Read this is todays paper,

http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/5211227.html

Last update: January 29, 2005 at 7:20 AM
Tom Hackbarth and Maxine Penas: ATVs damaging public lands? Look at evidence

January 29, 2005




Over several sessions the Legislature has acted aggressively to address issues of all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) and other off-highway vehicles (OHVs) on public and private lands.

Penalties for improper use of ATVs were increased and updated to allow for restitution by riders who intentionally damage public lands. Enforcement funding was dramatically increased and a system for trail development was instituted to allow for use of ATVs on designated trails only. These actions were accomplished by the Legislature working with responsible statewide OHV groups.
Unfortunately, the proposal put forth by state Sen. John Marty and Rep. Paul Thissen (Commentary, Jan. 13) threatens to undo the balance incorporated in these past legislative actions.

They noted in their commentary that most of Minnesota's OHV owners are conscientious and responsible. We agree. They also argued that it is not just a handful of "bad apples" who are responsible for the damage. After noting that more than 3,000 tickets and warnings were issued to OHV operators, they go on to indicate that a "significant number of irresponsible riders speed, tear up wetlands, endanger themselves and others and defy state laws."

Citations and warnings issued by DNR conservation officers in 2004 do not support the authors' claims.

For example, a total of 982 actual ATV citations were written in 2004. In addition, 1,640 warnings were given out. Obviously, if it were as bad as indicated by the writers, any reasonable person would have to surmise that conservation officers would have written all of the tickets as citations, not as warnings.

Now, let's review those citations. Of the 982, the largest group (330) were written for failure to display or possess a valid registration. Clearly, this one-third of the citations had nothing to do with speeding, tearing up wetlands or endangerment. They just failed to register their ATV.

The next highest group of citations was 190, for operating on an improved county road. Again, no damage to public lands. Next came 125 citations, probably issued to parents, who allowed their children to operate ATVs illegally.

Regarding specific claims made by Marty and Thissen, there were 76 citations for operating in a closed area, 5 for excessive speed, 12 for careless or reckless operation, 28 for trespassing on posted or agricultural lands, 14 for operating on a non-ATV designated trail, and 2 for damage to property.

Considering there are more than 200,000 ATV operators in Minnesota, does this sound like a problem that is out of control or in need of punitive fines and wholesale forfeiture of machines?

To put this in some reasonable perspective, last year snowmobile operators were issued a total of 1,277 violations and 1,234 warnings, which appear to us to be very comparable to ATV violations. No one is calling for forfeiture, nor should they, of their snowmobiles.


Tom Hackbarth, R-Cedar, is chairman of the Environment and Natural Resources Committee in the Minnesota House of Representatives. Maxine Penas, R-Badger, is a member of the House.

THIS IS EXACTLY THE POINT!!! Environmental lobby's and their elected lackeys twist the facts on every issue, in every case that they go before legislative entities and outrigt LIE to them about the ATV industry. THAT"S RIGHT.. I CALLED THEM LIARS, CHEATS and OUT RIGHT CRIMINALS!!!

And it is high time we let our legislators know that we ARE WATCHING! AND TAKING NOTES on every VOTE they make, and if they like that nice cushy leather chair they sit in, they had better wake up to the fact that we are NOT going to sit back and take it any more!!!

Our industry is putting food on a lot of family tables tonight. They need to remember that.

Squirells, and deer, and turkeys and all the other animals in the forest are all eatable. They are there to be harvested, and we access those trails using ATV's. Many of us spend time with our children teaching them about nature and developing a sense of responsibility while we ride. It sure beats sitting on a couch playing a gameboy. I think it safe to say that many conservationist activities involve the use of an ATV to be more productive, and a lot of conservation work would not have been accomplished without them.

Message to lawmakers:

KEEP OUR LANDS OPEN and STOP TAKING DIRTY MONEY FROM CRIMINAL LIARS. YOU ARE ELECTED TO SERVE ALL THE PEOPLE... NOT SOME DEEP POCKET LIBERAL ORGANISATION BASED OUT OF STATE.

