"I now have a different perspective and understand the viewpoint, but at the same time I can say that they are NOT going away, no matter how much anyone wishes for it. .. and all recreational riders have the same common enemy. United we stand, divided we fall."
You are right there, I wish that more quad enthusiasts would find that same outlook.
and yes it is mostly the big 4x4's that tear up the trails. But it's the guys on the racing quads that take out the baffling in the muffler to make it faster,

and drag race or spin donuts in the parking area w/out helmets, and want to ride in the open areas near houses that get the cops called.
The place near me, i've been riding for 10 years, it was super secret, and been ridden daily for over 20 years with no complaints and no cops. it is in the woods behind what used to be an airport runway which is now an industrial park, and has a subdivision nearby. the trails used to be fast tight single track. well bout 5 years ago someone let it leak, and next thing you know quads started showing up, they couldn't get through the trails so they would drag race on the tarmac and haul ass down the fire roads that ran through the property. We marked all the trail crossings at 50, 25, yards before and at the crossings. They were ignored and people ended up getting hurt, two people died out there in the same year. the first year the quads started coming out. then the cops started staking the place out on weekends and running people off, after two years of not riding out there I went back and the quads had taken the place over, all the trails were deeply rutted twin track. During that time there was a huge fire out there that destroyed 75 acres, it was confirmed by the fire marshall that the fire was caused by a hot four stroke quad that overturned into the scrub brush, the exhaust pipe ignited the dry scrub and the fire spread.
they pretty well shut the place down after that and the trails have settled and the brush has grown back, I have been pretty lucky the last several times I've been out there to not encounter the fuzz. My buddy that cut all those trails back in the day, was out there Sunday and encountered the fuzz, he was warned not to come back, that the next time he was caught out there they'd arrest him.
Bunk Deal