Cook County's ATV club and its supporters claim that all they want to do is drive down the road for coffee. Detractors of the proposal before the Cook County Commissioners say the ATVers are trying to make Cook County an ATV destination for ATVers from around the region and that will overrun Cook County, destroying the peaceful enjoyment of the area for everyone else. The truth seems to lie with the DNR who is now openly pushing for converting the North Shore Trail to ATV use via House File 59. The DNR itself says it wants to convert the North Shore Trail to the "backbone" of motorsports (ATVs, dirt bikes, 4 x 4s) use and a key link to scramble areas in our part of the world.
Read on and wake up!
The following Action Alert was just published by Minnesotans for Responsible Recreation (also linked on this site).
Action Alert, January 24, 2007
Protect Minnesota's North Shore from ATVs: Tell Minnesota House Environment Committee members and your state legislators to vote "No!" on House File 59.
House File 59, authored by Rep. Tom Hackbarth, Cedar, would convert the North Shore State Trail from Normana Road in St. Louis County to the Moosewalk ATV trail in Lake County to ATV use. The DNR has stated it wants to use the 165 mile North Shore State Trail as the backbone of its system of ATV, dirt-bike motorcycle and four-wheel drive truck routes and scramble areas in Northeast Minnesota.
The North Shore State Trail runs from Duluth to the Canadian border and parallels, crosses and shares treadway with the Superior Hiking Trail, one of the state and nation's most popular hiking and backpacking destinations. While the North Shore ATV Club, St. Louis County and the DNR claim conversion of the North Shore State Trail would concentrate ATV use on a single treadway, the intention is to disburse ATV and other off-highway vehicle use in the region with a web of publicly funded connecting routes perpendicular to the North Shore State Trail. This would greatly increase encounters with these machines and their accompanying noise and fumes for visitors to the Superior Hiking Trail and Minnesota's North Shore.
A 2006 DNR Feasability Study found that converting the North Shore State Trail would require flattening over 100 hills, installation of 276 culverts, 190 treadway alterations and 12 miles of fill at a cost of at least $875,000.
Minnesotans and our guests fund ATV and snowmobile trails every time we buy gasoline. In 2005 we paid over $15 million at the pump to expand motorized recreation in Minnesota. These public funds would be used to convert the North Shore State Trail into an ATV superhighway and to disperse ATVs along the North Shore and throughout Northeast Minnesota.
Protect Minnesota's North Shore from the noise, fumes, danger to others and environmental damage caused by ATVs.
Tell the below Minnesota House Environment Committee members and your state legislators to vote "No!" on House File 59.
Environment and Natural Resources Committee Membership 2007 - 2008
Copy and paste the below e-mail addresses into the "To:" line of your e-mail.
Contact Committee Administrator Kirk Koudelka, (651) 296-6937, and request to be put on a listserve for updates to track committee action on this bill.
Committee meets: Tuesdays and Thursdays at 4:00 p.m. in Room 5 of the State Office Building, St. Paul.
Contact Phone Number and E-mail Address
Chair: Kent Eken (DFL) 651- 296-9918 rep.kent.eken@house.mn
Vice Chair: Rick Hansen (DFL) 651-296-6828 rep.rick.hansen@house.mn
Lead-GOP: Tom Hackbarth (R) 651-296-2439 rep.tom.hackbarth@house.mn
Kathy Brynaert (DFL) 651-296-3248 rep.kathy.brynaert@house.mn
Tony Cornish (R) 651- 296-4240 rep.tony.cornish@house.mn
David Dill (DFL) 651- 296-2190 rep.david.dill@house.mn
Paul Gardner (DFL) 651-296-2907 rep.paul.gardner@house.mn
Joe Hoppe (R) 651-296-5066 rep.joe.hoppe@house.mn
Carlos Mariani (DFL) 651-296-9714 rep.carlos.mariani@house.mn
Denny McNamara (R) 651-296-3135 rep.denny.mcnamara@house.mn
Frank Moe (DFL) 651-296-5516 rep.frank.moe@house.mn
Dave Olin (DFL) 651-296-9635 rep.dave.olin@house.mn
Dennis Ozment (R) 651-296-4306 rep.dennis.ozment@house.mn
Brita Sailer (DFL) 651-296-4265 rep.brita.sailer@house.mn
Bev Scalze (DFL) 651-296-7153 rep.bev.scalze@house.mn
Cy Thao (DFL) 651-296-5158 rep.cy.thao@house.mn
Kathy Tingelstad (R) 651-296-5369 rep.kathy.tingelstad@house.mn
Jean Wagenius (DFL) 651-296-4200 rep.jean.wagenius@house.mn
Find the name and contact information of your state representative.
Contact MRR for more information about how you can help protect Minnesota's North Shore from the unwanted effects of ATVs.
For all posts and comments about ATVs just click on the label "ATV" below.
True
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I cant wait to ride my ATV down the trails of the north shore.... stopping for lunch at the local restaurants and enjoying a fun time.
Post a Comment