Scott Benolken
Over the past several weeks I’ve witnessed a vocal and anti-access minority of Cook County residents oppose the B2B touring route based on reasoning that is flawed and misleading.
In testimony before the county board we heard concerns that our fragile U.S. Forest System and county road system would be overrun by waves of loud, uncouth and uncultured motor-heads bent on eroding our culture and delicate ecology. We saw flyers with scary-looking photos of custom-built buggies and Jeeps with big tires spinning in mud appear as paid advertisements in local print media. A petition was started in opposition of the route.
That representation is not me and that’s not us. It’s hard for me to see my friends, family and co-workers smeared and mis-represented in public.
Far from the raging lunatics the opposition is making us out to be, I drive a Jeep. Highway legal, highway licensed – just like every other vehicle that rides the B2B will be. No monsters. No lunatics.
The pictures in the opposition flyer were lifted off web sites featuring events on private lands set aside for that type of aggressive riding. None of that is suitable for public roads and absolutely not a part of any proposal for the B2B.
Minnesota Four-Wheel Drive clubs work to build communities, not tear them down. They contribute everything from a three-year landfill cleanup that allowed Belle Plain to turn its face back to the river, to the largest annual third-party fundraiser in the state for the MS Society.
I’ve been blessed to be able to call Cook County my home for the last 10 years. I’m an avid hunter, fisherman, and conservationist. As a lieutenant with Cook County Search and Rescue, I know those back roads like the back of my hand. I also enjoy getting together with friends—from here, other states and Canada—to wheel the backcountry roads to get to places we can watch birds or just enjoy the view. We do so with the smallest footprint and with the highest respect possible for the environment.
It’s important to know, off-road touring is popular in our state and across the country—and the popularity is growing. I support the B2B and I think it would be a great honor to have our county be an anchor and starting point for this project, which is the first of its kind in the nation.
I checked with the DNR on citations for off-road vehicles statewide. Ahead of the July 4th weekend the best I could get were for the years 2010- 2014. Here they are: 2010 total ORV citations statewide was 5; 2011, 1; 2012, 0; 2013, 3; 2014, 2.
You can count on these numbers as real and reliable and I want the county board and readers to know there is strong support for the B2B.
The message from the opposition is simply not truthful.
The proposal is to put signs on backwoods roads for highway licensed, highway legal vehicles. Our best guess at new numbers on the route is between 12 and 15 per week on the pass-through parts of the route. The MN4WDA introduced a bill to help defray new maintenance costs to local roads last legislative session, should any occur, and will work with any local government to make the route successful.
The opposition seems comfortable in an activist role against the B2B, but being loud does not make them right. At its core, their argument is to take away the legal right a person has to drive a legal vehicle on a public road because they don’t like the reason the person is using the road. Well, someone should give them the news that if you pay the tax on gas, you get to use the road.
My friends and I are definitely not comfortable in an activist role, but we are learning. This route does no harm and will be a great benefit to this region and to the state. We commend the leadership of Commissioner Heidi Doo-Kirk, who has done a tremendous job on this issue, and to the other members who are supportive.
We call on the opposition to cease distributing false information and to retract the misinformation it is promoting in its paid advertisements and in its testimony. Frankly, we would also like an apology for mischaracterizing who we are and how we recreate.
Scott Benolken,
Grand Marais
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