JUNE 2007 ATV RIDER 75

STORY AND PHOTOS BY LEE KLANCHER

74 www.ATVRiderOnline.com

CLUBO’ THE MONTH

ONFA President Terry Thompson greets Jason Coston as heenters the West Lake Delancy Campground.

Terry Thompson got started riding ATVs late in life, but his off-road roots span more than

four decades. He rode dirt bikes during his college years in the mid-1960s. Two weeks after

buying a brand-new, 1965 Yamaha 125, he pile-drove it into the brush. The crash left his bike

totaled and his jawbone fractured. Once the doctors patched him together (and his bike was

hauled off to the junk pile), the first words out of his wired mouth were, “I want another Yamaha.”

He bought a Big Bear Scrambler that same week. ASSOCIATION OCALA

FLORIDA TRAIL RANGERS VOLUNTEERING TO HELP MANAGE AN URBAN FOREST

NATIONAL

FOREST

Place visited: Ocala National Forest (near Orlando, Florida)Club: Ocala National Forest Association, www.onfa.org;352/680-9717 Riding season: Year-roundMaps recommended: Ocala National Forest OHV TrailMap, www.fs.fed.us/r8/florida/recreation/oca-OHV/index_OHV_maps.shtmlArea information: State of Florida Tourism Information,www.visitflorida.comPermits/licenses required: ATVs must be registered, beequipped with a spark arrestor and have valid ORV permit.Parking or camping at campgrounds available for $6 perday. No fee charged for trail access as of March 1, 2007,but a fee will be charged for use beginning late in 2007. Critters: Deer, black bears, turkeys, bald eagles, egrets,great blue herons, flamingos, songbirds, alligators, rat-tlesnakes, water moccasins, touristsWhile you are there: Fishing, hunting, camping, mountainbiking, hiking, horseback riding, tons of theme parksRoad-trip CD: Ray Charles’ “The Best of Ray Charles: TheAtlantic Years”Best local beer: Beach Tale Brown Ale, Dunedin BreweryDigs: Lots of options in nearby Silver Springs; campingavailable for $6 per day in Ocala National ForestGood eats: Lots of chain restaurants in Silver Springs; 88BBQ is accessible on the trail systemUseful links: www.nohvcc.org, www.sharetrails.org,www.arra-access.com

76 www.ATVRiderOnline.com

CLUBO’ THE MONTH

When Thompson

started riding ATVs in

’99, he found riding

areas closing and

access to the trails in

ORV-crazy Florida

becoming more and

more difficult. He signed

on as a U.S. Forest

Service volunteer trail

ranger to do what he

could to help keep the

trails open for his sport.

His favorite place to

ride is the Ocala National Forest, and he’s not alone in

that choice. The forest offers 389,000 acres of a

diverse pine and palm ecosystem teeming with bears,

alligators, birds and 140 miles of sandy ORV trails.

Established in 1908, it’s the oldest

national forest east of the

Mississippi. It’s

also one of the

most heavily visited forests

in the nation and sees high ORV use

with more than 5000 bikes and ATVs

on the trails on busy weekends.

Florida’s an ATV-crazy state, and the

national forest regulations concerning

ORV use have been fairly unrestrictive.

In days gone by, ATVs could ride anywhere

in the forest and even use unpaved roads for

trail access.

That all started to change in ’98, when the

Forest Service realized that use of the trails

was becoming a problem. The sandy soil was

getting dug into deep

trenches, and conflicts

between residents and

visitors alike were mak-

ing the line between ATV

and non-ATV users a bit-

ter divide.

About 3100 resi-

dences exist within

Ocala National Forest

(not including vacation

homes). Those people

are polarized about ATV

use. While visiting the

area, I stopped by one Ocala National Forest resi-

dent’s house to ask for directions. When he discov-

ered the issue I was covering, he went on a 20-

minute rant about kids tearing past his house on

ATVs and spinning doughnut holes (2 to 6-foot-deep

holes dug from spinning doughnuts) in the forest

service roads.

