I was very much in the anti-ATV camp until I read Karsten Heuer's Walking the Big Wild. He ran across a group of ATVers and was surprised to discover that they cared deeply about their environment just like him (a hiker). The guys who stay on previously made trails and are just out to enjoy the environment like the rest of us are fine by me. It's the idiots who create their own trails and destroy more than necessary that are the big problem.
Absolutely the creation of trails for 4x4ing or hiking is damaging to the environment. Continued use of those same trails is too, although less so. And 4x4ing of any kind is more harmful than most hiking. It's all about where you draw the line, though. Me, I like to hike where there aren't people or trails, doing minimal impact, which is quickly and easily repaired by nature itself (since there aren't dozens of people following the same track). But that doesn't work with large amounts of people. So doing the damage inherent in creating the trails actually lessens the long-term impact on the area. I figure, as long as you're staying on the trails and cleaning up after yourselves, you're ok by me, hiker or ATVer. It's the idiots leaving garbage, widening trails by walking on the sides, cutting across switchbacks for a shortcut, etc. who bug me and who are the real problem, IMO.
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