here ya go...
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[DIV class=storyheadline]Victoria brings in hefty penalty for mud-boggers
[DIV class=storysubhead]Causing environmental damage with your ATV could cost as much as $100,000
[TABLE width="100%" border=0] [TBODY] [TR] [TD] [/TD][/TR] [TR] [TD][FONT class=storybyline]Gordon Hamilton[/FONT][/TD][/TR] [TR] [TD][FONT class=storypub]Vancouver Sun[/FONT][/TD][/TR][/TBODY][/TABLE] [DIV class=storydate]
Friday, March 16, 2007[/DIV]
[DIV class=storytext] Take your four-wheel drive for a spin around a bog or go careering through an alpine meadow on your all-terrain vehicle and the B.C. government wants to hit you hard in the wallet.
It's called mud-bogging, and Forests and Range Minister Rich Coleman said Thursday he's seen enough environmental damage because of it to put drivers on notice.
Coleman introduced amendments to the Forest and Range Practices Act Thursday that will impose fines of up to $100,000 on anyone who is apprehended ripping up the wilderness with their vehicle.
"They really do chew it up. It's just unbelievable," Coleman said in an interview.
He's seen the effects on wetlands in the Kootenays and that convinced him the legislation needs to be updated to make it easier to impose penalties.
According to the Forests Ministry, people causing damage that "adversely affects an ecosystem, such as driving four-wheel-drive vehicles in wetlands, or riding ATVs irresponsibly in alpine terrain or range lands," will face the new penalties.
"It does some significant damage. These things destroy some pretty sensitive areas. A lot of time it's nesting areas for birds and the younger birds can't get out of their nests in time," Coleman said.
"There's damage to the ecosystem as well."
He said mud-bogging has been particularly damaging in the East Kootenays, where forest ministry staff have seen people doing it but did not have the legislative clout to stop them.
"They've observed as many 100 to 300 vehicles mud-bogging in a site."
He said the province has thousands of kilometres of forestry roads where four-wheel drive enthusiasts can drive without causing damage.
Although the regulatory change allows for fines up to $100,000 the actual amount of the penalty could be less depending on the circumstances and the record of the drivers who are apprehended.
Forest service staff and the RCMP will be able to apprehend mud-boggers under the new regulations and the fines will be imposed under the same legislation that governs infractions of logging practices.
If the legislation makes a difference to driving and riding habits, then it's welcome, said Moira Jaatteenmaki, vice-president of communications for ATV/BC, which represents 31 all-terrain vehicle clubs and 1,600 members throughout the province.
"The one thing we want is people riding responsibly. I'd like to know what the definitions of irresponsible and wetlands are though, so we know what they are talking about."
"We've always made it a rule -- unless there's an established trail, we don't ride there," she said. "We fully understand that if you ride in alpine terrain with an ATV it's takes years to heal the damage.
"But it's like any sport, there's always an irresponsible element or people who are just careless or frankly not thinking about the consequences of what they are doing."
She said she has seen damage to mountain ecosystems caused by careless riders and wetlands turned into mudpits in her own region of the province around Revelstoke.
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