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I received this from the ATVBC Communications Director.
The Daily Bulletin
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Stiff fines given to mud boggers
By GERRY WARNER
Townsman Staff
Stiff fines recently leveled against a group of Alberta mud‑boggers caught tearing up the countryside side in South Country near the Koocanusa Reservoir is good news, says local hunter and outdoorsman F.J. Hurtak.
Hurtak, who writes a regular hunting column in the Daily Townsman, says the $345 fines all the offenders received will hopefully deter others considering the same kind of destructive behaviour.
"It's a start," he says. "I think responsible people who own four‑wheel drive and ATV's are sick and tired of taking the rap for a select few who cause all the damage and destruction.
"It's about time they started to get tough on this small percentage of off‑roaders who give all ATV'ers a bad name and ultimately it's all of us that end up paying for it."
Hurtak was commenting on an incident Sept. 11 when reports were received of a raucous party taking place on the west side of the Koocanusa Reservoir across from Sand Creek. *The party was in full swing when a Conservation Officer (CO) arrived and damage was everywhere, says Senior Conservation Officer Paul Visentin.
"It was a boggy, wet piece of ground that stayed wet because it was near to the lake shore. They had gone in and just literally obliterated an area of maybe half an acre. When we encountered it, there was one quad completely devoured by the mud, Just the handle bars sticking out and two other quads that were in various stages of being stuck. They couldn't budge.
"There was quite a large group of people trying to pull the machines out, but they wouldn't budge. When we got them, it was about 11:30 at night. After we dealt with them, we came back the next day and took quite a few photos and issued them with violation tickets. It was just a large group of people who were there to party. Some were from British Columbia and some Alberta. It just got going and yahoo!
The five people charged were all from Alberta and they were charged under two pieces of provincial legislation. One, the little known Motor Vehicle All Terrain Act and the other, the Water Act. In both cases, the fines related to operating off‑road vehicles in such a way as to cause damage to a local lake or stream, in this case a small creek that flowed from the swamp to the lake.
Each of the offenders was fined $115 under the Motor Vehicle All Terrain Act and $230 each under the Water Act. Under the legislation, the five violators were given 30 days to pay the fines, but none of them have paid yet which means they have been deemed guilty, Visentin says.
No charges were laid under Bill 18, the Forests and Range Statutes Amendment Act which was introduced in the legislature March 16 and carries fines of up to $100,000 for mud boggers. It was because of the circumstances, says Visentin.
"The legislation is so new; I didn't feel comfortable using the legislation. I don't know how it would have played out using that one." Issuing tickets under the other legislation made the chances of conviction much more likely, he says.
Asked if he thinks there will be any deterrence because of the fines, Visentin replied in a philosophical vein. "Who knows what deters people from doing things? Sometimes just the presence of someone in the area with a uniform will deter things. Sometimes it has to be more. We can only really do what we do with what we have available for us to use.
"And right now we don't have any real effective tools to deal with mud bogging. It just isn't there."
Meanwhile, Hurtak says one potentially effective tool in the hands of CO's dealing with mudboggers would be the registration and licensing of all off-road vehicles.
"Licensing of off‑road vehicles is a must," he says. "There's so little enforcement out there (in the backcountry) and the CO's only have the resources to do so much."
Licensing of off‑road vehicles would give CO's the power to be much more effective than they are now and make it easier for them to identify and charge ATV'ers damaging the environment, Hurtak says.
It would also make it easier for responsible ATV users to identify and report destructive ATV behaviour without risking a possible ugly confrontation by trying to approach irresponsible ATV'ers directly, he says.
"I'm hoping the government is going to bring in something like this within a year and it will mean a lot of eye's and ears out there to report on people causing environmental damage," Hurtak says.
However, he says he hopes the government will make ATV' licensing and registration a "one time thing" like motor vessel licenses and not an annual fee. "That would just be a cash cow," Hurtak says.
But out of province off*-road users should have to pay an annual licensing fee to use the B.C. backcoun*try, he says. In return for their license sticker, they would be given a brochure and a map telling them exactly where they can go and where they 'can't go. Hurtak says.
"And the brochure would clearly tell them what the rules are and lay out the serious penalties for not obeying the rules in Beautiful B.C."
The first warning shot has been fired. The provincial government is getting a little sensitive to the scarring of the land by ATVs and 4X4 Mud Bogger enthusiasts.
