History of the Grand Canyon

agesilaus wrote:
And two I believe that it is located close, by western standards, to ORV areas. And ORV users are notorious for damage done to whatever area they are in. Not every ORV user of course but enough to blacken their reputation justifiably. And the damage we are talking about points right at that group. Cutting down trees so they can drive in forbidden areas for example.

I disagree.

First, there really isn't any such thing as being "close" to an OHV area. The boundaries are pretty black and white for off-road vehicles versus street legal. Off-road vehicles don't make incursions into street-legal areas, because it's so obvious and law enforcement will get you. Even though the Federal park rangers weren't there, local sheriffs and CHP still enforce vehicle codes on local highways and people driving off-road vehicles would be easily spotted and ticketed.

Secondly, the California OHV community is pretty remarkable in their active efforts to self-police. We know that the lands are fragile and the political climate is tenuous. We have been fortunate over the years to preserve the few territories that have been set aside for us, but we we know this could change at any time. Most of us are very actively aware of this and bad things will happen to the bad actors who jeopardize the land access that the rest of us have struggled for so long to preserve. As a group, OHV enthusiasts do not tolerate any amount of vandalism.