The risks of off-road vehicle (ORV) use have become an increasingly serious issue for public land management. The U.S. Forest Service is now undertaking a motorized vehicle route designation process to regulate use on National Forest lands and minimize impact. Alternatively, I suppose, the vehicle owners/manufacturers could work to self-regulate and significantly reduce the impact of ORV so their routes would not have to be so limited. The hurdles to this latter approach appear to be at least twofold:

1. Innovation in ORV has not been geared towards reducing impact. The converse, actually, it has been pressure from outside regulation that has led the manufacturers and consumers to become more aware of the externalities of ORV use. Innovation in the market regarding conservation thus has come as a result of regulation.
2. Self-regulation by highly independent groups would still beg the question of how to prevent irresponsible use, which would likely end up becoming an argument for an independent/third-party enforcement agency, which just prolongs acknowledgment of the need for U.S. Forest Service involvement rather than providing a realistic alternative. There could be innovation here as well, such as using satellite tracking to ensure compliance, but this again raises questions of privacy, etc. that are historically best handled through a body of common law.

The groups impacted by ORV externalities include a wide variety of perspectives (bikers, hikers, campers, equestrians, hunters, fishers, conservationists, etc.) with a common goal of finding an ecologically sustainable, manageable, and enforceable ORV route. California has some interesting details available on their National Forest site that explains what has been happening:

The U.S. Forest Service ORV route designation entails a Five Step Process:

1. Compile an inventory of existing roads, trails, and routes used by wheeled vehicles;
2. Issue a Temporary Forest Order that prohibits wheeled vehicle use off of mapped/existing routes or open areas;
3. Develop site-specific proposals for changes to the National Forest System roads, trails and areas;
4. Conduct National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analyses of roads, trails, and areas for public motor vehicle use; and
5. Issue a Motor Vehicle Use Map showing National Forest System roads, trials, and areas authorized for public motor vehicle use.

“Wheeled” vehicles? Seems to bounce back and forth with “motor vehicle”. Wonder where the official definition of these terms might be.