Tuesday, October 18, 2005

A River of ATVs Hey, gang. I'm still on the road in South Dakota. For details, click "On the Road" over to the right ---> Meanwhile, here's a portion of a recent C.A.N.O.E., the newsletter of the River Alliance of Wisconsin. It outlines a major multiple-use conflict brewing on state lands. For more information, check out their Web site. From C.A.N.O.E, Sept. 24, 2005: All-Terrain Vehicles are Flowing to Rivers Langlade County is developing a master plan for the White Lake Corridor Recreation Trail, an abandoned rail line that closely parallels the famous Wolf River in northeastern Wisconsin. The plan calls for both motorized and non-motorized use of the trail -- and motorized means both snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles. While snowmobile use along the Wolf doesn't conflict with "silent sports" uses of the river (it's hard to paddle the Wolf in winter), ATVs certainly could. The River Alliance wrote to Langlade County forest supervisor Steve Jackson this week affirming the county's proposal to close a section of the trail that passes through a state fisheries area, roughly between April and November. That proposal follows recently developed DNR policy to not allow ATV uses on certain state lands like the Wolf River fishery area. Local people, however, were concerned that ATV users would pressure the county to keep the trail open year-round to ATVs. ATV use is booming, and they bring new business activity to rural parts of the state that depend on tourism and recreation. Part of their appeal to users is that they can go just about anywhere, trail or no trail -- and there's the problem. ATVs are coming into increasing conflict with rivers. We featured Mark Cupp, executive director of the Lower Wisconsin Riverway, in the last issue of our Wisconsin Rivers newsletter. He cited ATV use (misuse, really) as one of the biggest threats facing the Lower Wisconsin. And we learned from a reliable source very recently that several ATVs rooted up a wild rice bed along the South Fork of the Flambeau River, within the Chequamegon National Forest. There is a place for ATVs in the mix of recreation options in Wisconsin. We support the development of trails and ATV "play areas" by local and state governments. But ATV users can't continue to treat wild and undeveloped places as their exclusive province, simply because they can get there. Recreation can't happen at the expense of the resource, and it shouldn't happen at the expense of other people's use of those resources. ATV users are increasingly crowding out other people and messing up the land and water. Hey, gang. I'm still on the road in South Dakota. For details, click "On the Road" over to the right ---> Meanwhile, here's a portion of a recent C.A.N.O.E., the newsletter of the River Alliance of Wisconsin. It outlines a major multiple-use conflict brewing on state lands. For more information, check out their Web site. From C.A.N.O.E, Sept. 24, 2005: All-Terrain Vehicles are Flowing to Rivers Langlade County is developing a master plan for the White Lake Corridor Recreation Trail, an abandoned rail line that closely parallels the famous Wolf River in northeastern Wisconsin. The plan calls for both motorized and non-motorized use of the trail -- and motorized means both snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles. While snowmobile use along the Wolf doesn't conflict with "silent sports" uses of the river (it's hard to paddle the Wolf in winter), ATVs certainly could. The River Alliance wrote to Langlade County forest supervisor Steve Jackson this week affirming the county's proposal to close a section of the trail that passes through a state fisheries area, roughly between April and November. That proposal follows recently developed DNR policy to not allow ATV uses on certain state lands like the Wolf River fishery area. Local people, however, were concerned that ATV users would pressure the county to keep the trail open year-round to ATVs. ATV use is booming, and they bring new business activity to rural parts of the state that depend on tourism and recreation. Part of their appeal to users is that they can go just about anywhere, trail or no trail -- and there's the problem. ATVs are coming into increasing conflict with rivers. We featured Mark Cupp, executive director of the Lower Wisconsin Riverway, in the last issue of our Wisconsin Rivers newsletter. He cited ATV use (misuse, really) as one of the biggest threats facing the Lower Wisconsin. And we learned from a reliable source very recently that several ATVs rooted up a wild rice bed along the South Fork of the Flambeau River, within the Chequamegon National Forest. There is a place for ATVs in the mix of recreation options in Wisconsin. We support the development of trails and ATV "play areas" by local and state governments. But ATV users can't continue to treat wild and undeveloped places as their exclusive province, simply because they can get there. Recreation can't happen at the expense of the resource, and it shouldn't happen at the expense of other people's use of those resources. ATV users are increasingly crowding out other people and messing up the land and water. -30- 8:35:38 AM    comment []