MALONE — Franklin County may form a committee to look at the merits and problems associated with opening land to all-terrain vehicles.

The County Legislature's Economic Development and Planning Committee will meet 10 a.m. Thursday in the fourth-floor chambers of the County Courthouse to discuss committee appointments and what the duties might be.

"We have to have the DEC involved," said Timothy Burpoe (D-Saranac Lake), referring to the State Department of Environmental Conservation.

DEC input
He wants DEC Region 5 Director Betsey Love to designate someone from her office to be her direct contact as the idea develops.

ATV owners and the DEC nearly had an agreement a number of years ago that would have opened several of its trails for ATV use, but talks fell through.

"It seems to me the DEC is the place to start," Burpoe said. "Hopefully working with the state, we'll see if we can't make it work."

The idea of creating more ATV-use trails resurfaced recently after Lewis County's recreational-trials coordinator Robert Diehl made a presentation sharing his experiences and success with legislators in both Franklin and St. Lawrence counties.

Grand plan
Backers envision a trail system that can someday take riders from as far east as Oswego and as far south as Booneville and carry them over trails through Cayuga, Jefferson, Lewis, St. Lawrence, Franklin and Clinton counties and into Vermont.

ATV riding is a $1 billion industry in New York, and Lewis County says it can capture $35 million of that a year with its trail system and the 720 full- and part-time jobs it spawns.

According to a 2005 opinion from the State Attorney General's Office, "municipal highways may be designated for use by ATVs only when necessary to provide access to adjacent trails.

"Highways previously designated for use by ATVs do not qualify as 'adjacent trails' for this purpose. Trails on private land that are open to the public for recreational ATV use may qualify as 'adjacent trails,'" the opinion states.

Critics say users are not following the law, and lawsuits have been filed.

In the Lewis County Town of Lyonsdale, Town Council member Nancy O'Brien Dailey sued her fellow board members to block a vote to open roads to ATVers.

A court decision is expected soon.

"There is another side to the ATV issue," said former Lewis County Legislator Bruce Krug of Constableville.

"The one-sided view from the proponents isn't telling the truth," he said in a recent e-mail.

"There really isn't a 'trail system.' It is many miles of public highways, illegally opened, connected to a few square miles of county reforestation land.

'Hoax'
"To call it a 'trail system' is a hoax," Krug said. "There is more, including some huge liability concerns.

"The economic claims are hype. The impact is minimal. In fact, since Lewis County has instituted its 'trail system', people report seeing fewer ATVs than in past years.

"This is a farce, and the press needs to look beyond Bob Diehl's self-serving promotion," he said.

E-mail Denise A. Raymo at: draymo@pressrepublican.com