ATV licensing may come in 2008

By Bill Harlan, Journal Staff Writer | Tuesday, January 09, 2007

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PIERRE — A task force created by Gov. Mike Rounds began work Monday in Pierre on a new law that could require licenses for more than 60,000 all-terrain vehicles in South Dakota.

The new law also could create license fees, taxes or other “funding mechanisms” to pay for off-roading trails, including a big trail system proposed for the Black Hills.

That’s how the state’s snowmobile trail system is funded.

“The three most important things are money, money and money,” said Deadwood businessman Tom Blair, who is on the governor’s task force.

But task-force chairman Doug Hofer cautioned, “These aren’t even recommendations yet. It’s all preliminary.”

Hofer is director of state parks for the Game, Fish & Parks Department, and he’s also a member of the Black Hills National Forest Advisory Board, which has been working on changes to off-roading rules for two years.

The changes are coming because of the increasing popularity of off-roading and its growing impact on landscapes. “The numbers of OHVs are growing dramatically,” Hofer said.

The governor’s new task force set a goal to finish writing the legislation in time for the 2008 Legislature.

The U.S. Forest Service, meanwhile, hopes to have new off-roading rules in place for Black Hills National Forest by December 2008. Currently, off-roading is allowed anywhere in the Black Hills except where specifically prohibited. Under the new rules, mandated nationwide, off-roading would be restricted to designated trails or areas.

That change would be a dramatic reversal of policy in the Black Hills, but off-roaders seem to be accepting it.

Task force member Ed Goss of Belle Fourche, who represents the South Dakota Off-Highway Vehicle Coalition, said off-roading groups already had mapped hundreds of miles of trails that could be part of a new system.

Goss said sample legislation presented to the task force was on the right track. “Whoever put this together is thinking exactly like I’m thinking,” he said.

Many rank-and-file off-roaders in the Black Hills also are prepared for a change in rules. Mike Heitland of Rapid City — not a member of the governor’s task force but an avid four-wheeler — said he wouldn’t even object to license fees or taxes. “That’s fine, as long as it goes toward off-roading,” he said.

Heitland’s main concern is that funneling all off-roading into a designated trail system will cause severe damage through overuse. He hopes the new system is flexible. “I would like a process where you could add trails or take trails off the system,” he said. “Rotate the ones that get over-used and try to rehabilitate them.”

Details such as that won’t get ironed out for months.

Other provisions of the new legislation also could tighten rules for using ATVs on highways or even outlaw the practice. South Dakota is the only state that allows ATVs, with the right equipment, to be licensed for public roads.

Secretary Tom Dravland of the state Department of Public Safety, who is on the task force, said that in the past three years there had been 71 “reportable crashes” involving ATVs — that is, crashes on a road involving either injury or serious damage to a vehicle. Six people died, and 29 people were seriously injured.

But Dravland also urged the task force to make changes cautiously.

The 14 members of the governor’s new OHV task force include Black Hills National Forest supervisor Craig Bobzien, state Agriculture Secretary Larry Gabriel and two legislators — Sen. Royal “Mac” McCracken, R-Rapid City, and Rep. Gordon Pederson, R-Wall, who both serve on transportation committees in the Legislature.

The task force does not include anyone representing hikers, environmentalists or other so-called “non-motorized users.”

Becci Rowe of Black Hawk objected to that in a letter Friday to Gov. Mike Rounds. Rowe is a member of the Norbeck Society, which advocates for hiking and other quiet pursuits and for protection of sensitive areas from off-roading.

Rowe and Norbeck founder Colin Paterson of Rapid City attended the task-force meeting Monday in Pierre but only as members of the public. Hofer told them Rounds would consider adding Paterson to the group. “There has always been a conflict between motorized use and nonmotorized use,” he acknowledged.

Rowe said after the meeting, “We need to consider quiet tourists.”

Contact Bill Harlan at 394-8424 or bill.harlan@rapidcityjournal.com