Man’s love of recreation is surpassed by his love of conquering the planet. This is visible in our machines granting us almost unrestrained travel anywhere, anytime.

Off Road Vehicles (ORVs) are the ultimate in opposable thumb technology (the throttle is usually engaged with the thumb). We’ve been provided with an array of four wheelers, motorcycles, swamp buggies, jet skis and snowmobiles that rip through the landscape turning scenery to a watercolor blur.

I think somewhere between the muddy eyes and holding on for dear life, we forget about the effect we have on the environment. I look back on the patches of desert I’ve torn up and hang my head in shame.

According to the Sierra Club, “ORVs emit large amounts of pollution, including carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and carcinogens such as benzene. The small, inefficient two-stroke engines of some of these machines spew out as much as 30 percent of their fuel unburned…For example, one jet-ski driven for one eight-hour period emits the same amount of pollution as a car driven for 100,000 miles.”

Jet-skis spill out their gasoline, oil and exhaust directly into the water, which in turn nourishes the fish, fishermen and water-drinking enthusiasts.

But it’s not just the pollution; these vehicles are good at marking their territory. The rivets ORVs leave in hard packed soil make it near impossible for water to saturate.Instead, rain water runs into lower regions leaving upper regions starved and arid. The consequence is extinct vegetation and displaced animals.

Environmentalists and ORV users are bitter rivals. The off-road enthusiasts argue they’ve paid for the vehicle, and are using public land, so they can do as they please. I hope the ignorance is obvious. I think it’s time we ask ourselves how much more the planet can “take one for the team.”

In the past ORVs weren’t seen in such great numbers; however, when you have 11.5 million humans riding trails in public parks per year, the wear and tear escalates. Perhaps if ORV retailers played a small video on the consequences of their product, sales might not be so high. Part of the problem is riders have a bit of fun and never see the damage they’ve done.

In 1979, the White House Council on Environmental Quality concluded “off-road vehicles have damaged every kind of ecosystem found in the United States. In some cases the wounds will heal naturally; in others they will not, at least not for millennia.” Yet, here we are 29 years later and the problem has only escalated.

So would an all-out ban on these ORVs be too much to ask? How about special permits or an impact tax that would go into planting trees or restoring lands ORVs have destroyed? I think educating the public would help, but awareness has never really been this country’s forte.

Either way, I want to know how recreation has surpassed preservation.