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Sounding (the silent sports) Alarm [3.07] ATV FIGHT OVER NH-AL FOREST STARTS ANEW A new letter-writing campaign is underway in opposition to opening the Wisconsin's Northern Highland-American Legion (NH-AL) State Forest to ATVs. Northwoods Citizens for Responsible Recreation (NCRS), which in 2004 rallied area residents to vote overwhelmingly to ban ATVs from Vilas County land, is now urging all Wisconsinites to come to the defense of the 222,000-acre NH-AL. Two years ago, Wisconsin DNR officials scuttled a plan to site an "experimental" ATV trail within the NH-AL, much of which lies in Vilas County, because of widespread opposition. Soon thereafter, a stakeholder's group was formed to determine whether a suitable ATV route through the forest could be found. In mid-February, Sue Drum, spokesperson for NCRS and a member of the stakeholders group, said a recommendation for an ATV trail in the forest will likely be approved in May or June and then forwarded to the Natural Resources Board. The NRB will make the final decision whether ATV riding will be allowed in the state forest. As ATV trails proliferate in surrounding northern counties, Drum said the NH-AL should "remain an example of an intact, undamaged forest." Background materials – including the 2003-2004 Vilas County referendum campaign documents – are archived at www.ncrs.info. The NCRS website includes the ATV directive from the NH-AL Master Plan, DNR criteria for citing ATV trails and maps of the proposed ATV trails and routes: 1) An Iron County Loop requiring a bridge over the lower Manitowish River, 2) a trail through southern and northern half of the Lake Tomahawk to the Sayner Trail, and 3) an extension of the Sayner Trail from Sayner to Star Lake area end on Highway K at the boundary of the NH-AL. Wisconsin already has 8,507 miles of ATV trails and routes open year-round, Drum pointed out. In 2003, 5,555 miles were state-funded ATV trails. Before more trails are built, the DNR should develop a comprehensive, statewide ATV trail plan, Drum argued. "It is wrong to force trails into a valuable and sensitive resource like NH-AL without first developing a statewide plan that could present suitable alternate ATV trail sites." Drum urged all who favor keeping the forest nonmotorized, to send letters and e-mail to the Natural Resources Board (NRB) in care of Executive Staff Assistant Laurie Ross at Laurie.Ross@Wisconsin.gov or P.O. Box 7921, Madison, WI 53707-7921. Be sure to ask Ross to forward your correspondence to all seven members of the NRB. Copies should also be sent to your letter to DNR Secretary Scott Hassett (scott.hassett@dnr.state.wi.us; DNR Forestry Division Administratior Paul Delong (paul.delong@dnr.state.wi.us) and State Trails Council Chairman Dave Phillips (maddavie@charter.net). Proponents of ATVs in the NH-AL are waging their own letter-writing campaign, so it is crucial the NRB hears from silent sports enthusiasts, too. "I am convinced that an ATV trail or trails can only be stopped if enough people come to the aid of this important public resource, and recognize the value of maintaining the integrity of the forest ecosystem, as well as its scenic and esthetic qualities," Drum wrote in a public appeal. DRAFT ATV LEGISLATION INCLUDES GOOD & BAD Advocates of nonmotorized recreation in Wisconsin ought to take note of draft legislation recently passed by the Special Committee on State Trails Policy. In early January, the committee voted 7-5 in favor of a package of proposals that included several worthy measures: • Establishment of an ATV damage repair fund; • Increased fines for trespassing while riding an ATV and requiring the display of license plates on the back of ATVs; • The funds needed to relocate five miles of the pedestrian Ice Age Trail taken over and damaged by ATV'ers; • An income tax form check-off creating a segregated fund for "nonmotorized trails." Unfortunately, the draft legislation would also increase the DNR's ATV fund from $5 million to more than $11 million annually, which caused silent sports advocates on the committee to vote against the entire package. They fear that such a huge financial windfall for ATVing would hasten the push for motorized recreation on more public lands, including hiking and biking trails. Any legislation ought to better reflect the needs of the 85 percent of Wisconsin's outdoor recreationalists who favor nonmotorized activities. The bill now goes before the 22-member Joint Legislative Committee, co-chaired by Sen. Fred Risser, D-Madison, and Rep. Steve Wieckert, R-Appleton. A silent sports strategy group is taking shape. Watch this space in the coming months for updates. In the mean time, e-mail silentsports@gmail.com for more