22 May Tread Lightly! and Partners want to Remind Outdoor Recreationists about Importance of Riding on Designated Routes this Holiday Weekend

Salt Lake City, Utah – In advance of the upcoming Memorial Day holiday weekend, Tread Lightly! wants to remind off-highway vehicle (OHV) enthusiasts to ride only on routes designated as open to OHVs in an effort to help keep our country’s natural resources healthy, accessible and open to the public.

Tread Lightly!, as part of its expanding “RIDE ON” campaign, encourages outdoor recreationists to follow the below tips to help minimize environmental impacts and social conflicts associated with recreating on public lands:

-Travel responsibly on roads, trails or areas designated as open to your mode of transportation.

-Respect the rights of others, including private property owners, all recreational trail users, campers and others so they can enjoy their recreational activities undisturbed.

-Educate yourself prior to a trip by obtaining travel maps and regulations from public agencies, planning for your trip, taking recreation skills classes, and knowing how to operate your equipment safely.

-Avoid sensitive areas such as meadows, lakeshores, wetlands and streams.

-Do your part by modeling appropriate behavior, leaving the area better than you found it, properly disposing of waste, minimizing the use of fire, avoiding the spread of invasive species, and restoring degraded areas.

The first campaign “RIDE ON Utah,” was officially launched in 2012 and has worked to ensure nearly 4,000 miles of motorized trails (across 1.8 mil acres) in Utah stay open to the public. The RIDE ON campaign was launched in Wyoming last year and is currently expanding to Arkansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, Tahoe/California and Washington soon.

The RIDE ON campaign is a collaboration between Tread Lightly! and multiple federal and state agencies established to communicate consistent messaging across boundaries promoting ethical and legal use of motorized vehicles on public lands.

About Tread Lightly!

Tread Lightly! is celebrating its 25^th anniversary as a national nonprofit organization in October 2015.  Founded in 1990 through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, Tread Lightly! promotes responsible outdoor recreation through ethics education and stewardship programs.

Tread Lightly! has more than 70 official partners from various industries and is likely the nation’s only non-profit holding MOUs with every federal and state agency in the U.S. Tread Lightly!’s diverse member base enjoys a wide range of outdoor activities including hunting, angling, camping, boating, biking, four-wheeling and much more. Become a Tread Lightly! partner or member today and start supporting access, education and stewardship at www.treadlightly.org..

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