Quote:
Originally Posted by roadglide
Danny more private land owners are doing the same locking gates and fencing off trailes because they can . I a member of Gost riders of Az the last e mail I got said road to castle dome was being closed . The Kofa national forest is going a private land owners property to allow access Castle Dome . AZ IS CHARGING 25 dollars a year for off road trail . It's a big money for Az we spend a lot of money as groups . We are seeking out other orginazed atv groups.
|
Jerry,
I think what we are seeing, us included, is a reaction to a changing society. 2-3 decades ago someone coming in wasn't a big deal; they were nice, courteous and respectful. They gave you their name, told you what/where they wanted to go etc. We would shake hands and they would be off.
Now, people are different. There is no respect or courtesy. I view it as "entitlement". A feeling on the trespasser's part of "you have it, I want it...so I'm going to use it" whether you like it or not. Hence, you see the gates, no trespassing signs (we have lots) and more rigorous enforcement by the land owners or LEO of those private properties.
In years gone by folks wanted to go into the forest, ooh and aah, have a picnic and come back. Now they want to scream down the roads and thru the forest tearing up the roads and damaging the forest. They've even gone in and cut down trees to go where they want to go. Not acceptable. We even had a 250k gallon water storage bladder for emergencies or fire suppression suddenly "explode" one night washing out our road at the top of the mountain. This came, strangely, after we had let a group of older teens hike up our road to the top of the mountain several times. They had gotten a little rowdier each trip but we just wrote it off to being teens....then "boom" goes the bladder....after they had been up there that evening. The loss of the bladder and water, which takes a long time to accumulate from our well system, was bad enough but all the roads belong to US. No one helps pay for the maintenance or repairs - it comes out of our pocket.
In the end it's a sad situation and good folks get caught in the crossfire. From my (the landowner's) perspective it just isn't worth trying to screen folks when they come in. The last time we did the first excuse I got from the next person I stopped was...("you let
them use the trails so we figured we could too"). The answer? I'm afraid there isn't one short term as our society "devolves" and continues to unravel.
Linear Mode
