Anyone else see this? Front Page in the human interest center column. Did this just get in the Southwest region or was it national?

It was less biased than most of the flaming attack articles, but still used lots of inflamatory adjectives and they never point out the carnage lists are usually fixed with no damage or spills. Your avg WSJ reader is going to envision all sorts of oil spilled from a broken axle and isn't going to realize nothing is leaking out of a slipping Auto tranny. They list the article towards the bottom of www.wsj.com but its a pay site to get the whole article. Anybody have the full text online or able to scan it up?

The blurb from the website:

Off-Road Drivers Ply Texas Rivers

A growing circle of off-road driving enthusiasts are taking their pickup trucks into riverbeds, especially in southwest Texas. That has neighboring landowners, environmentalists and state officials cringing.

thats cause all we get to run around here is dry river beds, and you are tress passing when you walk 3 feet above the bank. you should know this being from the slab area. anyways, alot of it is true about spilling oil all over the place. we here in texas have a slight redneck problem, they seem to think we have a fight going on with mother nature. all the guys running twice the amount of lift they need in blocks front and rear to clear the gumbo mudders. uvalde is the same way, as is devil den. we are fine just as long as we stay IN the creeks. the flooding takes care of all our waste :rolleyes:

here's the full text, as it was e-mailed to me:

Off-Road Vehicles Now Ply the Waters Of Southwest Texas --- It's Fun and It's Legal, for Now, But It Annoys Ranchers And Environmentalists

UVALDE, Texas -- On a blistering spring afternoon, Richard Jones pointed his Ford Bronco toward the Nueces River and stepped on the gas.

The truck plowed through several feet of fast-running water and climbed up a mud ledge on the opposite bank. Its oversized tires kicked up fist-sized stones.

Bouncing wildly in the back seat of the Bronco's open cab, Javier Gallardo pointed to a Toyota pickup truck behind them. "Check it out, headlights under water," he said, grinning.



Most owners of pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles never venture far off road. But Mr. Jones, 37 years old, and a growing circle of enthusiasts are taking theirs up the river. With other off-roading opportunities drying up, publicly owned riverbeds like the Nueces are becoming popular Texas thoroughfares. That has neighboring landowners, environmentalists and some state officials cringing.

In eight hours, Mr. Jones and a convoy of 13 trucks covered about a mile and a half along the wide gravel banks, over near-vertical ledges and through the narrow river. Two drivers broke their trucks' drive shafts; two suffered broken axles. One truck's transmission system failed in the middle of the river, requiring three others to hook up towlines and pull it out. A smaller, all-terrain vehicle, or ATV, along for the ride, lost a wheel.

"It's just a thrill," says Ric Mansanarez, a 29-year-old professional truck driver from San Antonio, whose 1984 Chevy Blazer navigated the river relatively unscathed.

Not to everyone. "Bud Light and Pennzoil -- those are the most popular containers" on the river, says Sky Lewey, a cattle rancher and an employee at the Nueces River Authority. State biologists are just starting to gather environmental-impact data. Officials worry that driving loosens gravel along banks, making it difficult for critical plant life to grow. Exhaust fumes, leaking lube oil and other automotive fluids may also contaminate the river, and fish populations could be endangered. The greenthroat darter is a tiny, minnow-like fish that lives in shallow, running water. "If you're driving in every riffle . . . you're putting those critters at risk for sure," Mrs. Lewey says.

Local sheriffs and game wardens can ticket speeders or drunk drivers on the state's rivers, many of which are shallow or dry up completely part of the year. But they can't chase drivers out. "This really is the last frontier," says Larry D. McKinney, director of aquatic resources at the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department.

In some parts of the country, national and state park officials are beginning to close off many trails and canyons that have become popular with off-roaders. As in many states, Texas rivers are generally considered public property, even when they run through private land. But no agency has been charged with regulating vehicle traffic in them. The result: The Nueces in southwest Texas and a handful of other rivers are becoming congested, off-road trails.

