President's Autobiography

President Clark L. Collins

OHV Advocacy Background

Collins, born in 1941, is the second in a four-generation OHV family. His parents in their late 80s are avid ATV riders and his grandchildren are OHV enthusiasts as well. Collins has been involved in OHV advocacy since joining the Pocatello Trail Machine Association in the late 1960s. He served as President of PTMA in the 70s, then in the 80s as Vice President and then President of the Idaho Trail Machine Association, representing off highway motorcyclists statewide.

State legislation

After founding the BlueRibbon Coalition in 1987, Collins cut his legislative involvement teeth in 1987 and 1988 working on the passage of State legislation to increase the amount of fuel tax funding for trails and waterways in Idaho. A portion of the fuel taxes paid on fuel used off highway in trail bikes, ATVs, snowmobiles and boats went to the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation for use on our trails and waterways.

In 2009, the state legislature voted to gut the trails and waterways program and turn the money over to the Idaho Department of Transportation for highways. Recreationists statewide contacted our legislators and Collins testified before the legislative Task Force charged with seeking alternative funding for IDP&R. We were successful in getting the Task Force to recommend returning the funding for trails and waterways in the next legislative session.

Federal legislation

Idaho's program was used as a guide for a similar national program that is called the Recreational Trails Program (RTP). In 1990 and 1991, Collins worked with our Senator at that time, Steve Symms, on the passage of The National Recreational Trails Fund Act. The program was initially named the Symms Fund, but received very little funding. Collins then worked with Symms' successor, Senator Dirk Kempthorne, in 1997 and 1998 on reauthorization of the RTP and to be funded automatically each year.

Symms got $7.5 million for the program in 1993 and then retired from the Senate. Kempthorne got $15 million a year for the program in 1996 and 1997. The program was then reauthorized at $30 million for 98, $40 million for 99 and $50 million annually for 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003. The funding increased again when reauthorized in 2004 and is at $85 million for 2009, with Idaho receiving nearly $1.8 million. To date the RTP has provided over $700 million nationwide and over $12 million for Idaho in trail funding.

The Recreational Trails Program provides funds to the states to develop and maintain recreational trails for both motorized and non-motorized recreational trail users. Examples of trail uses include hiking, bicycling, horseback riding, cross country skiing, snowmobiling, off-highway motorcycling, ATV riding and four wheel driving.

Half the funds are distributed equally among the states and half are distributed in proportion to the amount of off-highway recreational fuel use in each state.

Collins says about the program, "While I am what you might call a 'motor-head', and would have preferred that all the funding go to motorized trails, we had to compromise on the Recreational Trails Program. 30% is required for non-motorized trails, 30% for motorized trails and 40% for diverse trail use. States are encouraged to consider projects that benefit both motorized and non-motorized users. I have since come to realize the benefit of having broad based support for the program. It's been vital when it comes time to motivate grass roots support for the program when it is up for reauthorization every six years."