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New OHV bill passed

December 09, 2005

The Nova Scotia government passed Bill 275 to amend the Off Highways Vehicle Act yesterday at Province House. New regulations governing the use of all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) and other forms of off-highway vehicles (OHVs) will come into force on April 1. In addition to significant restrictions for children riding ATVs there are also some important new rules to better protect the environment and private property. These include:

A general prohibition for OHV use in our parks, wilderness areas and nature reserves.
A ban on OHV use in sensitive ecosystems, including wetlands, beaches, sand dunes, barrens, streams and lake shores, as well as core habitat for endangered species.
Limiting use of OHVs on Crown land to a designated trails network (to be developed).
Requiring written permission from private landowners to use their property.
Mandatory vehicle registration and display of new, highly visible license plates.
Significant new fines and vehicle seizure penalties for those who break the law.

These new regulations are desperately needed and long overdue. The explosive growth of recreational ATVing in recent years has scarred the landscape and created additional pressure on already seriously stressed wildlife populations in Nova Scotia, such as the endangered mainland moose. Although there was little agreement among the Conservatives, Liberals and NDP over an appropriate age limit, all three parties did ultimately support new rules to better protect our environment.

Of course, enforcement will be the key; and to that end, the government has created a dedicated law-enforcement unit to back up the new regulations. The province has also set up a toll-free hotline for people to report OHV violations. The province-wide number to call is 1-800-565-2224. This is the same central dispatch number you can use to report poaching or other wildlife violations. It will be staffed 24/7, 365 days a year. The next time you see someone on an ATV mindlessly tearing up a beach, stream or your own backyard, you will have a number to call and someone who'll respond. This will be a welcome relief for many folks in our rural and suburban communities who've watched the explosion of ATV use all around them and felt helpless to control it.

But the government's work is not done. One critical outstanding issue is the government's commitment - stated in its OHV Action Plan - to amend the Wilderness Areas Protection Act to eliminate the minister's discretion to issue permits for recreational OHVing inside wilderness areas. Although the government has never issued any permits and says it will not do so, this legal loophole remains open to abuse and must be closed.

The government yanked this provision from the new OHV bill late in the law-amendments process - apparently to appease some of its rural backbenchers who did not support that element of their own action plan. That move has been widely viewed as a major mistake in an otherwise good piece of legislation and one that needs be corrected as soon as possible.