Customer Reviews

Thrillcraft: The Environmental Consequences of Motorized Recreation

5 star:		(7)
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2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

If I had stock in the ATV industry, made a nice living selling ATVs, or if my fun depended on free public land, outnumbered and outgunned law enforcement, and cheap gas made possible by the sacrifices of the U.S. military, I'd attack this book too. However, pictures don't lie. As a hiker, mountain bicyclist, and camper, I've seen the damage created by unregulated, unrepentant ATV users, and as a professional environmental planner, I can assure you it will last for generations. It's our land, not their land, and one or two user groups do not have the right to scar our natural birthright for a weekend of petroleum-powered partying. Don't take anyone's word for it--read this book. Educate yourself. Go see the damage. And then decide if enough is enough.

Thrillcraft finally says it all - the pictures and the articles - about the unfortunate but true destruction of off-road vehicles and motorized recreation. I am an off-roader myself, and am furious at how a lot of my associates have destroyed our sport by tearing up the land wherever they go. Everyone suffers from this irresponsible use - especially the off-roaders. If only there was respect and the knowledge that if we destroy it, we also won't have a place to ride. If we're going out in nature - let's keep it so we have something to go out to. This book is a real wake-up call to everyone!

The solution to this issue is the website in the title: http://www.treadlightly.org/. most offroad motoring enthusiasts are aware of this organization.

There is a small minority of people in any recreational activity to who behave badly: this includes hikers and other outdoor enthusiasts as well as offroad enthusiasts.

This book is ridiculously one sided and just helps polarize. How did the author go to the locations where the photos were taken? In a motorized vehicle.

I'd argue some of the most ignorant people driving irresponsibly off road are people taking their shopping SUV off road for the first time: they get tired and hungry and decide they'd better head home for supper and drive much to fast. you'll find plenty of cases where 4x4 enthusiasts will wind up losing a lot of their recreational time towing suburban motorists back to the road after they crack their sump or get stuck exploring offroad - these good samaritans are often taken for granted.

Many offroad enthusiasts do trail clean up and maintenance work because their vehicles are robust enough to navigate the trails other users enjoy.

This is a really unhelpful book that is one sided enough to actually help the more irresponsible offroad people.

The Minnesota Four Wheel Drive Association's (MN4WDA) produced this educational video on responsible off roading using ORV/OHV - off roading, when done properly, isn't harmful to the environment.
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We need more positive helpful commentary like this, not an emotional, fundamentally negative book which doesn't offer any solutions beyond telling people no.

Banning things doesn't work - our tax dollars should be used to provide challenging land for the more extreme enthusiasts, not limiting access.

An analogy is skateboarding - build great municipal skate parks and you won't see the civic street furniture chewed up by skaters with nowhere to skate.

So overall a terribly negative one sided book with no viable solutions and an alarmist, subjective tone which does nothing but sow negativity.

"Thrillcraft" will be a useful reference for everyone grappling with degradation of publicly owned lands by uncontrolled off-road vehicles. Anyone can see the damage - from the redrock canyons of southern Utah to the wild beaches of Cape Hatteras National Seashore. ORV groups will also learn from this book, as responsible ORV folks are organizing volunteer efforts to restore damaged areas.

Beautifully written essays and devastating photos, depicting the damage done by off-road vehicles on irreplacable forest lands and deserts. The essays by environmentalists cut to the point -- we have to use our lands responsibly or we lose them. As an avid hiker, I've seen the damage to public lands. I've talked to ranchers whose fences have been cut, and their private land disrepected. Thrillcraft also has inspiring photos of as yet unspoiled forests and canyonlands. Too bad all of our public lands don't look like those photos. If more people read this timely and well-edited book, perhaps we'll turn the tide on destruction of our natural resources.

Previous reviews have detailed the responsible actions of 90+% of "Thrillcraft" users. This book concentrates on the >=10% who abuse the land.

Selective cropping and composition can and does create misleading photographic "evidence". Spice this "evidence" up with some creative writing and suddenly the entire planet is in danger of destruction from your son's mini-bike!?

Commercial land use in the United States causes 1000++% more damage to the land - and most of the commercially-damaged land is left in that condition. Write a book about THAT and I might be interested.

Suggestion: Don't waste your time or money on this "book".

The biggest problem with this book is the use of the term "thrillcraft". This makes the author look like he's against fun, not against irresponsible recreation. That's no way to win friends and influence people, it makes him look like just another nutcase extremist who hates the thought that someone else is having fun and believes that anything fun must be stopped, whether it is use of drugs, use of alcohol, sex for any purpose other than procreation -- or anything else that's fun.

Needless to say, you don't win arguments by advocating against fun. People look at you as if you're one of those dour souls preaching doom for the sinners on a streetcorner in Manhattan....

This book shows the facts about off-road motorized recreation and the effects and culture of motorized recreation in general. The book is definitely "slanted" in that its creators believe that destroying the land, taking away the rights of hikers and other non-polluting people, creating lots of noise pollution and air pollution, and embracing a culture of petroleum machines is not a smart thing to do. Otherwise the pictures speak for themselves. Fact is, there is no "responsible use" of these thrillcraft. There's only less destructive or more destructive use. I live where jet skis and boats are prevalent, and they have ruined our beaches and lakes, killing innocent people, killing dolphins and manatees, and making so much noise and pollution that you can't safely bring your family there. Not only that, but these people are generally into boozing, drugs and profanity. The culture that loves machine pleasures more than peace and quiet is part of the death of our planet.

Last weekend my family I saw some of the destruction talked about in this book on the trail from Wright's Lake up to Barrett Lake on the west side of Desolation Wilderness (Sierra Nevada mountains near Lake Taho) just outside the boundaries of the wilderness. We were on that trail because it is the only way to access areas inside Desolation Wilderness like Lawrence Lake and Top Lake. As we hiked, we were repeatedly forced off the trail by loud, massive off-road vehicles, and we had to walk (and try to breathe) through the thick, fine powder created by their wheels. The drivers waved in a friendly manner, and I'm sure they had no idea what it is like to hike in their dust. This was in the El Dorado National Forest, an area of land intended to be managed for "multiple use." Unfortunately, when a single heavy vehicle can inflict as much damage as a year's worth of hikers walking along the same trail, it's not really "multiple use." Rather, the vehicles have effectively taken over. It's driven away the backpackers: we only saw one other group (a couple of college girls), and they basically seemed to be in a state of shock.

Thrillcraft is easily the most authorative book yet compiled on the ruinous impact of off-road vehicles on the land. The text by experts in the field and the dramatic photographic documentation is public service of the highest order. This book should be distributed to government agencies at all levels and read by every citizen.