RECREATION

ALL-TERRAIN VEHICLES

All terrain vehicles, if driven recklessly and indiscriminately, can damage the environment. All-terrain vehicles can traverse any number of habitats including fresh and saltwater marshes, pine flatwoods, scrub, and cypress swamp.

Over a period of time they kill vegetation, leaving the area bare and subject to erosion. The set of tracks also becomes an unwanted road. Tearing up land can alter the normal sheet flow and damage patterns. All-terrain vehicles can be very disruptive to wildlife and particularly destructive to those creatures which are buried in the mud at the sediment-water interface or the top layers of the soil.

All-terrain vehicle operators can help protect water quality and native plant and animal communities as follows:

  • Avoid environmentally sensitive areas including marshes, cypress swamps, scrub, and erosion-prone areas.
  • Operate all-terrain vehicles at moto-cross parks, cross-country courses, and other areas specifically designated and reserved for the use of all-terrain vehicles.
Previous Back to Contents Next Page

YOTO Home The International Year of the Ocean Home Page is a publication of the NOAA Home Page Design and Construction Company