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GEORGE SMITH: Defeat of ATV bill may lead to posting of some private land

Stop. That’s the message landowners and recreational groups wanted the Legislature to send to ATV riders in L.D. 1536. But the bill took a tortuous trail and crashed short of the finish line.

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Rep. John Martin, D-Eagle Lake, successfully sponsored legislation last year that prohibited Maine game wardens from stopping ATV riders without “reasonable and articulable suspicion” that a violation of law has occurred. The new law took effect last September.

It’s really a Fourth Amendment issue. If you are out there minding your own business and obeying the law, many legislators believe you shouldn’t be troubled by any law enforcement officer.

But organizations that represent landowners, including farmers, were angered by this new law. Many threatened to post their land if the new law was allowed to stand.

Because ATV riders must have permission to ride on private land, those who own that land believe wardens ought to be able to stop anyone who is riding on their land to check for permission.

Rep. Ralph Sarty, R-Denmark, sponsored L.D. 1536 this session to restore a game warden’s authority to stop ATV riders on private land (but not public) without suspicion of a law violation. To win the support of ATV-Maine, it also required a warden to have suspicion of a law violation before stopping an ATV on an official ATV trail on private land.

The Small Woodland Owners Association of Maine took the lead in pushing for Sarty’s bill. A coalition of landowner and recreational groups joined SWOAM in supporting the bill, including the Farm Bureau, Forest Products Council, Snowmobile Association, Blueberry Growers, Professional Guides Association, Trappers Association, Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine (for which I work) and ATV-Maine.

Despite this strong support from both landowners and land users, the Fish and Wildlife Committee was divided on the bill, and it staggered out of committee with a 7-6 ought-to-pass report. The measure hit rougher weather immediately in the House.

Unenrolled Rep. Tom Saviello, of Wilton, stepped up to save the bill, offering an interesting amendment that essentially treated ATVs just like snowmobiles whose riders can be stopped by game wardens without any suspicion that they are breaking the law on both private and public land.

House members who had rejected the original bill that allowed stops on only private land, reversed course and endorsed Saviello’s amendment that allowed stops on both private and public land. There is no explanation for it, other than the fact there is no reward for consistency at the Maine Legislature.

If snowmobilers aren’t bothered by this, ATV riders shouldn’t mind the same treatement, thought many legislators. Saviello’s amended version drove out of the House and up the third-floor trail to the Senate, where it ran into a tree named Sen. Bruce Bryant.

Bryant, a Democrat from Dixfield and Senate chairman of the Fish and Wildlife Committee, proved to be the bill’s insurmountable object.

The bill was killed and revived a couple of times over several weeks. Finally senators voted for an amendment offered by Bryant and drafted by the Civil Liberties Union that essentially gutted the bill. Running on just one cylinder and minus the Saviello amendment, the bill left the Senate and traveled back to the House.

House members refused the Senate amended bill, killing it. I went home that day convinced the bill was indeed dead.

But there’s a reason lobbyists stick around until the last second of the last day of each session.

Surprise! The governor jumped into the fray and prepared his own bill, hosting a meeting of most of the interested parties and winning their support. Alas, Bryant did not attend the governor’s party, nor was he particularly enamored with the governor’s proposal, which looked a lot like Sarty’s original bill.

Without Bryant’s support, the governor was unwilling to send up his bill, leaving landowners frustrated and angry. Now they will be heard in a different arena.

Tom Doak of SWOAM and Jon Olson of the Maine Farm Bureau will lead an effort to post private property in key locations to disrupt ATV trails, with a goal of grabbing enough attention to get the next Legislature and governor to act.

While I can’t blame them, it is my hope that their actions will not punish those recreationists who supported their legislation. This may mean a limited posting of land with signs saying “No ATVs,” not signs saying “No Trespassing.”

A modest effort on their part to deliver their message should be sufficient without starting a war between riders and landowners that would be devastating for all of us.

George Smith is executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine. He lives in Mount Vernon and can be reached at george@samcef.org.