Product Description
Thrillcraft: The Environmental Consequences of Motorized Recreation exposes the lasting damage done to our land, water, and air from the growing plague of jet skis, quads, dirt bikes, dune buggies, snowmobiles, and other motorized recreational craft that are penetrating the last bastions of wild America. The increase in thrillcraft use is responsible for wildlife habitat fragmentation, disturbance of sensitive wildlife, soil erosion, spread of invasive weeds, loss of silence, as well as water and air pollution. With more than one hundred shocking color photographs, Thrillcraft vividly documents the destruction caused by these machines on American public lands. Essays by activists, policy experts, scientists, and others support the photographs, explain the harm done by these machines, and critique the cultural foundation of this phenomenon. Thrillcraft bears witness to the mindless destruction of our collective natural heritage and offers a vision for a future when the howl of the wind or wolf can again be heard more often than the howl of a machine.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 3.5 based on 7 reviews)

LIES, LIES, LIES. This book is terrible, and untrue.

I saw this terrible book at my library in Northern CA. I recognized the cover as the sand dunes at glamis. I have been to glamis, its terrible what the environmentalist have done to the area. This is an ORV area that is in the middle of nowhere. You have to drive through hundreds of miles of endless desert to reach glamis. Sierra club and some of its cronies came down there and petitioned to have a huge swath of the already tiny riding area closed off. I mean this is a desert that has almost no life forms at all except for a couple shrubs and bugs that you couldn't kill if you tried. I am a pretty environmental person, I recycle, do not buy water bottles, hope to see fuel cells and electric cars in the future, and was born in San Francisco. The area of Glamis where you can ride is a lot of fun, you could have a hundred thousand people kicking up sand all day on their bikes and rails, and with a 20 minute sand storm, it would look like no was has ever been there. That's the destruction, digging in sand that blows right back! The area closed off was for a scrub, that's fine, I seen the scrubs out there, there everywhere. Tough as nails too.
Most of this book is about California, where I live. Lots of the land that they talk about would not even be assessable if it was not for the funds that are paid by OHV registration. A dirt bike in ca is $45 a year, threes over 40 million people that live in CA. If only 10% had a bike, that would be $180million. I think that number is low, because even if it was 10% most bikers have more then 1 bike, atv, snow mobile. This money pays to restore trails, hire rangers (which if the registration money was not there we all know that CA cannot pay these ranger, and the environmentalist are sure not), clear downed trees (which a picture in the books shows as devastation, most likely natural causes), and pay for the upkeep of twice as many non-OHV trails then OHV. That's right, more of the registration money is spent on trails where OHV are not allowed, like the beaches around CA, anything that is apart of California national parks, ever seen a dirt biker tearing it up at Yosemite?
The amount of OHV area in CA and all the states in this book is very small. I have to drive several hours to reach a park where I can ride. I drive though thousand of acres of public non-ohv protected land to ride on OHV trails. This book makes it look like we are out of control, riding everywhere. That is non-sense, there are only a handful of areas in all of California that you're allowed to ride, and even at these areas you have to stay on the trail. The trail may go through a whole forest, but the whole forest is not subject to these "crazy bikers". This book is printed to excite the emotions of people that do not visit these areas. I have had this argument with environmentalist before, I always ask have you been here or their, any of these place that you aim to protect? Most cannot give me one single location, but they are so sure at these mysterious locations there is destruction. I have been riding at Cow Mountain OHV for almost 30 years, since I first road there till today it looks the exact same. Most of the area is virgin forest, cris-crossed with trails. If people litter out there, most people will pick it up. If people are seen littering they are scowled at by bikers and campers. Why, because people lover this area. This book tries to make all these thrill seekers out as big, nasty litterbugs. What a crock, go to any of these areas, and you would be lucky to find any trash. If you do, then pick it up.
If the publishers of this book are so worried about the environment and the well being of the world and its inhabitants, then why was the book printed in China? This book was printed thousand of miles from the United States, that's a lot of fuel and waste to bring it to our shores. And the country that printed it has the worst humanitarian record on the planet. Wow, what garbage.

April 25, 2008

The Future of our Public Lands

Beautifully written essays and devastating photos, depicting the damage done by off-road vehicles on irreplacable forest lands and deserts. The essays by environmentalists cut to the point -- we have to use our lands responsibly or we lose them. As an avid hiker, I've seen the damage to public lands. I've talked to ranchers whose fences have been cut, and their private land disrepected. Thrillcraft also has inspiring photos of as yet unspoiled forests and canyonlands. Too bad all of our public lands don't look like those photos. If more people read this timely and well-edited book, perhaps we'll turn the tide on destruction of our natural resources.
January 27, 2008

Excellent account of motorized recreation

Thrillcraft finally says it all - the pictures and the articles - about the unfortunate but true destruction of off-road vehicles and motorized recreation. I am an off-roader myself, and am furious at how a lot of my associates have destroyed our sport by tearing up the land wherever they go. Everyone suffers from this irresponsible use - especially the off-roaders. If only there was respect and the knowledge that if we destroy it, we also won't have a place to ride. If we're going out in nature - let's keep it so we have something to go out to. This book is a real wake-up call to everyone!
January 24, 2008

Shock and blah

Just another attempt to push an agenda that is rooted in modern paranoia. Thrillcraft takes an incredibly narrow view of outdoor recreationalists and attempts to bulldoze any rational thought on the subject.
Of course there's bad eggs in every group but we need to mature to where we no longer subscribe to the "punish the whole class" reaction and start using intelligent and critical thought to move forward as a decent society.
Take a few minutes to visit with, or better yet, take a few moments on a trail with an organized group of atv or snowmobile enthusiasts and you might be quite suprised with what you find. You will certainly come away with a much greater vision than what you will receive by thumbing through "Thrillcraft".

January 02, 2008

Pictures Don't Lie

If I had stock in the ATV industry, made a nice living selling ATVs, or if my fun depended on free public land, outnumbered and outgunned law enforcement, and cheap gas made possible by the sacrifices of the U.S. military, I'd attack this book too. However, pictures don't lie. As a hiker, mountain bicyclist, and camper, I've seen the damage created by unregulated, unrepentant ATV users, and as a professional environmental planner, I can assure you it will last for generations. It's our land, not their land, and one or two user groups do not have the right to scar our natural birthright for a weekend of petroleum-powered partying. Don't take anyone's word for it--read this book. Educate yourself. Go see the damage. And then decide if enough is enough.
December 21, 2007

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