OFF THE ROAD

PHOTOGRAPHS BY KERRICK JAMES

Watch this guy spinning his tires,” says Nena Barlow, pointing to a Jeep Rubicon in front of us. Barlow has driven me out to Sedona's popular Broken Arrow Trail to demonstrate the basics of environmentally responsible off-highway driv ing. The driver attempting to climb a rock ledge inspires our first lesson.

“When we do Jeep school, one of the things we try to teach is reading the terrain and applying the right amount of movement,” Barlow says. “For most people, it's like, 'When in doubt, gas it.' That's generally not the right response.” After a moment, the Jeep gains traction and eases slowly up and across the ledge. Barlow decides the driver is doing a fairly good job.

“We teach people the one-second rule,” she explains. “If you sit in one place spinning tires for more than a full second, you need to do something different.” A former Jeep tour guide, Barlow now operates Sedona Jeep School and owns Barlow Jeep Rentals. She has a unique perspective on one of the most significant trends in rec reation. Off-highway driving is one of the fastest-growing leisure activities in the country, particularly in the West. In a 2009 survey, nearly 2 million Arizonans said they went four-wheeling in the past year. That's a boon to the state's economy, to the tune of $4 billion a year. But the increasing traffic has also put pressure on public lands.To protect fragile resources, the federal government is in the process of issuing new rules for driving an off-high way vehicle (OHV), which includes Jeeps, four-wheel-drive trucks, ATVs, etc. But keeping the land in good condition begins with drivers. That's what Barlow tries to get across to the tourists who rent Jeeps and to the commercial clients who take classes. User-created trails present the biggest challenge for land managers.

“That's really our problem,” says Brady Smith, public affairs officer for Coconino National Forest, about the need for the new rules. “A lot of roads out there were made by people who just go off the track ... we just can't keep up with them.” Driving off established roads can damage the soil, destroy native plants and create erosion. Studies of high-use OHV areas recorded vegetation loss at more than 90 percent. Efforts to restore it aren't always successful.

Desert soils are particularly vulnerable. Even a single pass with a vehicle can destroy soil components, which take decades or centuries to recover.

Off-highway driving can also affect wildlife by destroying habitat, crushing burrows and damaging streams. Noise from motor vehicles can make animals flee their homes, become confused or suffer hearing loss.

Ranchers and property owners complain that OHV users trespass on private property, cut fences, and use windmills, signs and other property for target practice.

“A lot of it happens because trails are developed in inapropriate areas,” says Robert Baldwin, recreational trails grants coordinator for Arizona State Parks, which distributes funding for land management to the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. “[The trails are] not designed to avoid low spots. So you get down in the forest and, on a dry day, there's a nice trail there, but all of a sudden it collects water. People try to go through there and they go around it. So your 50-inch trail becomes 20 feet wide. That route should not have been put there in the first place.”

“It's the way you ride the trail that counts.” – DALE EVANS

propriate areas,” says Robert Baldwin, recreational trails grants coordinator for Arizona State Parks, which distributes funding for land management to the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. “[The trails are] not designed to avoid low spots. So you get down in the forest and, on a dry day, there's a nice trail there, but all of a sudden it collects water. People try to go through there and they go around it. So your 50-inch trail becomes 20 feet wide. That route should not have been put there in the first place.” In her experience as a former guide, Barlow has seen how seemingly insignificant damage plays out over time. “This is unnecessary,” she says, braking her Jeep just past Submarine Rock and pointing to the roadside. “Obviously, there's a nice, established pullout right here. And then for whatever reason, there are tracks up that bank, right across the shrubs, right across the cryptobiotic soil.” Cryptobiotic soils, which are alive with cyanobacteria, lichens and mosses, are ecologically important in arid environments.

“In the desert, it takes about 200 years to grow nice and thick like that,” Barlow says. “[The cryptobiotic soil] holds the moisture in. It holds nutrients in. It keeps the topsoil from washing away. But you step on that or drive a bike across it, or a Jeep, and it crushes it.

“Now that becomes an erosion path. So that bank will very rapidly erode with just that one track there.” Most people want to do the right thing, Barlow says. They just don't know what that is.

Blame advertising, Barlow says.

“Off-road vehicle] marketing is horrendous,” she says. “I shudder every time those commercials come on. So we try to tell our students, 'Number one: Don't drive like you see in the four-wheel-drive commercials. Number two: Around here especially, you can't go too slow.' The Jeep just walks through, and if you're bouncing and throwing rocks and spinning tires, you're not only being hard on your vehicle and your passengers, but on the terrain. No one comes out here to hear revving motors and spinning tires.” Off-roading is probably as old as the car, but recreational four-wheeling likely dates to the 1940s, when returning World War II veterans started taking their Jeeps into the woods. Still, as late as 1960, when the first national recreation survey was taken, off-highway driving wasn't even on the radar.

