Lehigh Valley ATV Association Inc.

It's begining to sound like there may be problems at the ride park. If they are complaing about riding across the coal land now, what are they going to say when it is open to the public? I bet that the locals are still riding the back trails.

The locals seem to think they have some sort of right to use this land for free. They do not see the economic benefit to an ATV park. 25% of Shamokin residents live below poverty level.

No doubt issues are going to come up with them proposing the park. The locals think they can just ride it for free and they have all their life. What they probably don't realize is since the "local" riding has been going on, its now in the limelight with the proposed park and if it falls through, they may find they can't ride it anymore.

Just have to see how it pans out.

Mike

It kills me to hear people who ride and use this area for free to complain about an illegal riding area being turned into a legal ride area!! All across the country millions of legal riding acres are being shutdown permanently for OHV use. What if the land was going to be developed either commercial, a golf course, etc? Any land legally designated for OHV use should be highly appreciated regardless of a user fee.

I know what you mean, A lot of local riding in my area has been shut down, due to development (not like it brought any good jobs to the area) so now nobody can ride it.

The mentality is the same here as well, with a project I have been involved with trying to develop a legal riding area up my way and at first the locals were the same way "oh I am not paying for that" But after a year, A few signed up. Now hopefully it won't get ruined before it has a chance to develop into something.

Mike

This is strictly my personal opinion, and has no relationship to the club in general, but I believe there is too much money and support behind this project for it to fail at this point. If it was going to sink, it would have been earlier, before the county and DCNR invested in it substantially. It's all being done the right way, and the apparent public opposition is vocal but may not be as widespread as it seems. Resistance to change is expected, and there are ways to deal with it, especially with the firms involved in steering the project. Don't give up on it yet! Best regards, Dave