ATHOL – A series of trails have been badly damaged by off-road vehicles and required significant repair work, according to the Conservation Commission.

Over the weekend of Aug. 24, the persons involved – ignoring a prohibition on ATVs and side-by-sides on conservation land – allegedly cut the locks on the gates, and drove side-by-sides on the newly-refurbished trails, nearly striking a family camping along the Millers River.

The damaged trails run through the Bearsden Conservation Area, including those that lead to Newton Reservoir. The Deep Cut Bypass Trail had suffered the worst of the damage, but several adjacent trails were also ridden on by the vehicles. ATVs and side-by-sides are prohibited from conservation areas, though snowmobiles are allowed when there is sufficient snow.

The Massachusetts Environmental Police have begun an investigation into the incident. 

Commission Chair Jim Smith said the problem was reported by Conservation Agent Bill Wheeler at the commission’s meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 27. According to Wheeler, the vehicles entered the trails off the railroad tracks by the Millers River.

“It’s frustrating to see these things destroyed after all the man-hours that have been put into these trails,” said Smith in an interview.

“We had put up some logs and boulders there, but they managed to break in that way,” Wheeler said. “They also broke in at the Observation Hill Trail, which is over on Willis Road, South Royalston Road in Phillipston. They knocked down a stone wall and they cut the lock on the gate. These machines are side-by-sides; these machines are much bigger than a regular ATV.”

Wheeler said the trails damaged by the vehicles had recently been upgraded, the work paid for with a $50,000 MassTrails grant. Funds left over from the original project has been used to cover repairs.  

“We worked hard to get this grant,” he said. “We didn’t get it last year, but we did major upgrades to the Deep Cut Bypass Trail, and we fixed up some other trails. The trails were basically brand new. But the side-by-sides, they come in and come ripping down around the corners and they’re tearing it up.”

Most disturbing, said Wheeler, was an incident involving a family of five camping along the Miller River at the Buckman Brook shelter over the weekend. He said that at 2:30 a.m. on Sunday, Aug. 25, the side-by-sides came into their campsite.

“It’s a good thing the mother jumped up waving her hands, because everybody was sleeping out under the stars,” Wheeler said.

Another area that has seen its share of problems with ATVs is the South Athol Conservation Area, along the Rabbit Run Trail.

“That has been an ATV paradise forever,” said Wheeler. “You can try putting up gates and rocks, but ATVs can just go through the woods – they can make their way in and out of there. But side-by-sides are bigger. Those things have winches on the front of them and the winch out the huge boulders or the big logs we put in the way.”

Smith said that officials have tried installing game cameras, “but they just steal the cameras or take the SIM cards out of the cameras.”

Wheeler added that these cameras have gotten photos of people using vehicles on the trails, but the quality is usually too poor to identify them.

“You try to hide the cameras, but the see them and they just take them,” Wheeler said.

As for locked gates, Wheeler said, “Nowadays, with the locks on the gates, they carry a battery-powered Sawzall and they just cut the locks – they go around and cut the locks.”

Land agent Dave Small said the damage in the South Athol Conservation Area hasn’t been extensive, but some repair work has been needed and will be paid for through the Conservation Commission budget. A total of the cost for work on the trails has not been finalized. 

“It’s going to require us to go back and re-grade a bunch of stuff,” Small said.

Wheeler said it has been about five years since the town has seen this kind of problem. Small said the main issue in South Athol, “is the incompatibility of the ATVs versus the people trying to walk or cross-country ski or whatever. They’re just not compatible.”

Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@aol.com.