Let me start by thanking Arvis Thompson for her enlightening diatribe on the B2B issue. While she started with a reasonable statement on recreational opportunities in Cook County, by the middle of her second paragraph she quickly devolved into a searing slam against bicyclists. Why she thinks attacking another user group, not even involved in her issue, is helpful in advancing her questionable cause is a mystery, but even more mysterious is the use of false and disproved information about that group.
Bicyclists contribute as much as any other citizens to roads and maintenance, most of them also own cars and pay motor vehicle taxes, most of them also pay other state and local taxes that make up two/ thirds of those roadway costs. So much for her claim that cyclists have never done that.
The amount of money to operate and maintain the B2B is minuscule to the costs. $800,000 for an administrator, maintenance, and enforcement along an 800- mile swath across northern Minnesota.
And that would be just for the actual trail, with no mention of offsite erosion and environmental damages.
In her third paragraph, she states that the county is not required to support it, then why is she so adamant that they do so?
Next she purports that these vehicle operators are licensed and insured, I hope so if they are using our roads, it is required by law, but so too are heavy equipment excavators. Does she also support recreational bulldozing?
And obviously she lacks any engineering experience or knowledge, her effort to minimize the ground effects of a 2-ton 4-wheel drive 400HP ORV of causing less damage than that caused by a 30 lb. human powered two wheeler, borders on the ludicrous: a vehicle more than 100 times the size/ weight and 1000 times the power?
A study done a few years back by the University of Minnesota rated the economic values of various recreational activities. At the top of the list it found that birders spent the most locally with bicyclists a close second, ATV and ORVs were well down the list. There seems scant evidence that there would be any net gain from the motorized group after paying for the damages to the environment. Yet it appears that she is promoting that to be traded off against bicyclists.
The sheriff gets mentioned, and dismissed, as though it’s just part of his job to trade off his other duties to pay attention to the trail, but he can, and has, spoken for himself.
Overall this proposal strikes me, as a Soil & Water Conservationist, about the looniest idea in a long time. We try to protect our resources, not destroy them. Repairing damages is much more expensive then protecting them in the first place. The county would do well to toss this into the trash heap.
Jerry Hiniker, Colvill
Leave a Reply