ATVs keep getting bigger. It’s putting Maine’s trail system at risk.

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 15, 2026

As the season kicks off, tens of thousands of riders are expected take their all-terrain vehicles out in Maine in the next few months. But as ATV clubs work feverishly to wrap up maintenance on the state’s 6,000 miles of trails, there is sharp division over a new generation of popular off-road vehicles that landowners say threatens to force them to shut off access. Some have already done so. With 80% of Maine’s ATV trail system on private property, that’s a problem.