I just rode about forty miles on the Wild Rivers Trail in northwestern Wisonsin, and I can still taste the dust. There has always been some dust on that trail, but it's getting almost unbearable. I don't want to do that anymore, even with gogles and a filter mask. However, I have read about compounds that are put on gravel roads to keep down the dust. I've also heard that the feds are using some sort of tree sap extract on roads around the Boundary Waters in northern Minnestoa as an environmentally sensitive alternative to paving the roads. Does anyone know if anti-dust compounds are being used anywhere on ATV trails?

 

Google searched this.

I heard that they put something on the cattail trail but not sure what it was or how it worked as I don't ride it much.

http://www.google.com/search?q...rceid=ie7&rlz=1I7HPIA


liquid or powdered magnesium chloride

 

Looks like there's all kinds of anti-road dust compounds out there. Seems so logical to use them on ATV trails to make riding more enjoyable. I rode through Spooner today, and there was a tank truck going along the trail spraying down water to settle the dust. Nearby homeowners and businesses have apparently been complaining.

 

Imagine it is not cheap but WI can afford it. I think they can get the state to pay for it out of the maint fee trust. Just has to be applied for but not sure how to do that. Whoever is responsible for that trail section should know though. If not Don Mrotek would he is the WATVA person for that area.

Can't say as I blame them. They have to put up with it more than just a ride.

 

I did my part - I was up riding in Wisconsin in May. I brought back about 40 pounds of sand and dust on me, the ATV and the trailer.

All that dust is why I ride with a full face helmet. Keeps the dust out of my eyes and I don't even have to eat it.

Jaybee

 

I hate to wear a helmut with full face shield in the summer. Even here in the northland it can get hot.

But I have found out something interesting. That wasn't water I saw being sprayed on the trail where it goes through Spooner. It was some kind of anti dust compound. Noit only that, but the reason the trail hadn't been so dusty in past years is that they had been spraying it on the whole Washburn County section of the Wild Rivers trail, paid for with a state grant. They thought there would be enough residue from past years that they could skip this year. WRONG! So, now they are going to spray the whole trail again. They just sprayed the Spooner section first because of complaints from nearby residents about the dust.

It seems a particularly good idea to spray trails where dust is a problem for other people near trails. That would eliminate one source of complaints, thereby helping the ATV image. The Wild Rivers Trail, where it parallels Highway 53. is a particularly bad situation. When the wind is right, thousands of people driving on that dual lane freeway get dust from the ATVs. If the dust obscures visibility, it becomes a public safety problem.

 

Probably calcium chloride or magnesium chloride. It's used in some rural areas with limestone gravel roads to help in dust control. If you're in an area with paper mills you run across a foul stuff called lignin sulfonate. A dark reddish brown byproduct of pulp processing. It's effective but it makes a mess on your vehicle and can seriously impact surrounding creaks and streams and causing them to run a sickly brown after a rain.

 

Captain Q raises a valid point that has been around for a long time - POLUTION!

Over the years there have been a lot of different dust preventative measures - most have been discontinued due to their environmental problems.

In the 1950s and 60s they would coat the gravel roads with used oil from cars, then they used salt - both of which contaminated the local ground water... then they shifted to tree residue from paper mills... I never heard what the result was from that one but ... I'm sure it's not pretty.

When all is said and done - perhaps we will just have to wear dust masks and keep our trails away from homes - it is the least painful solution...

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: BAIR

Captain Q raises a valid point that has been around for a long time - POLUTION!



Over the years there have been a lot of different dust preventative measures - most have been discontinued due to their environmental problems.



In the 1950s and 60s they would coat the gravel roads with used oil from cars, then they used salt - both of which contaminated the local ground water... then they shifted to tree residue from paper mills... I never heard what the result was from that one but ... I'm sure it's not pretty.



When all is said and done - perhaps we will just have to wear dust masks and keep our trails away from homes - it is the least painful solution...</end quote></div>



The lignin sulfonate was thought to be fairly benign though it did degrade water quality in affected waterways. There was a bit of controversy regarding possible dioxin content. I'm not sure how that ever turned out. I never seen any hard research on it. I know that when pulp mills went to more efficient and "cleaner" processes they no longer produced lignin sulfonate, at least in the quantities that they once did.

As far as the dust that can be hazard as well. Diseases such as silicosis can be contracted from various types of rock dust. Pneumoconiosis is another which can be caused by various types of dust. A particularly nasty dust is from anthophyllite which is kin to asbestos. Rock with high anthophyllite content was/is used as a road material in some areas.

Bottom line is everything can kill ya.

 

I only know that it was some type of chloride compound that was being used. I was told that snowmobilers were concerned that it would melt snow in the winter (chloride, as in sodium chloride...i.e. salt). However, that didn't happen, so everyone is happy.

I like that a solution was found other than the all-too-common one that is often applied to ATV problems--close the trail.