Mountains. The quad bike scandal erupts in Carnia. "No to that weekend of motorcycling in the protected forest."

Mountains and alien invasions. Not just overtourism , queues on trails chasing Instagram-worthy views and shots , and turnstiles. Now there's also a quad bike scandal, four-wheeled off-road vehicles that combine the versatility of a motorcycle with that of a (small) off-road car. We're in Friuli, in the Carnia Mountain Community, an Alpine-pre-Alpine area no more than an hour's drive from Cortina, but which, until now, hasn't suffered the negative consequences of summer overcrowding and the hunt for followers.

The subject of the dispute is an event organized by a local association of off-road enthusiasts, Team Quad Livenza, which will host a demonstration on the first weekend of September involving the use of these motorized vehicles along forest trails in 13 municipalities of the mountain community. According to reports, the event includes access to forest roads and nature trails that fall partly within protected areas or in the immediate vicinity of the Natura 2000 network.

The question to the Friuli Regional Council

Yesterday, the deadline set by the Friulian local authority for anyone wishing to raise objections to the initiative, regional councilor Giulia Massolino, of the Patto per l'Autonomia – Civica Fvg, submitted a question to the Regional Council. "The mountains are not a circuit to be explored by motor," Massolino stated, "but a delicate ecosystem to be protected, also out of respect for those who have built a sustainable, experiential, and slow tourism offering over the years. Initiatives like these risk jeopardizing years of work and millions of euros invested in tourism promotion and environmental protection."

The question asks the Regional Council whether similar events are compatible with regional strategies for sustainable Alpine tourism and how it intends to coordinate tourism policies with local authorities, preventing events that conflict with the ecological vocation of the mountains from being authorized or promoted.

Mountain like an amusement park

"We didn't know they had opened a new attraction at the amusement park," Mirco Dorigo, a representative of the Pact for Autonomy in Carnia, ironically asks. "Someone should remind the promoters of these initiatives that Carnia is not their playground, nor anyone else's. The forest tracks, the high-altitude roads, and the paths have been laid out according to the inhabitants' activities, be they work, pastoral, transportation, or recreation, but all with a criterion of utility. It is undeniable the satisfaction of seeing them used by tourists and enthusiasts who respect the mountain context. But the idea of finding them granted to the first person who passes by and has 'the papers in order' to do whatever they want with them is indigestible. And what will happen tomorrow? Will 30 quads or 60 off-road vehicles arrive? Will we accept the request from a club in Milan, a club in Monaco, or an American magnate? And what territorial limit will we set ourselves: fifteen, twenty, or all the municipalities? The point is that any bid for higher prices will go to waste." I'll bring it sooner or later, if we set a precedent."

"The Alpine Convention, which Italy also signed, recommends limiting or banning the use of motorized vehicles in natural areas. The impact of such initiatives in terms of noise, emissions, and disturbance to wildlife is unacceptable. Clarity is needed from the Region," concludes Massolino.