Editor's Letter by Joel Patenaude
Be silent no more My job, as I see it, is to be an enthusiastic participant in and advocate of self-propelled sports. (There are worse jobs, I grant you.) But regular readers know I'm also a defender of a nonmotorized recreation ethic. To that end, irresponsible ATV riders and the industry that encourages their belligerence are frequently in my crosshairs. I think it only makes sense to take them on, given the word
"silent" in the title of this magazine. Others may find it ironic that I can't shut up about what has become a Sisyphean campaign.
Well, I recently found myself surrounded by few like-minded but potential allies. I've shed just enough of my outsider status to accept appointment to the Special Legislative Committee on State Trails Policy. The 12-member committee, made up of five lawmakers and seven citizens, is heavily pro-ATV. At the one meeting held thus far, we listened to
an uninterrupted parade of ATV advocates. And from committee member Rep. Alvin Ott, a Richland Center Republican, we heard a jeremiad against the "lack of things for our young people to do." His solution: Permit ATV riding in more rural areas.
I should have, but didn't, point out there's a much greater epidemic than bored youth, and its the rate of obesity in Wisconsin – 61 percent of all adults and 24 percent of high school students – primarily because people aren't exercising.
Getting more of these folks to sit on ATVs won't help them avoid type 2 diabetes or heart disease or reduce their medical costs shared by the rest of us.
Several months ago, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) released a smidgen of survey data indicating that 23.4 percent of Wisconsinites ride ATVs, and insisted that figure is growing quickly. This selectively chosen statistic was meant to demonstrate the need for "motorized recreation areas" built on public
land at taxpayer expense.
Interestingly, that 23.4 percent ATV'ers figure came from the draft of the DNR's 2005-2010 Wisconsin Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP). Although it went unmentioned by the DNR at the time, this document provides ample proof that ATV riders are not only outnumbered by nonmotorized trail users but their values are out of sync with the majority of state residents.
Not only are many more Wisconsinites hiking (35 percent), but
singletrack mountain biking (20.4 percent) and trail running (18.6 percent) are about as popular as ATVing. (But that's assuming there really are that many recreational ATV riders. Of the 300,000 ATVs registered in the state, only 228,000 are licensed for public trail use, according to the DNR. And if the Wisconsin ATV Association's demographic data is to believed, most ATV owners have more than one of those machines. So there are probably far fewer sport ATV'ers than the 848,000 off-road
mountain bikers or 773,000 trail runners in Wisconsin as accounted for in the SCORP.)
More importantly, the SCORP shows a 54 percent majority of the state's recreationalists (including the "non-consumptive moderates," "nature lovers," "active nature watchers" and "enthusiasts" among us) prefer to experience the outdoors unmolested and unmarred by revving engines, tread damage or polluting exhaust. (Another 31 percent of state residents are
inactive or only occasional picnickers.) Noise from ATVs and other conflicts with motorized users were among the top five personal and environmental "barriers" people listed as preventing them from recreating more often.
The DNR deserves credit for including in the SCORP, for the first time, a chapter devoted to outdoor recreation "compatibility and conflict." Focus groups rated the compatibility of the various activities – from ATVing and snowmobiling to horseback
riding, mountain biking, cross-country skiing, hiking and wildlife watching. The results led the authors to a predictable conclusion: "It is evident that ATV riding is incompatible with every other land-based activity but snowmobiling."
Rob McConnell, vice president of the Wisconsin ATV Association, told our committee his organization is working with volunteers who build and maintain the Wisconsin-spanning, hiking-only Ice Age Scenic Trail (IAT) to address ATV damage
"but we haven't found a solution." The volunteer co-ordinators of the IAT Superior Lobe Chapter have a suggestion: "Any public expenditure to promote four-wheeler facilities should include funding to pay for portions of the IAT that have been taken over by ATVs at the expense of IAT users," Dale Crisler and Tim McRaith wrote in a letter to the committee.
Knowing ATV damage is widespread, I asked McConnell if WATVA had considered supporting in Wisconsin what's
available in Minnesota: That state has a designated restitution fund that can be tapped by property owners whose land is wrecked by unidentifiable ATV riders. McConnell said the Minnesota fund, started with $500,000 in ATV fuel taxes, was "flawed" and not worth creating here. Interestingly, when I asked WATVA President Randy Harden a year ago if he would support such a fund here, he said, "Yes." And last June, I asked Wisconsin State Parks Director Bill Morrissey the same
question. He, too, said it was good idea and one he would include in any proposal to build ATV recreation areas his department might submit.
(By the way, it's debatable whether ATV parks would enable the DNR to corral and regulate ATV riding. But you can bet that even if they get one or more "wreck areas," WATVA and the most rabid ATV riders won't stop demanding thousands of miles of new ATV trails dicing up wetlands and wildlife areas.)
If you've encountered ATV trail damage in
Wisconsin and would support the creation of a restitution fund – or other means to control the proliferation of ATVs on public parklands – write to the state trails policy committee or, better yet, show up and testify at our next public hearing on November 10 at 10 a.m. at Merrill City Hall in Merrill, Wisconsin. Contact the Legislative Committee by e-mailing Beth Piliouras at Elizabeth.Piliouras@legis.wisconsin.gov or calling her at 608/266-2509 in the office of Sen. Roger Breske, chairman of the committee.
While we face myriad problems with ATVs, funding for nonmotorized trails is down 30 percent and falling. As a budget cutting measure, the DNR has even considered eliminating the mere eight staff positions that oversee 42 state trails totaling 1,682 miles.
As members of the silent sports community, this is our chance to speak up. We need to debate whether ATV'ers ought to be allowed to adversely harm the land and the experiences of the nonmotorized majority. Most Vilas County
residents don't think so.
Defenders of the Northern Highland-American Legion State Forest don't think so. And most recently, residents of Namakagon Township – in the heart of Wisconsin's mountain biking and cross-country skiing country – don't think so (see "Sounding Alarm," also available online).
We'll continue to fight on all these fronts and more. But what we really need is lawmakers to commit to creating more safe, silent and sustainable trails that foster healthful
recreational opportunities in this state. |