info. NEWSPAPER: POLICE BETTER THAN TRAIL VOLUNTEERS Paid law enforcement officers, not citizen volunteers, should police ATV riding on city trails, according to the editorial board of the Duluth News Tribune. The paper's editors are not convinced the trails can be adequately protected by a corps of 30 to 40 volunteers, dubbed "trail rangers," as proposed by the Duluth Parks and Recreation Department. In a February 15 editorial, the newspaper reported that the "citizen-deputies are scheduled to go through two rounds of training next month and to patrol the city's 75 miles of trails this summer." The paper noted that the volunteers won't have the authority to arrest or write tickets to law breakers. "The rangers won't confront ATV riders, but will forward license plates to police. And they'll simply hand out etiquette cards to wrongdoers," the editorial stated. The newspaper said more effective would be periodic and unexpectedly ... patrols of the trails by police. "A couple of police officers on a surprise visit an afternoon or two every few months would send a strong message. Because trail users wouldn't know when the officers were going to be out there, they'd refrain from illegal and even discourteous activities," the newspaper wrote. The same could be said in Wisconsin of county sheriff's deputies and state concervation officers whose responsibilities include enforcing ATV laws on public property. Unfortunately, law enforcement agencies here are increasingly turning to ineffective volunteer "trail ambassadors" trained by the Wisconsin ATV Association to conduct trail patrols. ATV DAMAGE INSURANCE TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE In an announcement Allstate Insurance expected would give "adrenaline junkies ... a new reason to smile," the company said it is now offering coverage to off-road vehicle (ORV) owners in Wisconsin. Besides offering medical and liability insurance to ORV riders, Allstate said in a February 15 press release it is extending "physical damage coverage." Allstate's policy description – easily misread and unintentionally ironic, probably – said the company will insure ORVs "for off-road hazards that could cause direct physical loss or damage. This includes theft, fire, collision, damage-in-transit and vandalism." Silent Sports asked if the insurance company was offering to cover the costs of property damage caused by ATV riders/policy holders. Eric Stott of Allstate responded via email: "If I am on my ORV and I lose control and run into someone's fence, my ORV policy will pay for the damage to my (sic) fence." Again, the magazine asked, "Are you offering restitution to property owners who suffer wetland damage, rutting and erosion issues due to illegal ATV riding by your policy holders?" Stott replied, "No, we do not cover illegal operation of the vehicle." BWCA motor boat quotas still not recalculated In February 2006, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit found the U.S. Forest Service's recalculation of motor boat quotas on three chains of lakes and towboat quotas were "arbitrary and capricious" and not consistent with the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) Act of 1978. The Forest Service was ordered to recalculate those quotas. In its opinion in the case, the court found the federal agency's attempt to recreate missing records of motorboat usage on the particular lakes within the Moose, Farmand Saganaga chains could not support the agency's increase in permit quotas. The court ordered the Forest Service to consult with the Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness and other plaintiffs in the case. A year has now passed and the Friends group reports in its latest newsletter "that process has yet to begin in earnest, though the Forest Service has made some initial inquiries of the Friends and others." The BWCA friends sued the Forest Service which responded by increasing the day use motor quotas from 2,376 to 6,892, on the three chains affected by the decision: Moose Chain (Moose, Newfound, and Sucker Lakes), Farm Chain (White Iron, Farm, Garden, and South Farm Lakes), and Saganaga Chain (Saganaga Lake, Seagull River, and Gull Lake). The friends group and a coalition of others filed suit in federal court to return the quotas to meet the level established by the BWCAW Act. In 2004, a district court judge agreed the Forest Service had improperly increased the quotas. In February 2005, the Forest Service appealed. A year later the appeals court agreed the Forest Service had the authority to set motor boat quotas but found that the data used used by the agency to do so was "so unreliable and inadequately explained as to make reliance on them arbitrary and capricious."
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