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Pictured are Ralph Taylor, speaking, and seated is Andrew Vita, the state ornithologist with the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, during a Wednesday meeting at Southwick Town Hall about protecting the Southwick Wildlife Management Area from ATV and dirt bike riders.

(The Republican / Patrick Johnson )

SOUTHWICK – To curb illegal use of the Southwick Wildlife Management Area by dirt bike and all-terrain vehicle riders, officials with the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife announced last night they intend to strictly enforce restrictions on the property this year and to heavily punish any offenders.

At a meeting in Town Hall, officials said they intend to do whatever they law allows to protect the parcel, a former tobacco farm that is being transformed into a 254-acre wildlife habitat for grassland birds, in particular the grasshopper sparrow and upland sandpiper.

The Southwick parcel is part of a larger 400-acre wildlife area in Southwick and Somers that is owned jointly by Massachusetts and Connecticut since 2008.

Since it has been state property, no motorized vehicles have been allowed to ride there. The riding has continued illegally despite efforts to stop it.

At the informational meeting before about 30 people, state officials announced essentially that there would be no more mister nice guy.

“We are going to try cracking down this year,” said Robert Debinger of the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife.

The state Environmental Police and Southwick police will be conducting several unannounced patrols on the property. There are also several hidden web cams throughout the property that transmit surveillance footage to the local police and environmental police.

Anyone identified from that footage will be prosecuted.

The penalty for riding a motorized vehicle on a wildlife area is a fine of $250 to $1,000, up to a year in jail and restitution for the cost of damage.

The state can also take steps to seize the violator’s ride through forfeiture, said Ralph Taylor, district supervisor for the Connecticut Valley Wildlife District.

There will also be more signs warning against riding, and a greater public awareness campaign to recruit neighbors into calling the police when they see offenders.

“We don’t want it to look like a concentration camp; we want it to be inviting,” Debinger said. “But the less this works, the more draconian we will be.”

The 30 people in attendance were largely supportive of the state’s efforts. Many abutters to the property said they have grown tired to seeing off-road vehicles tearing through the property.

Taylor said although the property was commonly used by riders back when it was a tobacco farm, all motorized vehicle use has been illegal since the state purchased it in 2008.

“It’s always been no motorized vehicles,” he said. The state is not proposing to change anything regarding the use of the property. The only change will be in the level of enforcement and the degree of punishment, he said.

“It can be used by hunters, hikers, bird-watchers – but no motorized vehicles,” he said. “They cause a lot of damage.”

Taylor said the state has worked to remove the ruts and berms that developed from heavy use, but in no time at all new ruts and berms were in place.

He showed a slide show that showed photos of motorcycles and ATVs carving out paths through the brush. In some places, the state put large logs across the path to discourage riders but it was met with limited success.

He showed footage from a surveillance camera of an unnamed rider cutting though the log with a chainsaw. “That kept them out for two days,” he said.

Ralph Taylor talks about preservation & destruction at wildlife area.

Only one person at the meeting offered a defense of the riders.

Southwick resident Gary Yelin said most of the offenders are young people, teenagers and people in their early 20s.

“They’re young kids trying to find a place to ride,” he said.

“I know we don’t want them scaring wildlife and killing birds, but there should be some leniency,” he said.

The state should provide some places where people can ride motorized vehicles, rather than simply cracking down on offenders.

“They’re not criminals,” he said.

But Debinger replied that when people knowingly choose to violate the law, then they are by definition criminals.

“Yes they are criminals,” he said. The state would show no leniency, he said.

Brett Anderson, of Southwick, whose house abuts the wildlife area, said he sees people riding there all the time on dirt bikes and ATVs.

“I see people riding down the middle of the street to get there,” he said.

Anderson said he thinks the law should be changed to where dealers that sell off-road vehicles are required to provide the purchaser a copy of the state laws stipulating where they are allowed to ride and where they are not.

Off-road vehicles that are not registered for use on a public road may only be used on the owner's property or someone else's property if they have written permission from the property owner. No riding is allowed on most state land. Off-road vehicle use is permissible at just four state properties in Western Massachusetts: Beartown State Forest in Lee and Great Barrington, October Mountain State Forest in Lee and Lenox, Pittsfield State Forest and Tolland State Forest. More information on trail use, maps and state regulations can be found at the state Department of Conservation and Recreation website

He almost has sympathy for someone paying $6,000 for an off-road vehicle because they have few legal places to rid them.

“I hear them talking. ‘It’s my God-given right to ride where I want.’ No, it isn’t,” Anderson said.