DUNMORE, Pa. — Lost Trails ATVs in Dunmore is a popular spot for people to ride the trails.
The popularity of the outdoor sport has grown, and Lackawanna County officials want to know if people think there should be more places to ride safely and legally.
State funding is helping the county with a feasibility study if and where they should consider new ATV trails or a park.
"I think it would help because there's nowhere to ride. It'd be great if there were more trails," said Glenn Bernstein.
"Ever since COVID, it's spiked a thousand percent. Trail riders need more trails," said Samuel Cabrera.
Many municipalities have had issues with off-road vehicles riding through the streets, causing accidents, and police departments can't chase them. Tony Novak owns Lost Trails and says having a controlled environment to ride in makes sense, but it may not deter all illegal riding.
"There's a big population for it. There's a lot of illegal riding going on because there isn't places, even though Lost Trails is here. We still have people that ride illegally, and we have to try to educate them," Novak said.
Some of the questions in the survey are focused on who would use an ATV park or trail system based on certain criteria.
"It depends where the place is at. Are you going to trailer to it? I guess you've got to, but it'd be nice if they made more places legal where people are already riding than busting their chops," said Cabrera.
"If you have a designated spot, they trailer their machines to it, and they go out and enjoy the trails; that's a whole other avenue, and that is the way you have to do it," said Novak.
The deadline for the survey is October 31st, and you can find it here.
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