Bicyclists mobilize for the the Badger State Trail
Taking a page from the local motorsports lovers’ playbook, more than 100 bicyclists showed up at the annual meeting of the Friends of the Badger State Trail last night and swept three of their own into the open positions on the board.
The mobilization led by the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin – involving the Bombay Bicycle Club, Trek, Saris, REI and other big names in the state’s bike industry – increased the biking advocates on the board from one to three.
That still leaves the Friends group with a four-member majority which favors ATVing and snowmobiling on the rail-trail. The newly minted Friends group was packed with motorsports enthusiasts last January, prompting Tuesday night’s response from the bicycling community. While the entire trail is open to snowmobiles when the conditions are right, ATVs are only allowed winter use of the 11-mile stretch between Monroe and Monticello and only on a trial basis this year and next year.
Who uses the trail is determined by the Natural Resources Board and overseen by the DNR. The Friends group has input but no authority on the matter.
The new Friends board members had the support of most of the 149 people who paid $15 in membership dues Tuesday night for the privilige to vote. They now have a mandate to promote bicycling on the 40-mile trail. The surge in membership added $2,235 to the Friend’s coffers which had little more than $1,400 before the meeting.
Sharon Kaminecki, owner of the Earth Rider Bicycling Boutique and Hotel in Brodhead, is now vice president. Avid Monroe area cyclist Bernie Robertson was elected treasurer. And David Vogt, the new deputy director of the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin, won overwhelmingly one of two at-large seats.
Shortly before he was elected, Vogt told the crowd, “I am particularly interested in seeing the Badger State Trail’s northern connection to Madison completed.” That statement was greeted with considerable applause. The trail currently stretches from south of Paoli to the Illinois state line.
Rob O’Connell, vice president of the Wisconsin ATV Association, had a front-row seat at the meeting in the Belleville High School Auditorium. He had to be wondering how his side was so convincingly outplayed.
– Joel Patenaude