As you may be aware when operating an engine you’re playing with contained fire.  When in a potential burn zone (most of the Western side of the country) you want to make damn sure no sparks are coming from your exhaust; plenty of fires have been started by overly open exhaust.  How do you do this?  Simple, make sure your Jeep/truck/ATV/bike/whatever has a good exhaust system. Open pipes/glass packs without a catalytic converter will freely pass sparks. A functional catalytic converter will arrest them. If you ride make sure your exhaust includes a USFS approved spark arrestor.  Enter this document…

This is the official United States Forest Service’s Spark Arrestor Guide for Off Highway Vehicles.  This is what the rangers will use to make sure your OHV is legal to operate.  If you’ve just bought a project bike use this guide to verify that the exhaust is up to snuff, if it’s not get it fixed before you head to the forest or I’ll spit in your helmet.

Spark Arrester Guide, OHV Vol. 3
PDF file, 3.2MB