Minnesota still expected to open more ATV trails than can be justified
The third and final part of the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s investigation of ATV enforcement in Minnesota (see below for a summary and links to the previous stories) deals with the DNR’s ongoing ATV trail designation process.
By the end of this year, the state could have 7,700 miles of ATV trails – closing approximately 1 mile of trail for every 2 miles opened, according to the story.
“Wisconsin, by contrast, has about 180 miles of ATV trails on DNR land, and its state forest system is about one-eighth Minnesota’s size. … (But) most ATV riding in Wisconsin is on county lands. Minnesota also has thousands of miles of trails and roads open to ATVs in county and federal forests,” The Star Trib reports.
Yet there’s this from a sidebar, headlined “Resentment grows as ATV users, others try to share state forests,” that ran in the newspaper yesterday:
“Wisconsin’s DNR, which studied the issue in 2006, concluded ‘it is evident that ATV riding is incompatible with every other land-based activity but snowmobiling.’ The Minnesota DNR surveyed 4,400 people in the state about outdoor recreation in 2004 and found about 10 percent said they used ATVs off road.”
In both states the supply of public ATV trails is far greater than the minority demanding them.
Read Part III of the Star Trib’s story here.
– Joel Patenaude