Alaska is growing, and as it does, the demands on our fish and wildlife resources grow as well. Alaska Backcountry Hunters and Anglers understands and respects the utility of mechanized travel on existing roads and trails in our huge and largely inaccessible state. Some of our members use four-wheelers on existing backcountry roads and trails to access the hunting and fishing grounds, and to retrieve game meat and fish. We also recognize the increasing user conflicts and damage to fragile habitat caused by the widespread and often unrestricted off-trail use of all-terrain vehicles (ATVs, or "four-wheelers") and heavier off-road vehicles (ORVs), along with the increasing pressure this puts on our limited fish and wildlife populations.

ATV and ORV abuse is happening in Alaska, and it's negatively affecting all hunters and anglers by damaging the long-term health of our ecosystems and the unique quality of the Alaska backcountry experience. The push is on to expand motorized access, regardless of any user conflicts or negative repercussions to the land, water, and wildlife. One example is an Alaska Senate Bill to open the Dalton Highway (the "Haul Road") to off-road ATV and ORV access. Tens of thousands of square miles of delicate tundra north of the Yukon River along both sides of the pipeline corridor would be opened to unlimited and, for all practical purposes, unregulated ATV and ORV access.

AK BHA strongly opposes efforts to open the Haul Road corridor to ATV and ORV access and will continue to campaign against this. We believe in common-sense limits and restrictions on ATV and ORV access. There is certainly a place in Alaska for responsible ATV and ORV use on designated roads and trails, but there is absolutely no place in Alaska for irresponsible and widespread ATV and ORV abuse.