By JOE GORDEN
The Tribune-Democrat
August 09, 2008 11:39 pm
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Illegal and irresponsible use of all-terrain vehicles is one of the biggest complaints registered by landowners – whether they be private individuals, commercial interests or state agencies.
Such grievances frequently are taken to Pennsylvania Game Commission officers, who have their own problems with illicit riders on state game lands.
The damage caused by criminal and reckless ATV riders is also exasperating to those who recognize environmental and habitat issues, even if they don’t own the land.
“It’s one of the most perplexing things we have to deal with because it’s so difficult to police,” said Mel Schake at the game commission’s Southwest Region headquarters. “They’re hard to catch, and most of our guys won’t chase them for fear of causing some young individual to wreck. Between the problem of trying to police that behavior and the damage that they can cause just by repeated use in some of the places they go – like through streams and up hills – there’s a lot of environmental damage done by them. A lot of guys really get a bad taste in their mouth when they see an ATV, and that’s unfortunate because it is a perfectly good piece of equipment used in the right place. But, most of our interactions with them are not very favorable.”
The ATV situation on public lands in Westmoreland County owned by the Army Corps of Engineers has apparently become intolerable to someone whose efforts to rein in the illegal operators on land surrounding Loyalhanna Reservoir have crossed the line.
“Residents of the area have been discovering boards with nails buried into the ground to flatten tires,” wildlife conservation officer Seth Mesoras wrote in an agency report. “They also discovered fishing line with treble hooks attached hanging from tree limbs.”
That has put Mesoras in an unusual situation of trying to apprehend both illegal ATV riders on the one hand, and someone who is also trying to stop the illegal activity on the other.
Schake conceded that many landowners and sportsmen find themselves frustrated and powerless to deal with wrongful ATV use. But, he also said that nothing justifies the kind of tactics Mesoras is seeing.
“I’m sure that’s not a course of action that would withstand any kind of court or legal challenge,” Schake said. “It’s just not a safe thing.
“There’s no excuse of what’s happening out there,” he said. “This is clearly beyond the pale as far as making an effort to control somebody riding on Corps property. Somebody is stepping far outside the bonds of common sense.”
Mesoras has appealed for public help in dealing with what he described as “these dangerous vigilante tactics,” asking that anyone with information relay it to the regional office at 724-238-9523.
Joe Gorden is the outdoors writer for The Tribune-Democrat.
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