Environmental effects of off-highway vehicles on Bureau of Land Management lands: A literature synthesis, annotated bibliographies, extensive bibliographies, and internet resources

Abstract

ATV (All-Terrain Vehicle) Small, motorized 3-or 4-wheeled vehicles specifically designed for off-road use. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) further defines an ATV as a vehicle that travels on low-pressure tires, with a seat that is straddled by the operator, and with handlebars for steering control. By the current ANSI definition, it is intended for use by a single operator, although a change to include 2-seaters (in tandem) is under consideration. Herein, the definition of ATV coincides with the description above and does not include passenger vehicles, including sport-utility vehicles or 4-wheel-drive jeeps. fugitive dust Dust raised by mechanical (anthropogenic) disturbance of granular material exposed to and becoming suspended in the air, then carried by wind. Arises from "nonpoint" sources-such as unpaved roads, agricultural tilling operations, aggregate storage piles, and heavy construction-rather than "point" sources-such as confined flow streams discharged to the atmosphere from a stack, vent, or pipe. indicator threshold For a given land health indicator (or set of indicators), the value(s) at or above which management action may be triggered or required. land health The condition of natural resource attributes, including soils and site stability, hydrologic function, and biotic integrity. OHV Defined herein as any civilian off-highway vehicle, including motorcycles, motorized dirt bikes, ATVs (see definition above), snowmobiles, dune buggies, 4-wheel-drive jeeps, sport-utility vehicles, and any other civilian vehicles capable of off-highway, terrestrial travel (including utility vehicles [UTVs] and ATVs with more than 4 wheels). OHV route Defined herein as any unpaved route created for OHV travel, including single-track paths or trails, two-tracks, and unimproved or improved dirt/gravel roads. Herein, this term is also applied to "rogue" (undesignated or unauthorized) routes created by OHV users in closed or limited areas. population dynamics Herein, used broadly to include wildlife or vegetation population size, density, and/or distribution (both spatial and temporal); rates of birth/germination, death, and/or survivorship; population gender/age-class structure; population genetics; and/or the rates/directions of change in all these parameters. right-of-way habitat Habitat provided within the legal description of a given transportation corridor. sink population For a given metapopulation, a population sink is a local area or habitat where the local population's reproductive rate is lower than the required replacement rate (in other words, a sink population is eventually extirpated without immigration of individuals from other areas). Population sinks often occur where there is excessive predation pressure and/or poor habitat quality. source population For a given metapopulation, a population source is a local area or habitat where the local population's reproductive rate is greater than the required replacement rate. Excess individuals produced from a source population may emigrate to j...

Dynamic modelling of the potential habitat loss of endangered species: the case of the Canarian houbara bustard (Chlamydotis undulata fuerteventurae)

“…However, indirect effects, such as disturbances caused by roads and tracks, jointly led to a noticeable habitat loss of 87 ha per year on average. Furthermore, off-highway and off-road vehicles might be perceived as predators by wildlife, inducing physiological stress and/or behavioural adjustments (Ouren et al 2007;Sastre et al 2009). The effect of the new agricultural areas was less than that of the other factors during the calibration period, with almost 21 ha lost per year on average.…”

Spatial and environmental patterns of off-road vehicle recreation in a semi-arid woodland

“…Nevertheless, there is substantial need for continued research into the spatial distribution of recreation services and the environmental features that meet recreation goals. Although many protected areas monitor aggregate visitor numbers, less is known about the specific locations of recreational activities (Buckley, 2003(Buckley, , 2008Hadwen et al, 2007) or impacts (Cole, 2004;Ouren et al, 2007). Instead, spatial planning exercises typically rely on expert judgment to relate recreation values to environmental variables and map the distribution of recreation services (e.g., Chan et al, 2006;Lautenbach et al, 2011;Haines-Young et al, 2006;van Oudenhoven et al, 2012;Willemen et al, 2008).…”

“…One relatively recently developed recreation activity that continues to grow in popularity is offroad vehicle (ORV) use (Burgin and Hardiman, 2012;Cordell et al, 2005). Much of the existing research of ORV recreation is restricted both geographically and environmentally (Buckley, 2004;Stokowski and LaPointe, 2000) to desert (Ouren et al, 2007) and coastal (Priskin, 2003) settings. Considerable basic research remains to be done on the preferences, patterns, and impacts of ORV recreation (Monz et al, 2010;Pickering and Hill, 2007).…”

“…Such impacts may be direct, such as physical damage to soils or vegetation, and collisions with wildlife; or indirect, mediated by noise pollution, air and water contamination, and habitat fragmentation, among others (reviewed by Buckley, 2004;Ouren, 2007). The objectives of many protected areas worldwide include both provisioning of recreational experiences and conservation of natural areas.…”

Draft Timber Mountain Recreation Management Plan : environmental impact statement

“…Two-stroke vehicles do not burn fuels as completely as four-stroke engines, resulting in elevated emissions containing increased levels of nitrogen oxides (NO x ), sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ), carbon monoxide (CO), ozone (O 3 ), aldehydes, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) (Ouren, et al. 2007).…”