TREVORTON — As the rain pelted his face Saturday afternoon, a smiling Jose Cosme explained why he and his family enjoy spending weekends riding motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles through the abandoned strip mines in Trevorton.
"It's good, clean fun," he said as several of his mud-soaked friends blazed through the hilly terrain.
The 38-year-old Milton resident, his wife, Nancy, and their children, Joselyn, 16, and Miguel, 14, have been riding recreational vehicles on the property for two years.
He likes Northumberland County's idea of turning 6,000 acres of abandoned coal land in Zerbe, Mount Carmel, East, West and Coal townships into a secure, multi-million-dollar off-highway vehicle park.
"It would be great to get rid of the garbage and have rest rooms," Cosme said. "I'd pay to use it."
County officials say the park would be a boon to the local economy and law enforcement says it could also reduce crime.
"It's like the Wild West out there now," Stonington state police Sgt. Sean McGinley said of the thousands of recreational vehicle users who come out during the summer to camp and ride a web of trails amid abandoned strip-mining pits.
The existing trails in the diverse and rugged landscape attract riders from all over the East Coast, and with many bringing alcohol to the party atmosphere, McGinley said, police have had to respond to "hundreds" of ATV crashes, including several fatalities, assaults, rapes and other crimes in the past 10 years.
Northumberland County Commissioner Kurt Masser knows it's been a trouble spot for law enforcement and sees the potential in turning the county-owned property into an off-highway vehicle park open to recreational vehicles, snowmobilers, horseback riders, hikers and bird watchers.
"We have a gem there, and national recreational vehicle organizations who've heard about the plans are chomping at the bit to host events there," Masser said. "It will pump millions of dollars into the local economy."
The county has obtained a $200,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to conduct a feasibility study and is reviewing bids from eight consultants.
"People are using it now," Coal Township Commissioner and ATV enthusiast Gene Walsh said. "We might as well develop and regulate it."
Walsh is one of the 14 members of a study committee of county officials and business leaders. That panel is reviewing proposals that include plans of a county authority to operate and collect fees from users who enter the electronically monitored park to camp, ride, hike or enjoy the views.
Another committee member, Barry Yorwarth, came up with the park idea with pal Jeff Nye 13 years ago, but said the proposal gained momentum only with the present board of commissioners, Masser, Frank Sawicki and Vinny Clausi.
Yorwarth, 52, of Paxinos, builds jeeps and trucks and competes in full-vehicle competitions throughout the country.
He said Northumberland County's trails are ideal for a "world-class facility" that will offer even more than the $20 million Rock Run Recreation Area in Cambria County, where primarily ATVs and dirt bikes are allowed.
"We'll have something for everybody, from ATVs and full-sized vehicles, to hikers, equestrians and bird watchers," he said. "We can turn abandoned coal mines into a gold mine."
Yorwarth has been riding the trails in the area since he was 16 and said it's time to legitimize the thousands of recreational users who ride near Trevorton every weekend.
"We need to legalize it, clean it up and maintain it so people aren't scared to go out there," he said, adding that creating a family type atmosphere will clamp down on the underage drinking, illegal drugs, camping and trash dumping that's taking place now.
McGinley said he's in favor of any regulations that make the area safer.
"They're out there now in an unsafe manner, and we just don't have the resources to deal with it," he said.
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