I APPLAUD THESE TWO POLITICIANS THAT "GET IT"

Open your checkbooks and help more people like these get elected! I think you can give up to a couple hundred dollars to campaign funds and get that amount credited on your income taxes. That's a credit, not a deduction. It might not cost you a thing. There are maxium credits, so check the tax laws for your individual situation.

You need to really pin down the politicians on their positions of motorized recreation. Remember that John Kerry did a photo op on an Arctic Cat ATV while his written position statement on his website specified he wanted to ban snowmobiles in Yellowstone.

obviously to the regard of yellowstone something has to be done that is a protected forrest and 2 stroke snowmobiles do let off alot of emissions but now they are making great strides in the 4 stroke. but that is what some politicians and dnr do they make a lil handfull of people sound like everyone on an atv is running through private land and going and going next door and spinning up the old neighbor lady's rose garden and that isn't the case at all hey draggin you should move to minnesota and start an uprising lol looking what maxine wrote kinda makes me with i would have voted for her this last election [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-blush.gif[/img]

People need to look at the numbers! Those who are against ATVing just throw out numbers. When you look deeper in to the issue, you see how hollow their claims are. I applaud this guy for standing up and showing the truth. Unreal that others were going on the "damaging the area" idea, when 99.8% of the fines were not related to environmental problems.

We need to ask ourselves where are we going to be in 5 years as a sport. If things go as badly as they have these past 2, we won't have a sport of ATV riding to worry about.

The problem with these numbers is that they only include citations where someone was caught doing something wrong. It's easy for a law enforcer to see of a 4-wheeler lacks the proper sticker. However, that machine could have just churned ruts through a wetland, but there would be no ticket for that if it wasn't witnessed. I doubt if many get caught in the act of doing damage.

A snowmobile club official in Burnett County WI told me last week they had gone to the county forestry committe and asked to connect two of their trails on a route that went through a wetland on county land. Normally, that's no problem since the wetlands are frozen when snowmobiles are ridden and no damage is done. But, the committee said that if a trail were opened, ATV'ers would ride on it in the summer and create damage. REQUEST DENIED!

We need to clean up our act. A first step might be to fully realize that we can't just keep saying that damages are caused by only a few bad apples. That sounds really lame to people who can see the rutted trails and other damages.

Yeah, but I think the point was that if the lobby is going to use numbers, they have to be presented properly, and not mis-represent what the problem actually is.

You recognition of the need and work with local clubs to groom trails is a start. It will be efforts like that, along with increased emphasis on environmental issues in our training programs that will have the greatest results. Take away their ammunition... It takes , time, $ and committment. Something that requires more than one person as well.

Your work is small, but it is a start.

Hey, on a side note, I just got my ATV accessories catalog from Moose... in it, they have a trail grooming drag for a few hundred bucks. It might be what you are looking for in that regard. Kudo's to Moose for including it.

Sure makes me proud to be a Minnesotan. I know we have a lot of legislators backing us up here, and we need to keep it that way. You can tell by all the laws we have how ATV aware they are. Good to see!

What I'd really like to see is the money being spent on denying access be used for repair and maintenece of existing trails, and the building of new ones. What a novel concept... ATV industry working WITH environmentalists. The real problem is that in the past, trail construction methods may not have been up to the standards required to make sure that damage is minimized. We now have professional organisations dedicated to research and intruction of proper construction method.

Believe it or not, It has blossomed into a whole seperate industry, with specialized equipment and new methods of construction being developed to make it possible to build trails that work with nature and do not damage wetlands. All this re-construction takes vision, and cooperation not only on the part of envirnmentalist groups, but local riding clubs etc. too... It takes volunteers to employ the methods etc. Certainly, I think you will find that funding IS available if you can make a reasonable proposal...

PM me if you are interested in the association websites and/or the equipment.. Also can provide links to professioanl trail builders if you need them.