ATV BAN WILL TAKE EFFECT NEXT WEEK

Bundy said officials will begin enforcing federal regulations prohibiting the use of off-road vehicles and all-terrain vehicles on roads in the preserve. ATV owners contend the areas are trails that have been used for ATVs long before the national preserve was established, and ATV use should continue to be allowed.

Bundy, who has been superintendent of the preserve for almost eight years, said a review of federal regulations done while the park was preparing a management plan brought to officials\\` attention that ATV use is not permitted on roads in the preserve. He said federal regulations do not allow vehicles barred from a state\\`s public roads to be used on roads in a park service unit.

He said the change hasn\\`t been anyone\\`s personal agenda or anything like, it was a review of the regulations that caused us to come upon this information. He said he doesn\\`t have the authority to delay the ban, and there is no legal justification to do so.

Bundy said a proposal by ATV supporters that a fee be charged for an annual permit to raise money ... still wouldn\\`t make ATVs legal on the roads, plus the park service this year said no fees would be added or increased at its units.

Bundy said he has the authority to take all or some of the roads and convert them to trails but doesn\\`t have the authority to allow ATVs on them. He said the preserve has to go through the public process of determining what types of use will be allowed for the trails, rule making and determining regulations for which trails will be for ATVs and which areas will be for other uses.

The preserve could have some legal challenges if regulations aren\\`t enforced, Bundy said, and the park could face some liability if there was an accident.

He said there are places where ATVs and four-wheel-drive trucks have caused significant damage to the preserve, but reiterated that is not the reason for the ban.