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Show ;- . . .. ',..- - - , '-.. '. ".:.. ; - . it' - :l - - . , t t " - MVU-aJ - mv-- U.., ;',- . x k I C rTi " ;f rv-- . ,?" '"--: ''--;-."', ' -i I Vr, ' - " j.V7 " . i. - ' . y , Lindon boy scouts take shovels and rakes to this ATV trail on Mohogany Mountain as part of "Tread Lightly," a Forest Service program to stop ATV abuse and restore land. Scouts to Tread Lightly' About 20 Boy Scouts from Lindon : helped kick off a local effort Friday to encourage off -road vehicle users to have more respect for the environment. en-vironment. The scouts were part of an Eagle f Project, coordinated with the U.S. Forest Service and Utah Power and Light, to keep motorcycles and all-terrain all-terrain vehicles on proper paths . The program is called "Tread Lightly." Working on Mohogany Mountain, scouts built barriers in existing unauthorized trails that scar the hillside and planted wild flower and wild grass seeds to help restore the land. They also built up areas in the trail to trap run-off so the seeds would have a chance to grow. Lindon's Jason Roundy, 13, headed up Friday's effort - an effort that in Utah County will eventually spread from Pleasant Grove to Spanish Fork. "This is the beginning," said Jay Roundy, Jason's father who also serves as an assistant scoutmaster. Roundy, Lindon, is a former U.S. See Tread Lightly page 2 0 Tread Lightly program Continued from front page Forest Service employee who now works for Utah Power and Light. Because of his familiarity with the different groups involved, he helped organize Friday's efforts. "I saw a chance where these guys could get into some projects that would be really meaningful," Roundy said. He feels the work that required could help be the basis for as many as 10 separate eagle projects locally before the work is done. The boys put in several hours on the mountainside Friday, when they were out of school for the UTA convention. "Tread Lightly" began as an education program aimed at teaching how to ride off-road vehicles responsibly. But the program has been growing. Land rehabilitation, such as that carried out by the Lindon scouts, is a new feature of the "Tread Lightly" program. Roundy said the combination of UP&L and the Forest Service for such a project was a natural, since UP&L maintains access roads to transmission lines that often form a starting point for the kind of off -road driving that can damage the environment. en-vironment. The utility is helping the Forest Service organize groups of volunteers, volun-teers, like the Lindon scouts, to restore patches of land that have been badly damaged by irresponsible irrespon-sible ATV use. But if the overall program of land rehabilitation and public education is to succeed, many more volunters will be needed. Throughout the coming winter, Utah Power and Forest Service officials will be contacting government officials, landowners, and other groups. |