Unless you ride one, which is a blast, all-terrain vehicles can seem annoying.

Knobby tires turn pasture into mud pit. Some engines howl like angry tomcats. And since driving off the beaten pavement is all the fun, riders are often at odds with farmers, homeowners, park managers, environmentalists and, sometimes, police.

ATV owners across South Florida have clamored for years for open land to ride without a hassle. Now, Miami-Dade Parks Department planners, in a joint proposal with Collier County, believe they've found just the spot.

It's miles from homes, dotted with rock pits and concrete pads, crisscrossed with existing trails and next to a 10,500-foot runway.

It's also in the middle of the Everglades, on a site where Miami-Dade County decades ago envisioned a massive jetport before public and political outrage scuttled the project.

Supporters insist the proposed 1,608-acre park -- just north of Tamiami Trail at the Collier-Miami-Dade line -- will do the Everglades more good than harm by drawing ATVs from more pristine places.

``Something has to be done with all these bikes running anywhere,'' said Miami-Dade Commissioner Jose ``Pepe'' Diaz, who has championed the ATV cause for years. ``We're trying to gather them and put them in one location and try to protect the more sensitive areas.''

Environmentalists and regulators are dubious. Damage from swamp buggies and ATVs in the adjacent Big Cypress National Preserve have long been the subject of disputes and lawsuits.

``It's difficult to find a spot in South Florida that doesn't have issues,'' said Carol Ann Wehle, executive director of the South Florida Water Management District. ``This is going to be a very sensitive permit.''

That was evident last month when the proposal barely cleared a preliminary hurdle. Collier's Environmental Advisory Council supported approval -- but by a 3-2 vote and over a staff recommendation to reject it.

The staff endorsed camping, RV parking, fishing, archery, hiking and biking but opposed ATVs, saying they would affect wetlands and increase traffic and greenhouse gas emissions from owners trailering ATVs to a site halfway between Miami and Naples. It's also land prowled by the endangered Florida panther.

The proposed park is located in Collier but is part of 24,000 acres owned by Miami-Dade's Aviation Department, which planned a six-runway jetport there in the late 1960s. The project largely launched the modern Save the Glades movement and helped create the adjacent Big Cypress preserve.

The runway, the only one built, now mainly operates as a training facility for large jets, which sometimes practice touch-and-go landings.

The property is almost all wetland and under water part of the year. Miami-Dade estimates ATV use would rise 20-fold from 150 to about 3,000 annually.

But Kevin Asher, a Miami-Dade parks planner, argued the project would improve natural conditions because the number of old trails would be cut by half. In addition, remaining trails would be stabilized with rock, stopping soil damage and allowing water to flow through an area often swamped with high water.

To reduce disturbances to the panther, which typically hunts at night, riding would be limited to daylight hours.

The site was selected after a feasibility study paid for by the state Division of Forestry. The Aviation Department has signed off and Miami-Dade commissioners approved a resolution, sponsored by Diaz, endorsing the ATV park in May.

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