Documentation: ATV drivers roared in the fields, causing heavy damage

ATV riders littered wheat fields in Kibbutz Gilad in Megiddo Regional Council. The destruction of the fields is part of the phenomenon of riding in agricultural areas and nature reserves in the area, a phenomenon that causes great destruction and financially harms the council's farmers. Kibbutz Security Coordinator: "There is no year that we do not deal with destruction and destruction"

Documentation: ATV drivers roared in the fields, causing heavy damage

ATV riders on Friday caused heavy damage to wheat fields near Kibbutz Gilad in Megiddo Regional Council. The area's farmers say this is a recurring phenomenon and is part of the unruly behavior of motor vehicle drivers. Two weeks ago a soldier on vacation was run over by an ATV driver who escaped after the injury. The soldier was moderately wounded. The identity of the offending driver is unknown.

Many agricultural areas around the country were sown recently, before the rains began. In many places, riotous behavior of motorcyclists and ATVs is widespread to ride after the rains and trample the sprinkled soil. This is a serious injury to the future crop and economic damage to farmers. The same damage, incidentally, has also been caused in the woods and open spaces; The drivers who descend from the regulated roads and travel within the territories trample plants and tighten the soil, thus preventing the plants from germinating and water to seep into the soil.

More in Walla! NEWS

One of wheat fields destroyed yesterday in Kibbutz Gilad (Photo: Saar Ramon)

One of two wheat fields trampled by ATV drivers near Kibbutz Gilad yesterday (Photo: Saar Ramon, official website)

According to Kibbutz Gilad's security coordinator Sa'ar Ramon, "There is no year that we will not deal with the destruction and destruction that the motor tools leave in the fields and their rampage on the roads every Friday and Saturday." According to him, this phenomenon has kept travelers away from hiking areas in the area.

It is an area defined as a "biosphere space" whose principles are the promotion of sustainable development, while preserving the cultural and ecological values ​​that exist in the area, based on human-environmental relations and local communities. It is an international program recognized and promoted by UNESCO.

Following an overthrowing incident two weeks ago, an enforcement operation was initiated last Saturday by Itzik Holbski, the head of the Megiddo regional council and the council's security officer, Eliav Nahari. Israeli and Border Police officers recorded traffic reports and safety offenses for dozens of drivers. "The operation is very important at this time and it highlights the consistent commitment of Megiddo Regional Council and all of our partners in the area to determined security efforts in the area," said Holbski.

Light respite: Partly cloudy and rainy in the north, in the second - warming | Weather

Destruction of fields in Kibbutz Gilad (Photo: Saar Ramon)

Destruction of the fields at Kibbutz Gilad (Photo: Saar Ramon, official website)

In the past, several similar enforcement operations have already been carried out and even large boulders have been placed in several places, in an attempt to prevent vehicles from entering the natural areas. Ramon said it "prevented damage and the plants returned to bloom, but then the drivers moved to damage other areas. This is a serious injury to the landscape, to nature, to agriculture, to quality of life and, most seriously, it can also harm humans, as happened two weeks ago." He described an event he saw at the Nahal Raz waterfall, near Kibbutz Gilad; "It's a place I've grown up in all my life and two years ago I saw a play there I couldn't believe I would ever see - ATVs and motorcycles roared up the waterfall with many families standing stunned just meters from the tools."