Garrett VeneKlasen will present this free slide show on two consecutive evenings:
Carbondale, Wednesday, March 3
Dos Gringos Burritos, in the La Fontana Plaza on Highway 133. The presentation starts at 7 p.m., and food and drink can be purchased beforehand. Hosted by the Wilderness Workshop.
Aspen, Thursday, March 4
Aspen Center for Environmental Studies (ACES), at 7:30 p.m. Free tea and cookies will be available beforehand. Hosted by WW and ACES.
Since publishing an influential column in the High Country News last fall, Garrett VeneKlasen has emerged as an unlikely crusader for stricter controls on motorized travel in the backcountry.
As a hunter and 16-year ATV rider, he says he's done just about all the things that have given four-wheelers and dirt bikes such a bad rap.
"I'm as guilty as the next guy when it comes to abusing the resource. I own two ATVs and was used to going where I wanted, forging into new country and opening new roads. It was easy to strap a chainsaw on my bike, and if I saw an area I wanted to get into, just cut my way in with my ATV..."
By and by though, Garrett began to notice the negative effects of his cross-country exploits. Both game and non-game species began to disappear in areas where he and other off-road users frequently traveled. The more closely he looked at the impacts of off-road use in his area, the more sobering the reality became.
Today, Garrett is an outspoken advocate of strict travel management, the preservation of large tracts of roadless country, and education on the reality of the threat OHV use causes to wildlife and wildlife habitat.
Garrett presents a lively, amusing and practical approach to travel management. In his talks, presented in partnership with ACES, he'll discuss the mindset of off-road users (both responsible riders and the outlaws), the effects of OHV use on wildlife and wildlife habitat, the economics of quiet recreation vs. OHV use, and the goal of forming alliances between the sporting community and environmentalists.