I have spoken to the head Biologist that oversees all of the WMA's in the Region and asked about ATV's in Corbett.  He stated that the vehicle rules have been in place for numerous years and if they decided to open the rules up and look at changing them they would make them more restrictive than they currently are.  So, it does not appear that they will be opening the area to ATV's any time soon, but that does not stop you all as a group t petition the FWC to open the area or give a better explanation as to the current restrictions.  I dont know the history of the rule or why its in place, its been that way for the 11 years that I have worked in this region.

Man you are asking a loaded question....

As far as FWC is concerned we want you to ride where it is legal.  The problem with South Florida is there are very few areas to ride to start with and those properties are either owned by the State or private.  As far as State Lands go its not just a matter of saying ok its owned by the state so go out and ride.  You have to look at why the land was purchased what they plan on doing with the land and the funding source for the land.  All three of these lead to the managemnet plan for the land and what is allowed and not allowed.  For instance...

The state buys a piece of land for storm water treatment also called a STA by SFWMD.  These lands are then made into an area that takes water run off from the urban areas and sugar fields to filter out contaminates before the water is released into the everglades or out to the ocean.  Due to the way these areas work you cannot disturb the mud or all of the filtration is lost.  These areas are closed to motorized vehciles and vessels.

The county buys a piece of land for preservation and uses a funding source that says that all lands purchased with these funds must be used only for passive recreational use (i.e. no motorized vehicles among other restrictions).  This is the case with alot of county lands in Palm Beach County.

These are just two examples thre are many more out there.

The only lands in South Florida that are either owned or managed by FWC is the Everglades, Holeyland, Rottenburger and Corbett WMA.  Big Cypress is a seperate area that I dont have alot of experience with so Im not really sure how it works.  On these lands we do allow operation of ATV's except during certain hunting seasons or when we close the areas due to high water or they close themselves due to the amount of water out there.

I wish there was a clear cut answer to your question but there is not.  The only thing that I can recommend you do is attend public meetings of SFWMD, the OHV commitee, FWC, etc and ask for more areas to ride.  Its not just a metter of asking but also working with these entities to make it happen.

God Luck

Area 2 is the area that is between the SawGrass Expressway and Us 27 from I-595 north to the county line.

The area is way too deep for track driving and there is no way to access the area by track since the area is boardered by canals.  If you have a floater you might be able to get across but dont try it.

As far as the clean up Its great!!  I wish more special intrest groups got more involved, in cleaning up areas and helping educate people on the rules.

I agree that there needs to be more speed limit signs along the levees out there.  The problem is that the area is managed by SFWMD for those types of things.  We have asked them several times to post more signs and they have not done so yet.

But, there is one sign on the L-5 that states that the speed limit is 25 mph and by law that sign is in effect until another sign counteracts the last one.  But there needs to be more signs.

As far as how people operate their vehicles on the levees it is controlled by the same laws as operating on any other roadway in the state.  The biggest things that we regulate is the speed and careless operation.  The biggest problems with the careless operation is we have to witness it.  Its kinda hard to hide our big silver trucks out on those levees to see all of the violations and we do handle them when we see them.

So, when the area opens back up again (who knows when) we will be back out there again.

As of 12:00 am on July 18, 2005.  Holeyland, Rotenburger and Everglades Wildlife Management Areas have been closed to ALL public access.

The reason for this is the high water conditions that cause the deer and other wildlife to congregate on the islands and levees. 

Go to www.myfwc.com for more info on the closing.

At this time there is no telling how long the areas will be closed for.  when the area is reopened it will be posted on the above web site.

Please do not kill the messanger but I wil monitor this site to answer any questions that you have.

Thanks,

Lt. Chris Sella

You all need to get together and start pettioning some of the governing boards that own a lot of these canal easments in "rural" areas where you will not run too close to residential houses.  

Indian Trails Improvement District owns most of the canals in the Acreage.  There is also Lake Worth Drainage District that owns some canals in the central part of the county that run out west to State Road 7 that can be used for riding.  There is also South Florida Water Management District.

The biggest thing that needs to be done is to get organized and start sending represenitives to the meetings with these boards and keeping asking the same question.  You know what they say about the squeky wheel.

Maybe someone can do some reasearch on how these others states run their ATV ride areas and present a plan to the State OHV Board with some ideas and recommendations of areas other than just saying that they need to give you somewhere to ride.  

