Travel management planning is a misapplication of Executive Order 11644
Executive Order 11644, signed in 1972 by President Richard Nixon and later amended by Executive Order 11989 under President Jimmy Carter, provides the only formal federal definition of an “off-road vehicle” (ORV). According to this order, an ORV is defined as any motorized vehicle “designed for or capable of cross-country travel on or immediately over land, water, sand, snow, ice, marsh, swampland, or other natural terrain.” This definition explicitly refers to vehicles engineered for use over natural, unimproved surfaces, and it is this definition that underpins all regulatory authority stemming from the order.
Crucially, this definition inherently excludes regular motor vehicles—such as passenger cars, pickup trucks, and SUVs—that are designed and manufactured for travel on established, improved roads. Therefore, any actions taken under the authority of EO 11644 pertain strictly to the management of ORVs operating off established roads and do not extend to the use of conventional motor vehicles on existing roadways, including roads on BLM, USFS, and NPS lands.
Regular motor vehicles are regulated under a separate and far more stringent set of federal safety standards, including those issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). These vehicles are designed for road use and must meet numerous federally mandated safety, emissions, and manufacturing standards before they can be sold to the public for use on highways and local roads.
In contrast, off-road vehicles (including dirt bikes, ATVs, and UTVs) are not subject to these requirements because they are not intended for use on public roads. When states allow limited road use of off-road vehicles, they issue OHV or similar stickers that serve as narrow exemptions—not endorsements of road-worthiness. These exemptions do not change the legal or engineering classification of such vehicles, and the safety standards for their manufacture remain entirely voluntary.
Because EO 11644 is strictly limited in scope to the regulation of ORVs on public lands, it cannot—and was never intended to—govern the use of regular automobiles on established roads, whether paved or unpaved. Roads managed by federal land agencies such as the Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management fall under state transportation planning authorities that operate outside the scope of EO 11644. Therefore, attempts to use EO 11644 as justification for road closures affecting standard vehicles are a misapplication of the executive order’s authority. Any regulation of public access via road closures must be based on appropriate legislative or regulatory frameworks, not on a misinterpretation of an executive order that specifically excludes such uses from its purview.
Therefore, we are requesting that our readers reach out to their elected officials and the Trump administration to demand a complete reversal of Executive Order 11644. It’s time to bring this abuse to an end and return the management of roads and automobiles to the states.
