SOUNDING (the silent sports) ALARM
Causes for concern & action
OHV BILLS FACE OPPOSITION Friends of the Boundary Waters wilderness and 50 other Minnesota-based organizations have blasted proposed state legislation that would allow off-highway vehicles (OHVs) to run roughshod through state forests. OHVs include all-terrain vehicles, dirt-bike motorcycles, and four-wheel drive or "mudder" trucks.
Legislation in the House would allow ATVs to ride
almost anywhere on 74 percent of state forest lands, provide funds to study opening the North Shore State Trail to ATVs, and give $200,000 annually to the three Minnesota organizations lobbying on behalf of OHVs.
The House bill also leaves in doubt the future of a damage restoration account. A Senate bill would extend the $500,000 damage account until 2007, but the competing House bill would let the fund expire this month.
The Friends advocates for extending the fund, which
allows people and local governments to be reimbursed for damage caused by OHVs.
The House bill that would allow OHVs to ride off designated trails is a reversal of the 2003 compromise Pawlenty brokered with conservationists and OHV rider clubs.
In February, lawmakers introduced a bill that would have increased fines for reckless OHV riders but it was defeated in a Senate committee and never received a hearing in the House. The initiative would have protected Minnesota's great
outdoors by reining in repeat offenders and deterring future violators.
OHV ACCIDENTS, LAW BREAKING ON THE RISE The increase in OHV usage over the past decade has brought an increase in complaints, violations, accidents and fatalities, and placed excessive demands on Minnesota law enforcement agencies according to the Minnesota DNR.
Since 1995, 114 Minnesotans have died and another 9,700 have been injured in OHV related incidents.
Every year, tens of thousands of children are sent to the emergency room with serious and often debilitating injuries from ATV accidents.
Improper adult operation of OHVs is also a concern since they commit an overwhelming majority of the violations. During a recent 12-month period, DNR statistics show people 18 and older had 82 percent of the violations.
For example, an
ATV rider in Crow Wing State Forest was issued seven tickets in one day. When issued the citations, the violator told the conservation officer he "didn't care about the laws."
In another egregious case in Crow Wing County State Forest, four men were ticketed for driving mud trucks in a lakebed. A few hours later, all four men were again stopped and charged with operating an off-road vehicle off trail in a state forest and without obtaining off-road registration. In each
instance there was substantial damage to the resource.
MOTORIZED TRAILS PROPOSED The Minnesota DNR is seeking public comments on 182 miles of proposed OHV trails located in Beltrami, Marshall and Roseau counties in northwestern Minnesota. This grant-in-aid proposal includes the use of mostly existing routes located on Consolidated Conservation (or Con-Con) lands, along private land easements and within public road
rights of way.
The proposed trail connects ATV trails on DNR wildlife management areas with trails in the Beltrami Island State Forest.
The DNR is putting two separate motorized recreation trail proposals out for public review, one of which would add 39 miles of ATV trail to existing corridors through or adjacent to Con-Con lands in Beltrami and Marshall counties.
The proposal recommends that the Fourtown/Grygla grant-in-aid trail be open for OHV use from May 15 to
November 1. Temporary closures may be imposed to protect public safety, natural resources, the trail surface or trail users.
Copies of the project proposal are available for review at the Northwest Regional Library, 210 North Labree Ave. in Thief River Falls; at DNR Trails and Waterways offices located at 246 125th Ave. N.E. in Thief River Falls and 6603 Bemidji Ave. N. in Bemidji; at the DNR Forestry office in Grygla; and at the DNR library located at 500 Lafayette Road in St. Paul.
Project documents are also available at www.dnr.state.mn.us.
Responses to public comments received by July 1 will be released on the DNR Web. At that time, the DNR will determine if an environmental assessment worksheet is needed due to the project's proposed mileage.
BWCAW VIOLATION FORMS AVAILABLE To aid the U.S. Forest Service, the Friends of the Boundary Waters
Wilderness has implemented its own violation/inappropriate use reporting system. The purpose of this system is to provide the Forest Service with information collected by visitors to the BWCAW.
This system will allow visitors to pinpoint certain campsites, lakes and portages that suffer from increased traffic and lack of care, as well as identify illegal activities that undermine the natural quality of the wilderness. The Forest Service remains the principal enforcement agency.
The friends group urges BWCAW visitors to take copies of the form on their trips, share their observations and thereby help protect Minnesota's wilderness.
People are advised not to directly confront other parties with respect to wilderness violations. This is the job of the Forest Service law enforcement office.
To obtain a copy of the violation/overuse report form, visit www.friends-bwca.org or contact James Flinn at 612/332-9630 or james@friends-bwca.org | 
