Why is OMTA needed?

admin · Site Admin Joined: 01 Jul 2009 Posts: 8

Faced with the rapidly growing population of Ohio and the increasingly limited places to legally enjoy Ohio’s beautiful outdoor recreational opportunities, trail users from all over Ohio have teamed up to form the Ohio Multi-use Trails Association (OMTA).

OMTA is proposing an approach designed to create a net environmental gain on Ohio’s abandoned mine sites, state and national forests, abandoned township and railway corridors, and other trail opportunities to provide safe and environmentally sustainable recreation opportunities to the full range of current and potential trail users.

With OMTA participants ranging from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Wild Turkey Federation, NRA Volunteers, 4-H, and the motorized off-highway community, the OMTA provides an open forum for all to discuss the hurdles faced today by outdoor recreation.

OMTA is led by nationally recognized experts in both the environmental and recreational planning fields. They regularly discuss the re-vegetation of abused lands, design aspects of trail systems, user conflict resolution, efforts in other states, user ethics, and the environmental and economic implications of the OMTA concept.

Access to public-held land and the recreational opportunities they provide proved to be the most popular topics at public meetings held across the state to seek comment on the future of Ohio’s natural resources, and the varied recreational opportunities these lands provide.

OMTA wants to chart a course for Ohio’s public lands so that future generations know how to best ensure protection of the resource and provide recreational and other uses of the land.

As we enter a new century, it is apparent that more and more Ohio residents and out-of-state visitors are looking to our vast state's woodlands to provide more avenues of recreation.

For the first time, in a bid for greater statewide participation, OMTA is inviting all "recreationalists" to the table to interact, speak out, compromise, and listen to users who once did not want to hear what the other side had to say.

Through its meetings and other communications OMTA serves to gain public feedback from all sectors of outdoor "recreationalists" and focus that combined message to more effectively influence the revision of Ohio’s Resource Management, forest management philosophies, as well as policies and goals proposed in Ohio’s various districts.

OMTA members’ opinions are both diverse and deep-rooted, however, the strength of the organization lies in the fact that those same members are united in support of many critically important common causes, including: education of its membership on public information/perception and related education efforts; solid law enforcement; sustainable forestry; science-based ecosystem management; water quality management; volunteerism; and land acquisition/development for recreational uses.

OhioMotorizedTrailsAssociation