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NOVA Program
The Nonhighway & Offroad Activities (NOVA) program was created in the mid-1970's to provide funding assistance to local and state agencies for the planning, acquisition, development and management of land and facilities for ATV use.
The biggest problem today is that NOVA funds are under attack by groups such as the Washington Trails Association (WTA). The WTA is working hard to get NOVA funds taken away and be used for non-ATV purposes. This is clearly against the NOVA goals.
To help you understand the history, intent and attacks against the NOVA program and funding, we've centralized some key documents.
The original guidelines document prepared in 1973 by the Interagency Committee for Outdoor Recreation (IAC). This clearly states the goal and purpose of ATV funds.
Written in July 2000, this recommendation to the IAC shows support for a fuel use study by the IAC under specific conditions. The intent was to make sure a new fuel use study would be fairly conducted to meet the needs of all six user groups represented on the IAC-NOVA committee.
This agreement was approved by 5 of the 6 groups (ATV, Equestrian, Four Wheel Drive, Mountain Bicyclists and ORV/Motorcycle). The Hiker group, represented by the WTA, was the only group not approving the agreement.
This request was made because the WTA specifically requested a new fuel use study, clearly in an attempt to divert NOVA funds away from their rightful use. With the exception of the WTA and the hiking community, there is absolutely no support from the rest of the trail users to pursue a new fuel use study using existing NOVA funds.
This paper was signed by 5 of the 6 NOVA representative groups. Again, the Hiker group, represented by the WTA, was the only group not signing this paper.
2009 WA State Legislature Redistributes NOVA Funds / Lawsuit Decided
On September 13 Division II of the Washington State Appellate Court handed down their decision on Washington Off Highway Vehicle Alliance versus State of Washington. Two of the three judges ruled in favor of the State, allowing the State to get away with misappropriating 9.5 million dollars of offroad vehicle gas tax funds in 2009 and giving that those funds to state parks instead of allocating them to the Nonhighway and Offroad Vehicle Activities (NOVA) account. Read More Here...
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