Well, looks like the pot is stirring, so I better back up my statements.
Research done throughout the west over the past several years is painting a clear picture of the negative impact excessive motorized travel can have on big game populations. This is not limited to ATV?s by the way. Here are the facts.
1. A controlled study done at Starkey Experimental Forest conclusively showed that elk will relocate when two motorized vehicles travel within 8/10th of a mile of their location within a 24 hour period. In many cases, that relocation will be to areas where they are not bothered, but also areas with less beneficial habitat.
2. A recently completed four year study done at Yellowstone concluded that direct predation by wolves on elk is NOT the most serious impact wolves are having on elk populations. Due to wolf activity, elk herds have permanently relocated to safer areas, which are far less nutritious. In late spring, cows are unable to build the reserves necessary to complete the birthing cycle, with many calves being aborted, reabsorbed, or born weak with low birth rates, which impacts their ability to survive in their first year. The authors state that this factor is the primary cause of cow/calf ratios being below 20/100 over the past several years, a far more serious long term problem for the future of these herds than the direct predation by wolves of elk on the same populations. The study was conducted over four years, on four different elk herds, and involved the collection and evaluation of 1200 separate samples taken to determine the reproductive health of cows in the population. As far as I know this is one of the largest sampling research projects ever undertaken; most involve less than 100 subjects.
3. The idea that road densities today are comparable to those 100 years ago is ludicrous. I have not spent a lot of time in Utah, so won't speculate there, but in Oregon, the road densities on public land at the end of World War 2 were less than 1 mile of road/5 miles of area. Today, those ratios in most of Oregon?s Federal land (excluding wilderness), exceed 3.0 miles of road/1 mile of area. With few exceptions, all of these roads are open year round, except for periods of snow, and the amount of use is rapidly increasing, particularly in late spring. The large increase in road building occurred primarily in the 70?s and 80?s, and coincides almost exactly with the 30 year decline in mule deer that continues in Oregon.
4. It is certainly true that there is an organized effort to increase the amount of wilderness in the West. I am not aware of ANY organized or unorganized effort by environmental groups to close roads on public land outside of wilderness areas. The truth is that the Forest Service in Oregon actually has management plans that require them to close Class 1 roads that are not maintained, but, due to lack of funds, none of them are ever closed. It is also true that Congress has mandated that all public lands develop a new travel management plan that will go from an ?open unless closed by rule ? model to a ?closed unless open by rule? model. I have been involved with the process for the Ochoco National Forest plan development, and under the most restrictive option, it would be difficult to get 2 miles from an open road, except in the Wilderness or designated roadless areas. In addition, there will be a substantial increase in areas open to ATV use, and trail systems will be developed for their use. One forest service employee admitted to me that this part of the plan will have a negative impact on deer and elk populations, but they will likely do it anyway, due to public pressure from the motorized access community, and the availability of funds through the Oregon Parks Dept
It is becoming increasingly clear that big game populations need to have access to prime habitat areas during key parts of the year without interference from outside sources, whether they be predators or humans. Most Big Game depts. have done a reasonable job of providing that protection on winter ranges. Unfortunately, it is apparent that the same level of protection needs to be extended to the late spring early summer period, and the tremendous increase in public use of these lands during that time makes it extremely difficult.
Scoutdog