“I don’t want to have no younger generation tear-

ing up my road,” he spat, just before walking off and

waving his hand dismissively in disgust.

Others bought places specifically because of the

ATV access and enjoyed the luxury of riding from

their front door into the forest. People like

Thompson, who just enjoyed riding ATVs in the for-

est, began to have run-ins with non-motorized

users. The conflicts between the groups were just

one of the forces that led to the changes in trail-

access rules.

As with much of the country, a movement began

that would change ORV access. Rather than have

ORVs free to go anywhere on public land, the wave

This is the Rodman Pit area located near the Rodman Dam. Thearea was closed in February, 2007.

The headquarters for the Ocala National ForestAssociation is this metal building located at theold seed farm in the center of the forest.

of the future is to create designated trails and

close the rest of the area.

Bret Bush, the current recreation program man-

ager, came in as this debate was getting underway

at Ocala. He had been the ORV manager at the

Upper Tellico OHV Area in the Nantahala National

Forest in North Carolina, which offers highly techni-

cal rocky terrain prized by ORV enthusiasts.

Bush quickly realized that the challenges facing

the Ocala National Forest were much different than

those at Upper Tellico, where stream contamination

was the major problem.

“[At Upper Tellico], if we saw muddy water, we

knew we had a problem,” Bush said.

In Ocala, muddy water is not the issue. The soft

sand in this Florida paradise would get torn into deep

grooves, and the open scrub forest allowed ATV users

to stray off the trail. A single, 4-foot-wide trail could

quickly become a criss-crossing network of trails 10 to

20 feet wide. This “spider-webbing” of trails drew

attention to concerns about environmental damage.

The other problem in Ocala was the sheer num-

ber of people who used the forest.

“We have 10 million people living within 75 miles

of our forest,” Bush says. “We’re an

urban forest.”

Bush was part of a study of ORV

use in the forest that began in ’98.

He came into it believing that ORV

use needed to continue in the for-

est, but figuring out how to do that

took more than five years, with input

from both government officials and

people who use the forest for all

types of recreation. The end result is

a two-phase program that makes ORV

travel acceptable only on desig-

nated trails.

The forest has been divided

into two sections, which are

referred to as the Phase 1 and

Phase 2 zones. In the Phase 1

zone, ATVs are allowed only on

the 140 miles of established

trail. Once the trails are com-

plete in the Phase 2 region,

another 100 miles of trail will

open, while the rest of the forest

will close to ORV use.

In the second phase, the

emphasis will be placed on using

ATV trails to link recreation areas

in the forest. The new trail will be

called an “Adventure Trail” and will

lead to several campgrounds and

lakes. A geocaching program is

also being considered.

A key to making these new trail

systems viable is volunteers. In

years past, having trails open to

use was fine. That was due in no

small part to the fact that the

amount of use was relatively low. With

ATV sales on the rise, an increasing num-

ber of enthusiasts are now out on the

trails.

Another factor is increased population

pressure, particularly in places like Florida,

where nearby urban centers such as

Orlando and Tampa saw explosive increases in the

number of residents.

At Ocala National Forest, a large group of people

use the forest, and conflicts are inevitable. The desig-

nated trail system is the solution the Forest Service

has found to minimize

conflicts and provide

trails for all sorts of

national forest users.

Once the concept of

designated trails was

accepted, there was the

issue of who would

mark, maintain and

patrol the trails.

Because the Forest

Service has limited

resources available, the

only way to keep these

trails open was to work

with a group of enthusi-

asts who volunteered

their time to care for their trails.

Bush understood the importance of volunteers in

keeping ORV trails open in Ocala National Forest. “I

convinced them that we had to have a volunteer

group to survive,” Bush says.

This was where Terry

Thompson came in.