"The glory of it is that it's legal," says Shawn Pagan, 35, a computer engineer from Houston who has spent about $40,000 on his Jeep Wrangler.

Along many stretches of the Nueces, the gravel banks and its riverbed -- which is visible through the clear water -- are combed with tire tracks. The river authority estimates that hundreds of vehicles crawl up and down the 108-mile-long river on some busy summer days.

Off-road enthusiasts spend thousands of dollars customizing and driving vehicles that are specially modified to churn through muddy trails and crawl over ledges and rocks. ATVs -- essentially four-wheeled motorbikes -- are also popular for such treks.

Besides his Ford Bronco, Mr. Jones also dotes on a maroon, 1969 Toyota Land Cruiser. He has put about $10,000 into that truck, adding jumbo tires and a protective wraparound roll cage in the cab. Specially modified wheel axles improve traction over boulders along rocky banks and through several feet of water. Driving over the rocks and crags is "mostly slow, lumbering stuff," he says, perfect for "challenging the driver and vehicle."

During Mr. Jones's most recent outing, his convoy, primarily from San Antonio, passed another group, a caravan of six off-road vehicles that had driven an hour on the highway to access the Nueces. "We'll drive around, get in the water, have a few beers, relax," says Lane Walker, a 22-year-old public-services employee from Devine, Texas.

Crossing a stretch of river during the drive, Mr. Jones, an official at Southwest Texas Junior College, dropped his truck off a steep bank into two feet of water. Following a few trucks behind, Joey Aleman, 26, maneuvered his 1987 Chevrolet Silverado slowly into the river, leaning out over his rearview mirror to watch for signs of deep water.

"Where it's green, you don't want to go," he says reaching around with his free hand to quiet two yelping boxers in the back of his cab.

Mr. Aleman, who works in an auto paint shop in San Antonio, bought his used truck for about $6,500 and says he has spent about $20,000 modifying it. The letters "Mud Patrol" are stenciled across the top of the windshield. He added 38-inch "Super Swamper" tires and a 15-inch suspension, jacking the floor of the cab almost four feet above the ground.

The group eventually arrived at an abandoned bridge. Several trucks attempted to climb the face of a steep granite ledge along the riverbank. Carlos Mansanarez, 38, and Ric's brother, leaned on his horn and stepped on the gas. His Chevy Blazer lurched halfway up before shearing its rear drive shaft, which powers the back wheels. A minute later, the truck broke one of its forward axles, which connect the front wheels.

Mr. Jones hooked up a towline and pulled the truck the rest of the way up, accidentally slamming into another rock ledge and crinkling his own front bumper. Repairs are part of the fun. "There usually is not this much carnage," Mr. Jones said, hauling out three plastic toolboxes full of wrenches and sockets. But, he added, "this is what they want to do. This is what they expect."

Last year, a group of property owners failed to win approval of legislation that would have given the river authority power to restrict traffic on the river. They will try again early next year when the state legislature gathers for its biennial session.

Some off-roaders have attacked those efforts as a broader attempt to restrict access to the river. But Tim Lewey, Sky's husband, sees it differently. "Access to this river is an important issue, but I'd like to see them access it in canoes, kayaks, on foot or on horseback," he says, adding that he can hear the traffic from his ranch house a quarter mile from the river. "Anything but vehicles."

Off-road drivers say the environmental damage they cause on the riverbed is light compared with pesticide runoff from farmland. Years of grazing by cattle have done much more damage, they contend.

Alan Hatcher, a 42-year-old teacher in Dallas, spent a weekend earlier this month driving his modified Suzuki Samurai off-road along the Llano River in central Texas with eight others. "There were no Exxon Valdez oil spills out there, and that's what we get accused of," he says. "Have you ever looked around a boat marina on a lake? There's oil all over the place. I don't see how we're doing anything worse."

Most of it seems to be written fairly.

It was on the cover of my issue this morning as well. looks like it went out nationally.

Matt