June 23, 2026
Tell Trump: Don't Sacrifice Wildlife for Off-Road Vehicles
A quiet trail. A nesting bird. A grazing elk. A family hiking through a National Park hoping to experience nature—not engine noise, torn-up land, and frightened wildlife fleeing ATVs and dirt bikes.
America's public lands and National Parks should be places where wildlife is protected and people can safely enjoy the natural world. But President Trump has signed an executive order dismantling decades-old protections put in place by Presidents Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter to limit the damage off-road vehicles can cause on public lands—opening the door to more ATVs, dirt bikes, and other motorized vehicles in sensitive wildlife habitat.
Wild animals don't get a voice in Washington.
They can't tell federal officials that vehicle traffic can crush nests and burrows. They can't explain that new motorized routes can fragment habitat, disrupt migration, erode soil, spread invasive species, pollute waterways, and drive animals away from the places they need to feed, breed, and raise their young. Hikers, campers, birdwatchers, and families also lose when peaceful public lands are turned over to loud, destructive motorized recreation.
Scientists have warned for years that off-road vehicles damage habitat, disturb wildlife, fragment ecosystems, and degrade the very public lands endangered species depend on. The U.S. Forest Service has compiled extensive research documenting the impacts of off-highway vehicles on wildlife and natural resources, including how noise from off-road recreation can disrupt wildlife far beyond the trails themselves.
We've already seen what can happen when powerful machines collide with vulnerable wildlife. In Wyoming, a wolf was deliberately run down by a snowmobiler, severely injured, and later killed in a case that sparked outrage around the world. That cruelty was extreme, but it underscored a simple truth: wildlife often suffers when motorized recreation is allowed to take precedence over conservation.
Endangered piping plovers, wolverines, desert tortoises, elk, pronghorn, bighorn sheep, and countless other species depend on intact habitat to survive.
America's public lands should be sanctuaries for wildlife—not sacrifice zones for more ATVs, dirt bikes, and snowmobiles.
We call on President Trump to rescind this executive order, abandon plans to expand off-road vehicle access on federal lands, and maintain the longstanding protections that help keep sensitive wildlife habitat safe from destructive motorized recreation.
Thank you for all that you do,
Mitch w/ Animal Commons
Source:
Politico Greenwire | Trump nullifies 50 years of limitations on off-highway vehicles
