Administrators of the federal government's public lands are currently facing a major problem in attempting to resolve the conflict between the demand for recreational space for "off-road vehicles" (ORVs), such as trail bikes, dune buggies, and snowmobiles, and the need to protect the lands from serious environmental damage that can be caused by such machines. Recently, the Department of the Interior issued a final environmental impact statement (EIS) on the use of Interior lands by ORVs,¹ and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), as proprietor of 474 million acres of federal lands on which half the nation's ORV activity takes place,² proposed regulations for the designation of public lands for ORV usage.³ This is the second attempt by the Interior Department and BLM to resolve this problem and, like the first, it can only be characterized as one of excessive disregard for the immediacy of the environmental damage.

The use of ORVs has increased dramatically over the past decade. From relative obscurity ORV usage has mushroomed to the point where perhaps a quarter of the population, using 10 million vehicles, is now taking part in ORV activities.⁴ The ORV phenomenon, in which riders escape the tedium and stresses of urban life through motorized exploration of wild open spaces, is clearly riding the crest of the current popularity for all forms of outdoor recreation.