This web site is a great place to get organized and start putting preasure on the people that make decisions to get more areas opened to riding.  It will not happen if people do not get involved.

Indian River County is managed out of our North East Regional Office in Ocala, you can call them at 352-732-1225.

You can also visit this web site:  

http://wildflorida.org/hunting/

Look for the link to the WMA Regulations for the Northeast Region.  You can view the different areas regulations on line then if you have specific questions you can call the Regional Office for clarification.

Good Luck

Well, I spoke to the Regional Biologist today about the rule limiting ATV's in Corbett WMA.  The response that I got was that Corbett gets a large amount of vehicle pressure with the current rules allowing buggies and other off road vehciles.  Currently there are no plans to address the vehicle rule but if they do address vehcile issues it will be in an attempt to limit the number of vehciles in the area.

If you want to start petioning people to open more ATV places I would start with the Off Road Vehicle Advisory Commitee.  Their names are on the web site that I posted last night.  Most of them are State Employees, if you follow this link:

http://411.myflorida.com/411/www_tel.public_employee.employee_search

It takes you to a search engine for every state employee in the system.  Most of the entries contain email address along with office phone numbers.

If you want more info on Corbett feel free to contact the Regional Office at 561-625-5122 and speak to one of the biologist that covers the area.  They are the ones that create most of the rules for the WMA's and they would be the ones to talk to.

When you register an ATV the fee minus two dollars is given to the Division of Forestry.  Here is the specific statute:

317.0010  Disposition of fees.--The department shall deposit all funds received under ss. 317.0001-317.0013, less administrative costs of $2 per title transaction, into the Incidental Trust Fund of the Division of Forestry of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

Check out this web site!!!  It has a bunch of info concerning ATV riding in the State.  It has a link to a memo from the commissioner of the agency that talks about a off highway vehcile advisory committee that can be used as a starting point for contacts.

http://www.fl-dof.com/forest_recreation/OHV_index.html

Grizz - Lt. Reed and I work together he did not give me your card but we have discussed this site.

Hello,

Im a supervisor with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) here in Palm Beach County.  I have been reading this web site for a couple of months now and decided to follow the path of PBSO_ATV_Deputy_4 and help answer some questions.

First of all there are some legal places in Palm Beach County to ride.  The largest areas are Holeyland WMA, Rottenberger WMA and Everglades WMA. All three of these WMA's are located in Palm Beach County off of US 27.  As of right now Holeyland and Rottenbereger are closed to vehicle traffic due to Fawning season (When the doe deer have their fawns) both of these areas will reopen April 30.  The Everglades is open to vehicle use.  Of course as the rainy season approaches the areas will flood out making ATV use impossible depending on how much water we get.


As far as allowing ATV's in Corbett WMA in Northern Palm Beach County.  This WMA has a rule that no vehciles with a smaller wheel base than 60 inches is allowed in the area.  

The state is working on opening land for ATV use.  When will this happen I dont know.  I know that Division of Forestry is the agency that is working on this and has started the process of opening a few ATV parks in the state.  

You need to keep in mind that it not as easy as the state saying ok this area is now open as an ATV area.  There are a lot of considerations to look at.  I dont know all of them but here is a few....  1) What is the purpose of the land?  Some lands have specific uses and cannot be used for ATV's for example SFWMD has a lot of land that is being used for Storn Water Treatment Areas for Everglades Restoration.  In these areas polutants are filtered from the water and enters the soil.  So, you cannot disturb the soil or the preocess wont work.  2)  How was the land purchased?  Some the Federal Funding and other sources that pay for land states how the land can be used.  Such areas might come with restrictions such as passive recreational use (no motor vehicles) or limited access to motor vehicles.  3)  Who is the land manager?  Some agencies buy the property but another agency might manage it.  Such and Holeyland, Rottenburger and the Everglades is owned by SFWMD but is managed by FWC.  4)  What is the status of the land?  Some property is purchased for state use but first has to move through the process of being evaluated, deciding what use will be allowed, what needs to be done to the land, etc.  This process can take a long time to get the process complete and then the process starts for preparing the land for public use, such as removing exotic plants, building pumpstations, building access roads, etc.  The agencies cannot open the land for public use until this process is complete and any and all construction is completed.

I hope this helps answer some of your questions.  PLease feel free to respond or to email me at my email address.