Originally published December 31, 2008.

Officials say the rapid rise in popularity of off-road vehicles has begun to place a strain on the Gruber Off-Road Vehicle Park east of Muskogee.

Mike Ward, chairman of the Gruber Recreational Trust Authority Board, said that in addition to the all-terrain vehicles, motorcycles and mountain bikes brought to the park, there has been a surge in the use of four-wheel-drive vehicles.

Ward said he is frustrated with the damage done by some people riding four-wheelers at the park.

“They get down there with a pretty good group of them, and they take turns going up and down these rocky hills, and they strip away all the top soil, and then it rains and washes all the dirt out around the rocks and you end up with a big giant pile of rocks,” he said.

Ward said there is another kind of trail damage that is even more reckless.

“When the big four-wheel drives can’t go down a trail where the motorcycles and the ATVs go, they hop out with a chain saw and just cut trees down,” he said.

The Camp Gruber ORV Area was created by a land grant from the Federal Government’s Department of the Interior in March 1990. It is located south of Fort Gibson on Oklahoma 10 about halfway to Braggs. The 455.55 acres was deeded to Muskogee County for recreational purposes.

Ward said he hasn’t been able to get signage and therefore can’t get the sheriff to monitor the park and enforce rules. He’d like to get rid of the four-wheel-drive vehicles altogether.

“That’s the thing; I wanted to just completely prohibit them from the park, but from the way that Gene (County Commissioner Gene Wallace) talks, he thinks that we ought to be a little bit more diplomatic with that.”

The alternative to reduce the damage being done may be some kind of management system.

“So what we’re looking at is starting a permitting process where they have to have a permit to go in there and ride, and that’s just something we’ll have to determine if there’ll be a charge or a fee for a registration,” he said. “Basically, with that permit they’ll get a map that specifies where they can take their Jeep.”

The Gruber ORV Park has no means of income other than land use fees generated by competition racing events held on the property, gate fees, and by donations from park users. A $3 per person per day land use fee is included in each racer’s entry fee. The course includes rocks, tight woods, open areas, creeks and steep hills.

The permit-and-map process might be the best compromise, Ward said.

“We want to restrict them into just certain areas where we know we want them to go because the damage has already been done and they can’t hurt it anymore,” he said. “We don’t mind all the four-wheel-drive guys going out there, it’s just that it’s gotten out of control; they’re just going everywhere.”