Despite helping to draft a proposed new law managing off-highway vehicles, OHV users are on a track of their own.

With nearly a quarter million quads and dirt bikes already churning through Arizona’s outdoor spaces, a coalition of off-highway vehicle users, working with 16 government agencies, is seeking even greater access for their machines. They want to achieve it through a “Copper Sticker” law that taxes off-highway vehicles (OHVs) and uses the money to open and develop more OHV trails.

Nearly 1/4 million OHV's and dirt bikes roam through Arizona's open spaces. RIH photo/Erica Ryberg

What’s an OHV?

OHVs include all-terrain vehicles (ATVs or quads); utility vehicles (essentially multi-passenger quads, including golf carts and Rhinos); “dirt bike” motorcycles; dune buggies and sand rails; and four wheel drive pickup trucks and passenger cars.

A “registered” OHV is one that is “street legal,” meaning it meets minimum standards to legally operate on paved or graveled public roads. “Titled” OHVs are documented with the state by ownership title, but are not legal to operate on public streets;. “titled” means “off-road only.”

Too many OHVs to manage

“The biggest thing is for people to understand that we don't have the adequate resources to manage OHVs,” said Arizona Game & Fish Department Assistant Director of Field Operations Mike Senn said. “Right now, Game & Fish only gets about $900,000 a year for that. OHVs just haven't been a huge area of emphasis.”

That $900,000 comes from Arizona's drivers. With every gallon of gasoline they pump into their street vehicles (or OHVs, for that matter), .55 of one percent of the tax on that gallon goes toward the existing OHV management program, which AZG&F says is woefully inadequate for the huge number of OHVs now off the roads.

And that number is staggering. In Arizona alone, the number of ATVs and dirt bikes shot up from 51,000 in 1998 to 230,000 this year, and that only accounts for those vehicles that owners have registered or titled; how many more are operating illegally is anybody's guess. At a recent meeting with ATV sales people in Phoenix, Senn said, one representative proudly claimed Maricopa County is number two in the country in ATV sales. And they've already got a lobbyist to send to the state legislature when the proposed Copper Sticker law gets there, he said.

The problem is not just Arizona's. US Forest Service Chief Dale Bosworth recently pointed at unmanaged OHV use as among the top four major threats to National Forests. He conservatively estimates there are now 36 million OHVs plying National Forests.

According to information from the USFS website, “Unmanaged OHV use in National Forests can have serious impacts on land, among them: unplanned roads and trails, erosion, watershed and habitat degradation and impacts to cultural resource sites.”

“If unmanaged, it's no doubt going to have a negative impact on water quality, air quality and cultural resources like archaeological and historic sites,” Senn said.

Eliminating OHV riding is no answer, either. “There are a lot of economic benefits,” he said. “It's a huge sales industry. And whenever you drive on I-17 to Phoenix or Highway 260 to Payson on a weekend, it seems like every other vehicle is pulling a trailer loaded with quads. These people enjoy going out to the forest to ride, and they buy gas and ice and eat in restaurants, boosting local economies.”