SOUNDING (the silent sports) ALARM
Causes for concern & action
OHV BILLS FACE OPPOSITION ORVS DAMAGING HIKING-ONLY TRAILS
Hiking-only trails in Minnesota, Wisconsin and across the nation are increasingly damaged by illegal off-road vehicle riding, according to a recent report by the American Hiking Society.
ATV and snowmobile damage done to the Kekekabic Trail system in the
Superior National Forest of Minnesota and the Ice Age National Scenic Trail in Wisconsin are case studies in the report Trails at Risk: The Impacts of Unmanaged Motorized Recreation and Off-Road Vehicle Use on Hiking Trails and the Hiking Experience.
In the report a Kekekabic Trail Club member described as "terrible" the ATV traffic and damage done to the Superior Hiking Trail. The trail requires repair especially where it intersects with snowmobile trails and where motorized
vehicles with studs have been driven. The club members also complained of trash left by snowmobilers and ATV engine noise disturbing hikers.
In Wisconsin,only one three-mile section of the 1,000-mile Ice Age National Scenic Trail is open to ATVs. Yet illegal use of ATVs affects tens if not more than 100 miles of the trail designed for use only by pedestrians.
"In some areas, Ice Age Trail volunteers have rallied to try to halt illegal and unauthorized ATV use," the report
quotes Christine Thisted, executive director of the Ice Age Park and Trail Foundation, saying. "Unfortunately, law enforcement tends to side with ATV users by turning an eye and citing lack of funding for such enforcement."
Thisted said ATV registration fees should be increased to fund repair and restoration of areas damaged by ATVs, not just the repair of designated ATV trails as currently allowed under state law.
The Trails at Risk report is focused on off-road vehicle use
on federal lands. The entire report can be found at www.AmericanHiking.org.
PETITION TO PROTECT MINNESOTA WILDERNESS
There are nearly 90,000 acres of roadless areas in the Superior National Forest of Minnesota that deserve permanent protection. These are old forests, pristine lakes and popular recreation areas that have largely remained free of
logging and degradation. They are some of Minnesota's last remaining unprotected wild places outside of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW).
In 2003, the Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness released a study recommending the permanent protection of roadless areas in Superior National Forest for hunting, fishing, canoeing, bird watching and camping.
Last year, the Friends group published the report Roadless Areas of the North: What We've Lost and What We Stand to
Lose and launched a campaign titled "Untamed. Unspoiled. Unprotected" to protect Minnesota's wilderness.
In April, the U.S. Forest Service announced the largest logging project in nearly a decade in the Superior National Forest -- the Echo Trail Project, which intends to clear-cut more than 16,000 acres, or an area equal to 25 square miles.
"If the Echo Trail project were based on sound forest management, perhaps it would recommend prescribed burns on these roadless
areas -- the best way to regenerate jack pine and other conifers. Or at least it might recommend a more sensitive, selective harvesting method that would spare old trees and prevent new roads that bring logging trucks today and ATVs tomorrow," wrote Melissa Lindsay, executive director of Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness, in a column that appeared in the St. Paul Pioneer Press on June 12.
"Instead," Lindsay continued, "the Echo Trail project is intended to
maximize timber company profits, thereby degrading the roadless areas where Minnesotans hunt, fish, hike, camp, canoe and enjoy the silence of our big woods."
The Friends organization has called on Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty to take the lead in protecting the roadless areas. To read the Roadless Areas report and sign the Friends' petition, go to www.protectmnwilderness.org.
TWO BICYCLISTS KILLED IN DANE COUNTY, WI
Jessica Bullen a girlfriend, daughter, sister and member of the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin died on July 3 from injuries sustained in a crash with a motor vehicle on June 30.
Bullen, 29, was the second bicyclist to lose her life within a month in Dane County. On June 9, a 33-year-old woman was killed near Marquette Street in Madison in a crash with a
delivery van.
The number of bicycle fatalities in Wisconsin in 2005 stood at six by early July, compared to four at the same time last year.
"Bicycling is a safe and healthy activity. Both motorists and bicyclists have to follow the rules of the road and be cautious," Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin executive director Marjorie Ward said.
"Jessica was an experienced bicyclist who was dedicating her life to planning better communities," Ward continued. "We
owe it to her to take this moment to think about how to make Dane County a safe place for everyone, not just for cars."
The Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin works to educate the public, both cyclist and motorists, on how to use our roads safely through classes, events and publications as well as working to improve facilities for bicyclists all over the state.
Bullen's family asked that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin. You can
contribute at www.bfw.org or by calling 608/251-4456.
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