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As sad as it is that burgeoning populations infringe on places we hold dear, I think 
that trying to hold back the flood is in the long run a losing game.  Perhaps others 
who have already experienced what you are going through can provide first hand 
accounts of what was tried, what worked and didn't work, and where they are now.  To 
me it sounds as if your situation has three likely ways it could go though because I 
have had no personal experience with a dilemma like yours, it is quite possible that 
I am all wet and don't understand at all.

A)  You and fellow Endurance riders write and lobby against the ATV park and are 
successful so no ATV "park" is set aside.  This outcome might well have one of these 
two results.  1) There is no park so fewer ATV'ers would come, everything would stay 
pretty much the same, and the ATV'ers will be satisfied with their current or perhaps 
slightly restricted access to the trails or 2) The ATV'ers will keep coming in 
increasing numbers and with no specific area to ride in will feel the whole area is 
theirs to use; they will be angry at horse people for stopping their park and thus 
feel if the horses they encounter on the trails are spooked, tough - they asked for 
it - and if they get a crack at another "park", they will come back with twice the 
gusto as this time.

B)  You/we write and lobby and fail.  Again two basic results.  1) Being considerate 
users of the forest and harboring no ill will towards the horse people who tried to 
stop their park, the ATV'ers work with the District Ranger to assure safe access to 
the trails by horses and that the tradition of Endurance rides in the Burros be 
preserved or 2) The ATV'ers, who don't give a crap about horses or Endurance rides, 
get the District Ranger to implement all the access they want and the District Ranger 
has no horse-related input, or at best some input from hostile, angry horse people.

C)  Horse people in and around the Burros decide that giving up 440 acres out of a 
161,400 acre area in exchange for a substantial reduction in ATV and ORV traffic 
outside that 440 acres is a good deal.  They work with the vehicle groups and the 
District Ranger to ensure that everybody has safe access and that the area chosen as 
a "sacrifice" not be one that inflicts major noise and air pollution on those who 
reside within the forest boundaries.  The needs of all users are at least considered 
and hopefully accommodated in ways that won't drastically impinge on each other.

As one who also lives within the boundaries of a National Forest and has ATV's 
rolling by my driveway every day (and night too - we have "farmers" out here), the 
major difference I see between your situation and mine is that you live near a 
rapidly growing set of communities with an attendant rise in motorized vehicular 
traffic and I do not.  Nevertheless, should the Mariposa/Oakhurst area start growing 
at a rate that results in a large increase in ATV/ORV traffic here, I too may face 
what you are going through and perhaps with the shoe on MY foot, I might not be so 
willing to compromise.

I truly hope you have left open doors of communication with the Forest Service, 
though your comment that the District Ranger has threatened "that if [you] persue 
[your] vendetta against the OHV plan to trash the forest,  he will see to it that 
[you] never get another ride permit" doesn't sound good.

I googled and found that the Upper Gila Watershed Alliance (UGWA) is sponsoring the 
Burro Mountains Citizens Initiative (BMCI) in response to the ecological damage ATVs 
and ORV's are inflicting on this area.  http://www.ugwa.org/bmci.htm  I don't know 
whether they are for a park or against all ATV/ORV access, but it is clear that this 
issue has been brewing for many years.


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