Daytime and nighttime ATV noise in Moab is frequent, loud and annoying enough to drive families that have lived here for decades to leave. The ATV noise season is most of the year. The only solution is to provide Grand County with an exception to the state’s designation of these vehicles as “street legal.”
State legislators said they declared ATVs “street legal” (in towns smaller than those in which most legislators reside) to enable farmers to get from home to the lower 40.
Moab doesn’t have farmers anymore. It’s time for the state to make an exception for towns whose economies are based on tourism. ATV noise and pollution are driving non-ATV tourism out of Moab.
Locals who work with tourists have been hearing from non-ATV tourists, including many who have visited regularly for years, that they will not return to Moab because of ATV noise and pollution.
Our economy is based on a solid foundation of multiple modes of experiencing this world-class landscape, including rafting, hiking, biking, paddle boarding, jeeping, dirt biking, canyoneering, skydiving and base jumping.
Driving off non-ATV tourists makes our economy less diversified and therefore less resilient. ATV tourism has damaged Moab’s reputation as a family vacation destination for non-motorheads. Do state legislators esteem Moab’s five ATV businesses above all other tourist services?
Here’s a solution which enables ATV businesses to thrive and does not prevent ATV owners from accessing local trails.
1. Alter the “street legal” legislation such that Grand County can ban ATVs from our streets.
2. Appropriate funding for construction of large parking lots on BLM land at ATV trailheads.
3. Authorize Grand County to require ATVs, private or rental, to be trailered between town and trailheads.
Bret Blosser, Moab