National forests in Virginia crack down on mud-slinging four-wheelers

National forests in Virginia are cracking down on "mud-bogging," a four-wheeling sport that involves souped-up vehicles through mudholes, thanks to the efforts of one U.S. Forest Service law enforcement official. John Price and another officer have caught almost 80 people in the act since last November in the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests.

Mud-bogging tears up the ground, causing significant ecological damage to protect areas. In an area cultivated by the Forest Service to attract wildlife, four-wheelers started showing up in March. "They veered off the road, plowed through the creek bed and did what Price calls 'Dukes of Hazzard doughnuts' in meadow," Laurence Hammack of The Roanoke Times writes in a long, detailed story.

Price says that once an area has been used by mud-bogging for the first time, more feel free to use the area. When writing a ticket to an 18-year-old he caught one evening, the young man explained he thought it was legal, since there was a mudhole already there. "It's up here because people have been taking their Jeeps and coming up here and raising Cain, tearing it all to pieces. That's why it's up here," Price said. "They come up here and rip it and tear it and spin it to death." (Read more)