The Daily Bulletin
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Stiff fines given to mud boggers
By GERRY WARNER
Townsman Staff
Stiff fines recently leveled against a group of Alberta mud‑boggers caught tearing up the countryside side in South Country near the Koocanusa Reservoir is good news, says local hunter and outdoorsman F.J. Hurtak.
Hurtak, who writes a regular hunting column in the Daily Townsman, says the $345 fines all the offenders received will hopefully deter others considering the same kind of destructive behaviour.
"It's a start," he says. "I think responsible people who own four‑wheel drive and ATV's are sick and tired of taking the rap for a select few who cause all the damage and destruction.
"It's about time they started to get tough on this small percentage of off‑roaders who give all ATV'ers a bad name and ultimately it's all of us that end up paying for it."
Hurtak was commenting on an incident Sept. 11 when reports were received of a raucous party taking place on the west side of the Koocanusa Reservoir across from Sand Creek. *The party was in full swing when a Conservation Officer (CO) arrived and damage was everywhere, says Senior Conservation Officer Paul Visentin.
"It was a boggy, wet piece of ground that stayed wet because it was near to the lake shore. They had gone in and just literally obliterated an area of maybe half an acre. When we encountered it, there was one quad completely devoured by the mud, Just the handle bars sticking out and two other quads that were in various stages of being stuck. They couldn't budge.
"There was quite a large group of people trying to pull the machines out, but they wouldn't budge. When we got them, it was about 11:30 at night. After we dealt with them, we came back the next day and took quite a few photos and issued them with violation tickets. It was just a large group of people who were there to party. Some were from British Columbia and some Alberta. It just got going and yahoo!
The five people charged were all from Alberta and they were charged under two pieces of provincial legislation. One, the little known Motor Vehicle All Terrain Act and the other, the Water Act. In both cases, the fines related to operating off‑road vehicles in such a way as to cause damage to a local lake or stream, in this case a small creek that flowed from the swamp to the lake.
Each of the offenders was fined $115 under the Motor Vehicle All Terrain Act and $230 each under the Water Act. Under the legislation, the five violators were given 30 days to pay the fines, but none of them have paid yet which means they have been deemed guilty, Visentin says.
No charges were laid under Bill 18, the Forests and Range Statutes Amendment Act which was introduced in the legislature March 16 and carries fines of up to $100,000 for mud boggers. It was because of the circumstances, says Visentin.
"The legislation is so new; I didn't feel comfortable using the legislation. I don't know how it would have played out using that one." Issuing tickets under the other legislation made the chances of conviction much more likely, he says.
Asked if he thinks there will be any deterrence because of the fines, Visentin replied in a philosophical vein. "Who knows what deters people from doing things? Sometimes just the presence of someone in the area with a uniform will deter things. Sometimes it has to be more. We can only really do what we do with what we have available for us to use.
"And right now we don't have any real effective tools to deal with mud bogging. It just isn't there."
Meanwhile, Hurtak says one potentially effective tool in the hands of CO's dealing with mudboggers would be the registration and licensing of all off-road vehicles.
"Licensing of off‑road vehicles is a must," he says. "There's so little enforcement out there (in the backcountry) and the CO's only have the resources to do so much."
Licensing of off‑road vehicles would give CO's the power to be much more effective than they are now and make it easier for them to identify and charge ATV'ers damaging the environment, Hurtak says.
It would also make it easier for responsible ATV users to identify and report destructive ATV behaviour without risking a possible ugly confrontation by trying to approach irresponsible ATV'ers directly, he says.
"I'm hoping the government is going to bring in something like this within a year and it will mean a lot of eye's and ears out there to report on people causing environmental damage," Hurtak says.
However, he says he hopes the government will make ATV' licensing and registration a "one time thing" like motor vessel licenses and not an annual fee. "That would just be a cash cow," Hurtak says.
But out of province off*-road users should have to pay an annual licensing fee to use the B.C. backcoun*try, he says. In return for their license sticker, they would be given a brochure and a map telling them exactly where they can go and where they 'can't go. Hurtak says.
"And the brochure would clearly tell them what the rules are and lay out the serious penalties for not obeying the rules in Beautiful B.C."
The first warning shot has been fired. The provincial government is getting a little sensitive to the scarring of the land by ATVs and 4X4 Mud Bogger enthusiasts.
