ugh, those ATV people ... they would drive around inside St. Peter's Basilica if they were allowed, and I don't see how the Kaiparowits is any less deserving of protection from them.

Well, I'm one of those ATV people (actually a dirtbiker), but I'm also a conservationist. I have no problem with staying off of protected lands. I actually prefer open desert and big dead sand dunes. The more lifeless the better. Bushes suck at high speed. (Bush sucks at any speed ;-).

Anyway, most of the riders (bikers, quaders, and sand railers) that I come across are responsible, clean and respectful of the environment and the offlimit areas because they know if they aren't they'll screw it up for all of us. But there is always that 10 percent or so that seem hellbent on getting even existing play areas shut down by showing no respect for the environment. I can't say much for the rock crawler crowd. That isn't as big here in SoCal as open desert riding. And, being that this is SoCal, we have a more conservationist view of things than a lot of the country even amoung our conservatives. Amazing though how those two words have nearly opposite meanings in the political world.

Anyway, as for these people who want to take their rock crawlers (or any mechanical toy for that matter) crushing over every last piece of scenic terrain they can and/or who don't have the decency to pack out their trash, I agree, let them pound sand. Literally, in this case.

The real problem is that there are just too many ignorant selfish people with too much money and time on their hands. The lame excuse that they have a right to see it just the same as hikers is complete B.S. Were that the case, then they'd revise their requests for access to include street-legal passenger vehicles only on groomed roads only to the overlooks and favorite spots. This would be far easier to get passed. But that's not what they want. Were we to open these areas up, the only real site seeing that would be happening is large groups of people watching huge mechanical toys happily destroying the habitat and the hikers will disappear.

It is so nice to hear that we are still attempting to keep what is sacred intact. There are so many beautiful lands left in our country...if we don't protect them now, they will be gone. How hard is that to understand? I applaud the responsible ATV folks who stay on trails and roads. When it comes to riding all over to "see it" we all know better. It is just silly to try and "see it" at 50 mph through (hopefully) the helmet shield as every little thing on the path, and off gets crushed for the sake of "seeing it"!

thanks