The State May Seek To Limit The Size of ATV’s On Maine’s Trails

Mainers love their time out on the trails. Be it on their snowmobiles this time of year, or their, or their side by sides in the summer time. Who could blame them? I've ridden sleds a few times in the winter, and there's just some scenery that you will never get anywhere else besides the trails.

And generally speaking, after having followed an ATV Facebook page for the last couple years, the community is very tight-knit, and look out not only for each other, but the trails that Maine landowners are so gracious to let us all use. Aside from a few bad apples that give everyone a bad name from time to time, it's all positive.

But there's some rumbling going on at the state level that will undoubtedly stir up a lot of emotions. There's some talk of limiting the size of ATV that can access state trails. The idea being that vehicles that are capped off at a certain size, will be less impacting on the natural environment, according to WABI - TV5.

At this stage, it's all just chit-chat. But there has been a task force assigned by the state to look into the issue. Now, have no fear, the people on this task force are part of the riding community. It's not a bunch of lawmakers making broad decisions. It will be comprised of landowners, farmers, ATV users, land trust representatives and others.

They're proposing that the state limit the size and weight of ATVs, and they would be limited to 65 inches wide and 2,000 pounds. Again, this is not happening yet. It's all just a fact-finding situation right now. But who knows? At any rate, we'll keep you posted how this moves forward.