Picayune Warning!!

Collier deputies cite ATV owners riding illegally in Picayune Strand
By DIANNA SMITH, dlsmith@naplesnews.com
April 16, 2005

While local environmentalists search for a playground for off-highway vehicle owners, deputies from the Collier County Sheriff's Department have started riding their own OHVs.

But not for pleasure.

Deputies have spent the past year trying to educate people who drive anything from swamp buggies to motor bikes to all-terrain vehicles. They've explained the rules and have been known to give warnings instead of tickets when people are caught breaking the law.

But deputies say enough is enough.

Cpl. Paul Carrington, who works in the Golden Gate substation, said deputies used ATVs last weekend to chase those riding illegally. People used to ride in the Picayune Strand State Forest, but that area was closed off to riders in January because the federal Fish and Wildlife Service revoked permits to ride in the park.

After several years, the state bought the land in the Southern Golden Gate Estates because agencies plan to restore the area and protect endangered species such as panthers. Officials have said recreational riders will hinder the restoration project and possibly could be harmful to endangered species.

The Big Cypress Basin, the local division of the South Florida Water Management District, said last year it would find riders 640 acres by Oct. 31. Though riders have been promised land somewhere in Southwest Florida, most are getting tired of waiting and many decide to ride on streets or private property.

Carrington said illegal OHV use in Golden Gate Estates is becoming an increasing problem that is even difficult for the deputies to solve.

Riders can disappear quickly into woods or on trails when they see deputy vehicles, which is why deputies are now using ATVs, trucks and bikes to nab the drivers.

"Hopefully the word will spread the Sheriff's Office has zero tolerance," Carrington said.

Some took a tour of the land in Hendry County on March 31 to see if it could serve as an area for OHVs.

The estimated 640 acres is part of land owned by Lee County, property purchased more than 10 years ago to make way for a landfill. Motorists would have to drive through Lee County to get to it.

Brian McMahon, a Golden Gate Estates resident who has been working closely with state representatives, went on the tour. He wasn't thrilled with the property.

He said it took between 60 and 90 minutes to get to the property from Golden Gate Estates.

"There was a tremendous amount of dump-truck traffic," McMahon said. "The site has potential, but it's going to be difficult for Collier County to manage that far away.

He said there are environmental concerns, but George Fogg, who also went on the tour, said the concerns shouldn't become roadblocks.

Fogg, a retired landscape architect who wrote a book on OHV parks, said there are a lot of wetlands on the site, as well as a retention lake. Trails could be built around the lake, he said.

Fogg said the site has potential, and that he knows of no area in Collier County that could match it.

"I don't know of any place that is sufficient in size unless it's a farm area that would be converted into such a facility," he said. "There are so many competing things for the resources we have in Collier County."