The county's decision to address the environmental and economic threat is coming none too soon. Other rural counties that attract OHV riders should pay attention to Emery's recent expression of alarm about overuse, because admitting there is a problem is the first step toward solving it.

Emery County's public lands council is worried that among the thousands of OHV users who motor through the county's desert canyons and forests are far too many who leave designated trails, causing erosion, mashing fences and upsetting the area's delicate ecological balance.

Their concern also rightly extends to the effects of rampant energy development, with its drilling equipment, roads and noise.

Ironically, Emery County joined the state in suing the federal Bureau of Land Management over its closure of some roads in the San Rafael Swell to protect sensitive lands. That lawsuit demonstrated a shortsighted lack of concern. All the more reason to commend the county's sober reassessment of the havoc created by OHV users who thumb their noses at backcountry rules.

Now the council wants more state and federal money for education and better enforcement of rules to restrict vehicle use to specific trails and roads on public lands, including the San Rafael Swell.

The council's accurate assessment is that fines much larger than the current $50 penalties are needed to deter renegade OHV users.

But Emery officials also recognize that the visitors who spend money on food, lodging and fuel for their OHVs and energy developers who bring jobs are essential to the county's economy. It's a delicate, but necessary, balancing act to encourage them to come while also insisting they follow the rules aimed at reducing their negative impact.

OHV advocacy groups could do more in their own best interest to rein in the minority who are causing most of the damage. Because, if they aren't stopped, other county governments will be jumping on Emery's bandwagon to preserve the splendors that are their economic life's blood.