Doug Bigelow has more miles on his Polaris Crew XP1000 than on his Escalade — which tells you most of what you need to know about where he’s coming from. As executive director of the US OHVA Alliance, he’s spent more than forty years in off-road recreation, from racing to land use advocacy, watching the side-by-side and dirt bike market expand into what he now calls a golden age. West Virginia, he says, is positioned to be at the center of it. The legislation is favorable, the landscape is right, and Appalachian Outlaw Trails — opening a short drive from where he sat at the WV Outdoor Economy Summit — has the potential to become the kind of destination that draws riders from three states away.
What Doug cares about most is whether that growth holds. His organization does trail education and stewardship across the country, because access today only lasts as long as users take care of the land well enough to keep it. His message to the motorized community and every other trail user group is the same: they’re aligned on about 80 percent of what they want, and that’s more than enough to go to the legislature with a unified ask. The other 20 percent is not worth the fight.
Learn more about: US OHV Alliance / Appalachian Outlaw Trails
About the Author
