William Bouguereau The Wave painting

William Bouguereau The Wave painting
Pablo Picasso Girl Before a Mirror painting

Across rural America, angry skirmishes are increasingly common between property owners and off-roaders squaring off over dwindling open space.
Across rural America, angry skirmishes are increasingly common between property owners and off-roaders squaring off over dwindling open space. Long accustomed to battling environmentalists for access to public lands, off-roaders now find themselves at odds with farmers, ranchers and a flood of new residents moving to the country for peace and quiet. As Bob Buster, a county supervisor in Riverside, Calif., put it, "You have these two clashing visions of the countryside." Nationally, millions of acres have been developed in recent decades. At the same time, use of off-highway vehicles — a catch-all term for four-wheelers, dirt bikes and dune buggies — has exploded, up 700% to 36 million users since 1976.