Daigle speaks to Maine Monitor about muddy conditions’ impact on ATV enthusiasts
The Maine Monitor interviewed John Daigle, a University of Maine professor of forest recreation management, about how muddy conditions will impact ATV recreationists in Maine. Daigle said Maine’s unique recreation structure, where public trails pass through private land, requires special attention from outdoor recreationists to take care of the trails and maintain access from landowners. Some landowners could be quick to pull away that permission if trails turn muddy and start leaking sediment into critical habitats, like mountain streams. It becomes more difficult to ensure that doesn’t happen, Daigle said, when factoring in climate change models that project more frequent heavy precipitation events. “But again, if there’s conditions that are happening that [private landowners] are seeing that look really bad, they don’t have to provide access. Outdoor recreationists need to be aware of it, in terms of taking care of the land where they’re recreating so they can maintain access,” Daigle said. The Bangor Daily News and Daily Bulldog shared the Maine Monitor report.