The latest national survey, published in 2005, found that nearly a quarter of Americans 16 and older had participated in some form of off-highway driving during the previous year. In the West, the rate was 27 percent. Sales of OHVs have skyrocketed. In Arizona, off-highway motorcycle and ATV sales grew 623 percent from 1995 to 2006.

In the 1970s, the federal government started taking notice. Presidents Nixon and Carter signed executive orders requiring federal agencies to identify areas on public lands where vehicles were permitted to drive off the paved roads. At the time, many offices simply identified areas where use would be prohibited and classified the remaining lands as open.

In Arizona, most four-wheeling takes place on the more than 22 million acres of Forest Service and BLM land. The National Park Service limits access. The 9.3 million acres of State Trust land also see a lot of off-highway traffic.

Both the BLM and Forest Service are in the process of evaluating routes to determine their suitability for off-highway driving. Each of Arizona's six national forests is developing its own guidelines to be published in the form of motor-vehicle-use maps. The guidelines will include which roads and trails are open to motorized vehicles, and any restrictions such as class of vehicle or season. To date, only Prescott National Forest has completed the process. More are expected this summer.

"The Jeep just walks through, and if you're bouncing and throwing rocks and spinning tires, you're not only being hard on your vehicle and your passengers, but on the terrain."

The BLM has designated about 10 percent of its estimated 31,000 miles of primitive roads and trails in Arizona for off-highway driving, and closed nearly a third of them in the process. The agency hopes to have all roads signed and designated, with printed access guides available, by 2015.

"You're not going to see humongous open areas anymore," says Bill Gibson, BLM's trails and travel management coordinator in Arizona. "Environmentally, socially and politically, that's not going to happen."

Instead, he says, the goal is to concentrate use in certain areas so that the BLM can fulfill the need for motor-vehicle recreation while protecting areas that need protection.

At the state level, Arizona legislators have tried to address the phenomenon. An OHV Recreation Fund was signed into law in 1989 and amended in 1991. The law mandates that 0.55 percent of annual state fuel tax revenues be used to finance the fund. Arizona State Parks administers 60 percent for trail development, enhancement and maintenance. Thirty-five percent goes to the Arizona Game and Fish Department for information, education and law enforcement. The Arizona State Land Department receives the remaining 5 percent for OHV-related activities on State Trust lands.

A 2007 law meant to address particulate pollution restricted OHV use in some areas on high-pollution advisory days. And in 2008, the Legislature passed a law requiring an OHV decal for most off-highway vehicles under 1,800 pounds that displays equipment requirements and guidelines for safe, ethical and responsible operation. The $25 decal generates more than $1 million a year. Seventy percent of decal revenues feed the OHV Recreation Fund. The remaining 30

OFF-ROADING RESOURCES

The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality website includes a map of the areas affected by OHV restrictions on high-pollution advisory days. For information, visit www.azdeq.gov/environ/air/prevent/index.html#ohv.

percent goes to the Highway User Revenue Fund. The OHV Recreation Fund has been subject to legislative sweeps, but the money has provided valuable services and education.

"I think it's a very good idea," says Rebecca Antle, president of the Arizona State Association of 4-WD Clubs. “The money does come back and benefit those who use the trails.” Back at Broken Arrow Trail, Barlow observes that in the past few years, information about responsible off-highway driving has become much more readily available. Arizona State Parks maintains a comprehensive website, with a map of trails and contact information for managing agencies. Arizona Game and Fish, the Forest Service and the BLM also maintain OHV-related information on their websites.

"With all the information on the Internet, there's not the excuse we had even 15 years ago about, 'Oh, I didn't know this was closed or those were the rules,'" Barlow says. “You don't have to look very far.” Ultimately, land managers can do only so much, particularly larly when budgets are strained. Organized OHV groups stand in the gap by offering training and volunteering for trail maintenance and trash pickup. This year, an OHV Ambassador pilot program run by Arizona State Parks that trains volunteers to provide a presence in high-use area is expanding statewide.

But the bottom line is personal. “Once people leave the pavement, they think it's OK to drink ... it's OK to let an 11-yearold kid drive,” Barlow says. “No. It's still a public road. We all have to be more responsible. The lessons we learned the hard way, the next generation has to be taught right off the bat. I think we're taking steps in the right direction, but we've got a long way to go.”