Sounding (the silent sports) Alarm
Causes for concern & action
Grant proposals sought for Wisconsin bicycling
The Dane County Bicycle Association (DCBA) is asking Wisconsin bicycle clubs, schools and advocates to submit proposals for grants to foster bicycling.
DCBA annually awards more than $10,000 in grants to organizations that are seeking funding for bicycle-related projects. The foundation is especially interested in receiving proposals for projects that involve bicycle education in grade
schools, community-based programs to encourage people to bike to work and programs that encourage children to use their bicycles.
Proposals are rated on the potential for success, the potential to benefit the greatest number of bicyclists and the potential to improve conditions for bicycling on a long-term basis.
The grants are financed by funds from the proceeds of the sale of a Madison, Wisconsin, bicycle cooperative. The foundation was set up to provide a perpetual source of support
for bicycling.
The deadline for submitting grant requests is February 4. More information on the grant funding can be obtained from DCBA President Susan Kavulich at skav@chorus.net or 608/831-2643.
BWCA Friends group challenges DNR on OHVs
After the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) failed to oppose legislation in 2005 that allowed off-highway vehicles (OHVs) to ride roughshod across northern Minnesota, the Friends of
the Boundary Waters Wilderness sought to hold the agency accountable on a different but related front.
The DNR is trying to have state-owned forests certified as "green" a status awarded to responsible land managers that creates new markets for their lumber. Companies like Home Depot and Time, Inc. (publisher of Time magazine) buy timber and paper products from forests that are certified, thus making it important for the DNR to secure this status.
Unfortunately, Minnesota
state law allows ATVs, dirt-bike motorcycles, and 4x4 "mudder" trucks to ride virtually anywhere in northern forests. This law is counter to the standards required for certification. An outside audit bureau reviewed DNR practices and sought public comments before it will issue a certification decision, expected in early 2006.
The Friends argue that certification of Minnesota state forests should be denied until OHV management on state lands is strengthened, namely through the
repeal of the 2005 OHV law permitting unregulated riding north of U.S. Highway 2.
The Friends cited several reasons that the 2005 OHV law should be reason alone to deny certification to Minnesota state forests, including the greater likelihood of spreading non-native invasive species (such as European earthworms and the Asian longhorn beetle), the propensity for seedlings to be destroyed when OHVs leave trails and trample young trees, the damage caused to the soil as 900-pound ATVs
compact the ground and prevent water and oxygen from reaching tree roots, and risking the habitat and safety of ground-nesting birds.
The Friends and its coalition partners plan to introduce legislation in 2006 that would repeal the 2005 OHV law that allows such vehicles to ride virtually anywhere in northern Minnesota state forests.
In addition, the coalition is prepared to fight OHV groups' 2006 priorities: dedicated state funding for clubs' recruitment and lobbying purposes,
allowing OHVs to ride on the North Shore State Trail; recalculating gas tax receipts to increase funds for OHV trails and maintenance, and increasing the OHV registration fee.
The Friends and its partners succeeded in 2005 in removing a bill provision that would have provided $200,000 annually to the three lobbying groups representing ATVs, dirt-bike motorcycles and mudder trucks.
Minnesota urged to join roadless lawsuit
Last November, the Friends of the Boundary
Waters Wilderness called on Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch to help protect the state's wild lands by joining a lawsuit filed by three states.
The lawsuit seeks to overturn a Bush Administration policy that allows logging, mining and road building on 59 million acres of the country's remaining roadless areas, including 62,000 acres of the Superior National Forest.
The Friends sent a letter signed by 18 other Minnesota conservation groups to Hatch, asking him to join the lawsuit
filed by California, New Mexico and Oregon. To join the legal challenge, Hatch and the State of Minnesota must act before a Jan. 7 deadline.
The lawsuit comes in response to the White House's May 2005 decision to roll back the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule and substitute it with one favoring logging and mining companies.
The need to act is urgent because wild lands in Minnesota are slated for logging. In April 2005, Superior National Forest officials announced plans to cut
16,000 acres near the BWCAW, including portions of eight roadless areas left unprotected under the new Bush policy.
"We can't afford to sit and watch as our wild lands in Minnesota are logged and scarred with new roads," said Melissa Lindsay, executive director of the Friends group. "The threats are immediate and that's why we're turning our attention to Mike Hatch and the legal system to help protect these lands now."
A state panel recommended Gov. Tim Pawlenty
not pursue further public review of roadless areas in Minnesota because of the cost. As of early December, Pawlenty had not indicated how he would act on the recommendation.
On view: OHV plans for Chippewa Nat'l Forest
The public is invited to a series of January open houses in Minnesota to discuss the proposed use of Chippewa National Forest roads by motorized vehicle access (cars, trucks and OHVs). The public can review maps of the inventoried access routes within each
of the jurisdictions under consideration. The public comments received during this initial stage of the process will be collected and directed to the appropriate agencies involved.
The open houses will be held:
Jan. 11, 5-8:00 p.m., Deer River, Deer River High School;
Jan. 12, 5-8:00 p.m., Marcell, Marcell Family Center;
Jan. 17, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Bemidji, Lincoln Elementary School;
Jan. 18, 5-8:00 p.m., Walker, Walker High School;
Jan. 26, 5:30-8:00 p.m., Remer, Northland High School.
For more information, call the Chippewa National Forest office at 218/335-8600 or the Minnesota DNR Regional Office at 218/755-3955.
| 
