Monday, May 29, 2006
Kelly Hassett

BETH SKABAR DISPATCH

For years, Tom Cowher has looked forward to the weekends of motorcycle and off-road riding when his friends from Pennsylvania visit Ohio.

But cruising on Ohio trails now requires more than gas and gusto.

 
A state law enacted last year requires all out-of-state off-road riders to buy a temporary operating permit before driving their all-terrain vehicles, motorbikes or snowmobiles in Ohio. The permit costs $5 and is good for 15 days.

 
The law severed agreements Ohio had with states that had similar registration laws, including Pennsylvania, Michigan and Indiana. Before, Ohio honored their off-road registrations, and they honored Ohio’s.

Now, those riders who come to Ohio on the weekends — when most Bureau of Motor Vehicles offices are closed or have limited hours — have to register their vehicles or leave them in the trucks.

That frustrates riders enough that they are skipping Ohio altogether, said Cowher, who lives in Pataskala.

Cowher is among many in the offroading community who are appealing to the state to change the law and reinstate the reciprocity agreements.

They also want to make temporary permits good for a year for those who still need them, instead of having to renew every 15 days.

 
Members of the Ohio Multi-Use Trails Association and other off-roading clubs plan to request changes later this summer or fall.

"Our goal is to have it in place for next year," said Cowher, a member of Hocking Valley Motorcycle Club.

The change was made after legislators heard complaints that Ohio riders were getting charged to ride trails in other states, costing them more than out-ofstate riders who used Ohio trails.

"We wanted to make Ohio rates similar to other states," in the interest of fairness, said Tasha Hamilton, spokeswoman for House Speaker Jon A. Husted.
But the law backfired on Ohio riders, requiring extra steps for them when traveling to states where they could ride freely before, according to many off-road riding enthusiasts.

 
That hits riders in northeastern Ohio especially hard because they frequently travel to Pennsylvania’s Allegheny Mountains, said Matthew T. Mesarchik, ATV chairman of the Ohio Multi-Use Trails Association.

"It’s hurting Ohio riders," he said. "In northeast Ohio, riders are not bothering to get Ohio registrations and just get Pennsylvania’s."

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources is aware of the complaints. The department "is working hard to satisfy both our resident and nonresident users of our trails," said Laura Jones, a department spokeswoman.

Wayne National Forest, just outside Nelsonville in Athens County, is popular for those who ride more than 116 miles of trails in the forest.
Nearly 2,000 of the forest’s 17,663 permits last year were from out-of-state riders.

But employees there fear that number could drop this year because of the new requirements, said Becky Stewart, who works in the visitors’ services department.

She spends much of her day on the phone with out-of-state residents, explaining all the paperwork they need to legally ride in Ohio, she said.

 
"They’ll say it just isn’t worth it. I try to convince them it is worth it," Stewart said.
Riders who were out before the Memorial Day weekend crowds were frustrated, too.
Greg Barr, of Middletown, north of Cincinnati, was at Wayne National Forest enjoying the sunshine with his labrador Kasey. He travels across the country to ride his ATV and was pondering a trip to Pennsylvania.

 
"The major thing is not so much the money, it’s the difficulty in obtaining it," he said.
Some business owners in southern Ohio are feeling the law’s effect.

Barbara Bowlby co-owns Bo’s Radical Racers, an off-road equipment shop in Logan. She has seen fewer out-of-state riders through her door in the past year.

"That’s messed up everybody," she said of the new requirement. "Last summer and fall was probably the slowest we’ve been."

Reinstating the reciprocity agreements would help, Bowlby said. If not that, then she suggested setting up stops in front of state and national parks that offer the temporary operating permits as well as park permits — anything to cut the time in line.

 
"They just want to ride," she said.

khassett@dispatch.com