OHV recreation contributes $4.25 billion annually to Arizona's economy. More than half of this amount, $2.2 billion, comes through direct expenditures for motorized vehicles, tow trailers, related equipment, accessories, insurance and maintenance costs. An additional $842.3 million comes from recreational trip expenditures for food, gasoline, lodging and other items.
Reports prepared by the Arizona Hospitality Research & Resource Center School of Hotel & Restaurant Management, Northern Arizona University. 2002. Arizona State Park 2003.
Economic Importance of OHV Recreation to Arizona (
900 KB PDF)
Economic Importance of OHV Recreation to Arizona Counties:
Apache County ( 116 KB PDF)
Cochise County ( 116 KB PDF)
Coconino County ( 116 KB PDF)
Gila County ( 117 KB PDF)
Graham County ( 117 KB PDF)
Greenlee County ( 115 KB PDF)
LaPaz County ( 116 KB PDF)
Maricopa County ( 117 KB PDF)
Mohave County ( 117 KB PDF)
Navajo County ( 116 KB PDF)
Pima County ( 116 KB PDF)
Pinal County ( 116 KB PDF)
Santa Cruz County ( 117 KB PDF)
Yavapai County ( 116 KB PDF)
Yuma County ( 116 KB PDF)
Every five years, the Arizona State Parks prepares a statewide trails plan. The most recent plan, The Arizona Trails 2005 Plan was approved in November 2004. The plan reports on trail usage, needs and user perceptions. This information is intended to be a resource to guide trail agencies for the next five years. The purpose of this plan is to provide information and recommendations to guide Arizona State Parks and other agencies in Arizona in their management of motorized and nonmotorized trail resources, and specifically to guide the distribution and expenditure of Arizona State Parks administered trail funds. Download and read more in the Arizona State Parks Publications area.
State Parks has completed the “2008 Update” to the Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP), which will serve as Arizona’s outdoor recreation policy plan for the next five years. This SCORP update includes newly researched chapters on Arizona’s outdoor recreation situation, trends, and influences. Special sections include the benefits of parks and recreation, outdoor recreation and tourism, wildlife related recreation, and reports on trails, off-highway vehicles, boating, and historic preservation.
A large part of the 2008 SCORP Update features the results of a telephone survey of Arizona households and an online survey of Arizona’s parks and recreation providers and land managing agencies conducted in 2006 by Arizona State University. Also included are the current priority outdoor recreation issues for Arizona and the revised grant rating criteria to the Local, Regional and State Parks Heritage Fund and the Land and Water Conservation Fund grant programs.
The 2008 SCORP is available for downloading as one document, or in incremental sections. Download and read more in the Arizona State Parks Publications area.
The Grants Section of Arizona State Parks is responsible for managing eight grant programs administered by the Arizona State Parks Board. More than $32 million is available annually to Arizona communities, resource managers and agencies to preserve and enhance Arizona’s significant natural open space, cultural and recreational resources. Download and read more in the Arizona State Parks Publications area.
BLM, June 2008. Download Phoenix Dust Test Results ( 1.3 MB PDF)
Testing of Dust Suppressants for Water Quality Impacts, Final Report, September 2008, United States EPA. Download Dust Suppressants ( 1.9 MB PDF)
Community and Environment in a Desert Metropolis. Global Institute of Sustainability, Arizona State University, December 2007. Download Survey Results ( 1.8 MB PDF)
Download OHV Bill ( 345 KB PDF)
(Andereck, Kathleen L, Vogt, C A, Larkin, K, Freye, K. 2001). A statewide survey of adult AZ residents was conducted in 1998 to identify use patterns and issues related to recreation trails in the state. Journal of Park and Recreation Administration.
by Kathleen L Andereck, PhD; Richard C. Knopf, Ph.D; Randy J Virden, PhD.;
Lisa Machnik; Dave White, Ph.D; Christine A Vogt. PhD. ASU West Dec 2002
Covers preferences of users on BLM and profiles of Resource Management
Zones in relation to OHV.
Arizona State Parks
Example OHV on-site survey (Miscrosoft word) and survey data entry template (SPSS), 2009.
Download Survey MS Word (
138 KB DOC) Download Survey SPSS (
27 KB SAV)
National Off-Highway Vehicle Conservation Council – Hundreds of Publications
The National Off-Highway Vehicle Conservation Council site lists citations of books, book chapters, project reports, brochures, and journal articles on Off Highway Vehicles (OHV) use and management with abstracts and full text documents for most citations.
http://nohvcclibrary.forestry.uga.edu/index.html 
Dust Emission By Off-Road Driving: Experiments on 17 Arid Soil Types
Gossens, D., Buck B., 2008. Las Vegas, NV. Download Dust Emission Article ( 2.3 MB PDF)
Testing of Dust Suppressants for Water Quality Impacts
EPA, September 2008. Download Dust Suppressants Report ( 1.9 MB PDF)
Off-Highway Motorcycle & ATV Trails Guidelines for Design, Construction, Maintenance and User Satisfaction, 2nd Edition
Wernex, 1993. Download Wernex Report ( 1.2 MB PDF)
Management Guidelines for OHV Recreation
Time-proven strategies for the building and maintenance of environmentally sustainable and quality OHV trail systems. NOHVCC, Crimmins, 2006. Download OHV Guidelines ( 1.2 MB PDF)
Motorcycle Industry Council Stationary Sound Test Manual
The Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC) provides this manual for those interested in the effective and economical enforcement and evaluation of off-highway motorcycles and ATVs in the field. The manual details the entire procedure for implementing the SAE J1287 sound test which is used by most land management agencies throughout the country. The manual also contains sound data and RPM testing levels for a wide variety of off-highway motorcycle and ATV models and years. This list is updated quite frequently with inserts. Visit the MIC website for the latest updates. Or call (800) 348-6487 to obtain a copy.
Recreational Trails Program. The Recreational Trails Program (RTP) provides funds to the States to develop and maintain recreational trails and trail-related facilities for both nonmotorized and motorized recreational trail uses. The RTP is an assistance program of the Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). Federal transportation funds benefit recreation including hiking, bicycling, in-line skating, equestrian use, cross-country skiing, snowmobiling, off-road motorcycling, all-terrain vehicle riding, four-wheel driving, or using other off-road motorized vehicles.
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/rectrails/index.htm
2006 Annual Report of ATV-Related Deaths and Injuries
This report presents the 2006 annual update of information collected by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) staff on deaths and injuries related to the use of all-terrain vehicles (ATVs). The updates include information on ATV-related deaths based on data available to CPSC staff as of December 31, 2006, as well as information on ATV-related injuries treated in hospital emergency rooms from January 1, 2006 through December 31, 2006. Streeter, February, 2008. Download ATV Safety Stats ( 977 KB PDF)
Off-Highway Vehicle Recreation in the United States, Regions and States: A National Report from the National Survey on Recreation and the Environment (NSRE) USFS, June 2008. Download USFS OHV Report ( 573 KB PDF)
CRS Report for Congress. The National Forest System Roadless Areas Initiative September, 2006. Download Roadless Report ( 153 KB PDF)
Erosional impact of hikers, horses, motorcycles, and off-road bicycles on mountain trails in Montana. (JOURNAL) Mountain research and development 14(1) 77-88 Southern Illinois University Carbondale et al, 2003.
Hammitt & Cole, 1998 Wildland Recreation: Ecology & Management
Edington & Edington, 1986 Ecology, Recreation, and Tourism
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