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[Adventure North]

Excellent post BB. 4 wheeling is a most definitely a compromise. We use gas, a pollutant when burned and non renewable resource, not to mention the damage of spinning tires and such. As lightly as we may like to tread we still leave a mark no matter how hard we try not to. The concept of tread lightly is however the embodying ideal of a "small impact," to educate ourselves and others to human impact with the hope, of course, to preserve the natural beauty of our environment for future generations to enjoy.

As much as I hate to say it, I would rather have a trail closed to preserve that nature area then to continue to allow irresponsible patrons to destroy it. The idea of tread lightly certainly applies to all areas where motor vehicles traverse or can traverse, why destroy when there is no need too. Sure trees will regrow, and grassland will recover when stressed, nature is most certainly resilient, but we are the stuarts of our lands, public or private, we should do what we can to ensure we don't destroy, when it's clearly unnecessary.

The Native American Proverb "Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children" summarizes the reason for tread lightly well.