemez Mountains. They have managed to convince the Forest Service that they are maintaining the trails they have illegally created, and are trying to get the Forest Service to include their trails as authorized ORV roads as part of the Travel Management Plan. They have carved out an extensive spider web of damage that spans hundreds of acres in a remote part of the forest. These photos were taken in late summer of 2007.
Jicarita Peak is located just inside the Pecos Wilderness boundary in the Carson National Forest near Tres Ritos, NM. On Saturday September 15, 2007, 3 horseback riders encountered 11 motorcyclists who were headed to the summit of the mountain. Here is the eyewitness account: "At about 12:15pm we heard the bikers coming from the west, and we could see them coming towards us. We had just stopped for lunch and found a "sheltered" spot slightly below the trail. I took pictures of them coming up the trail. I counted 11 bikes, and saw that many were orange. When the bikers came closer, one of us (me) had to stay with the horses, while Talissa and Bob went up to meet them on the trail. When Talissa and Bob returned, the bikers took off in the direction from where they had come. Bob said he had taken several pictures. The bikers told Talissa they had come up the Comales trail and had not seen a Wilderness sign. (We later passed the Wilderness sign, but it was illegible. The only reason I knew it was a Wilderness sign was that I had been there before, when you could still read it.) After our lunch, we continued with the horses, in the same direction the bikers had gone. I took several pictures of the tracks they had left on the trail. We could follow their tracks easily all the way past Ripley's Point and further down till where the Comales trail intersects with the Divide Trail. Before this intersection and below timberline there were fresh tire tracks on and many off the trail. The new tracks, off trail, had torn up the ground, which was soft and wet. Near the Comales/Divide intersection, the "No Vehicle" sign was completely ignored."
For photos of the damage ORVs have wreaked on Rowe Mesa, view the following galleries presented by glorietamesa.org: |
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Page updated on 03/12/08
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