Keith Hall has introduced half of a good bill

As reported in last week’s News-Express, State Representative W. Keith Hall has filed a bill that, if passed, could allow ATV vehicles on Fishtrap property within a year.

On the surface, this sounds like a good idea.

People love riding ATVs, right? And everyone wants to see more ATV trails in Eastern Kentucky, right?

Those things are true, but we at the News-Express still don’t support this bill as written. We want ATV trails as much as anyone else, but the wildlife management area at Fishtrap is simply not the right spot.

Now we do support part of Hall’s proposal — House Bill 613 — the part that would require the Kentucky Department of Parks to establish a system to allow ATVs and other motorized vehicles on public lands.

That’s a great idea, and something that needs to be done for ATV trails to become a reality in this region.

What we don’t support is the second part of the bill, ordering that within one year of the bill becoming law, a pilot project would have to be established at Fishtrap Lake.

The problem is that the region Hall is targeting is a wildlife management area. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which administers Fishtrap, is opposed to ATV trails through the region.

Allowing ATV riders in a wildlife management are would lead to vandalism, erosion and other problems, Corps officials have told the News-Express. The U.S. Forest Service called motorized vehicle abuse one of greatest threats to country’s public forests. Unmanaged recreation causes erosion, user conflicts, spread of invasive species, damage to cultural sites, disturbance to wildlife, destruction to wildlife habitats and risks to public safety, the department’s Web site says.

That’s why 18 local ATV club members were cited for riding there illegally last year.

Hall, who is a club member, obviously wants other members to be able to ride at Fishtrap. However, that doesn’t make it a suitable place for ATV trails — and it’s certainly not the right spot for a pilot program of this type. If the state and the Corps end up battling it out over the property — as seems likely if this bill is passed — it could inhibit or delay other ATV trails on public land in Eastern Kentucky.

If Hall wants to support the creation of an ATV trail in Eastern Kentucky, as he claims, he should drop the mention of Fishtrap and focus on creating a system for ATVs on public lands. That’s the first step toward creating something like the Hatfield-McCoy trails in Eastern Kentucky.