In one voice, NRB says ‘no’ to ATVs in the NH-AL
After two years of study and unprecedented public debate, the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board (NRB) finally answered the question “Should ATV trails be built within the Northern Highland-American Legion (NH-AL) State Forest?”
With a unanimous 7-0 vote yesterday afternoon, the board simply replied, “No.”
So with “overall public opposition” cited as one of the reasons, the NH-AL has been spared from the environmental damage and recreational displacement ATV riders would cause.
The NRB’s decision was anticipated only since April 11 when Department of Natural Resources Secretary Matt Frank issued his recommendation to the board that the 78.6 miles of proposed ATV trails through the 230,000-acre forest, Wisconsin’s largest, “not be considered further.”
The NRB accepted Frank’s detailed recommendation, which estimated the ATV trails would cost between $4.8 million and $14.9 million to build through an area 30 percent covered by wetlands, lakes and streams.
NRB members asked few questions of the 27 people who testified (all but two of which opposed ATVs in the NH-AL) and didn’t spend any time discussing the issue amongst themselves before voting.
One board member, anticipating there would be little debate among his colleagues, assured the 75 people present that the board has been considering the ATV trail plan for more than a year.
The vote was met with applause, sighs of relief and congratulations among the many assembled advocates for an ATV-free NH-AL. Sue Drum and her Vilas County-based organization Northwoods Citizens for Responsible Stewardship worked tirelessly on the issue – starting not long after the hard-fought passage of a 2004 referendum against ATVs on Vilas County land. Drum rallied the troops time and again, and the coalition represented at Tuesday’s meeting –including a biologist, geologist, professional wildlife photographer and many nonmotorized recreation advocates – was laregely a culmination of her efforts.
There’s much more to say about the significance of the nonmotorized majority’s victory regarding the NH-AL, not the least of which being the ATV community’s likely response. I have more to report.
Stay tuned.
– Joel Patenaude