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Trails of Destruction
The Recreational Trails Program

$50 million

"Motorized users have created a tax-payer funded cash cow [Symm's Act] that flies under the radar of environmental analysis.. " John Adams, ecologist, as quoted in the Great Falls Tribune, May 21, 1998.

The Recreational Trails Program (RTP), otherwise known as the Symm's Act, subsidizes the construction of environmentally damaging off-road vehicle trails. These trails - used by all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), snowmobiles, 4x4s, dirt bikes, dune buggies, and sport utility vehicles - destroy wildlife habitat and cause soil erosion and water and air pollution. Through the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), the Federal Highway Administration will give states $150 million over the next three years for the construction and maintenance of trails, up to 70 percent of which can be used for off-road vehicle trails.

Green Scissors Proposal
1) Cut funding for the Recreational Trails Program by 50%, saving taxpayers $75 million over the next five years. 2) Eliminate the motorized trail component from RTP funding requirements, directing remaining funds to non-motorized trails.

Current Status
In 1998, Congress reauthorized the Recreational Trails Fund in the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), a transportation project authorization bill that was the successor to the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA). TEA-21 dramatically increased funding for the Recreational Trails Program from $37.5 million allocated in the original six-year funding period between 1992-1997 to $270 million over the six-year period from 1998-2003. Of the $270 million authorized, $170 million has already been dispersed to states.

Program Hurts Taxpayers

Taxpayers should not subsidize the construction and maintenance of motorized trails. Currently, the USFS estimates a trail maintenance backlog exceeding $267 million. The development of new motorized trails on federal lands will only exacerbate this backlog and is thus a misallocation of taxpayer dollars.

According to a national survey by Outdoor Recreation in America, only 5 percent of the surveyed population of trail users stated they participate in motorcycling or other motorized recreation. Yet these trail users are capable of receiving up to 70 percent of the federal funding available through the Recreational Trails Program.

Program Hurts the Environment

Federal agencies are currently unable to properly manage and monitor the environmental damage caused by motorized trails. According to a 1995 study by the General Accounting Office, ".. at all locations, off-highway vehicle use was being monitored casually rather than systematically, adverse effects were seldom being documented, and needed corrective actions remained to be prioritized."

Off-road vehicles can cause irreparable environmental damage. Motorized vehicles are capable of traveling into backcountry areas, contributing to habitat fragmentation, exotic weed dispersal, air and noise pollution, soil compaction, and erosion.

Contacts

• Erich Pica, Friends of the Earth, (202) 783-7400 x229.
• Bethanie Walder, Wildlands Center for Preventing Roads, (406) 543-9551.