After attending a

seminar put on by

NOHVCC in May 2006,

Thompson realized that

volunteers would be

needed to ensure that

his favorite riding area

remained accessible to

ORVs. So he worked with

Bush to form the Ocala

National Forest Associa-

tion. This organization

recruits and trains vol-

unteers to patrol the

forest. Thompson is the

The surface of the trails is sand, sand and more sand. They’vegotten whooped out and dug up in the past, but the nationalforest recently purchased several trail groomers in order tokeep the trails a bit smoother.

CLUBO’ THE MONTH

JUNE 2007 ATV RIDER 79

The Ocala National Forest is a mix of scrub pinewith sections of hardwood and palm trees.

CLUBO’ THE MONTH

QUALITY OF RIDING

Sandy, whoop-filled trails with very little elevation change.

8.0

LOCALE

North-central Florida is funky and backcountry awayfrom the stereotypical tourist areas.

8.5

CITIZENSHIP

ONFA has more than 40 members volunteering their timeto help keep the trails open.

9.0

PERSONALITY

Nobody in Florida is from Florida, and the club fieldsfolks from all over the country.

9.5

OVERALL RATING

Volunteer. These people are doing what needs to bedone for our sport to survive.

8.8

president of the new organization, and has recruited

nearly 40 volunteers.

“We intend to have volunteers at each trailhead,

as well as out patrolling the trails,” Thompson

explains. The volunteer trail rangers will answer ques-

tions, maintain noise regulations and remind people

of what they need to do to use the trail system

responsibly. They will also be working with Thompson

to administer training to

under-16-year-old riders

who are looking to meet

the state’s new require-

ment of having safety

training in order to ride.

When the rangers are

on the trail, Thompson

intends to have them

work in pairs. “We don’t

want to leave anyone

out there alone,” he

says, citing the fact that

while most of the work

will be friendly, the Ocala

National Forest can be a

dangerous place.

Jack Terrell, the project coordinator for NOHVCC and

an active figure in the Florida ATV scene, provided sup-

port and advice to Bush during the creation of the sys-

tem. One of the examples Terrell brought to Bush’s

attention was the San Bernandino Trail Association,

which served as a model for the Ocala National Forest

Association. Terrell was quick to point out that while he

and NOHVCC provided plen-

ty of resources, Thompson

was the one who created

the Ocala National Forest

Association, which is key to

the trail system’s success.

“Thompson’s volun-

teer group was instru-

mental in making this

system work. They have

been involved in the

marking and mainte-

nance of the trails. They

have been the eyes and

ears on the trail,” Terrell

says. “They’ve done a fan-

tastic job of mobilizing the volunteers and organiz-

ing the volunteers. Without them, [Bush’s] task

would have been very difficult, if not impossible.”

What’s happening in the Ocala National Forest is

hardly an isolated incident. The U.S. Forest Service

recently announced that they intend to have trails

designated in all of the country’s national forests.

Once that happens, only the desig-

nated trails will be open for ORV use.

The key to keeping trails open is to

get involved and advocate for your

favorite trails. The only way a trail is

going to be designated is if the for-

est service is told it exists. And

that requires OHV enthusiasts to

come forward with GPS tracks,

marked maps or other physical

records of the system.

NOHVCC is holding four-day

seminars around the country.

The first two days are designed

to inform Forest Service

employees about the new laws

and implementation. The sec-

ond two are open to enthusi-

asts, to give them the knowl-

edge they need to ensure

their trail systems remain

open. For more information

on these programs, check

out www.nohvcc.org.

“Unless enthusiasts get

involved through volunteer

organizations to work

with the Forest Service,

we are not going to see

the future for off-road

trails,” Terrell warns. “If

we don’t get involved,

there’s nobody else

who’s going to stick

up for us.”

ATVR

One of the issues facing the Ocala National Forest is helmetuse. It isn’t required in the forest, and in a midweek day of rid-ing, nearly every single utility ATV rider we saw on the trailswas riding without a bucket.

80 www.ATVRiderOnline.com

Jim Underhoffer on the trails. The trail system isdesigned for the recreational rider, not the speedster.“Intensity is not here,” Thompson says.