We would like to correct some comments made by MN4WDA President Rick Langness in the February 22 edition of the Cook County News Herald.
The “local opposition group” mentioned by Mr. Langness in the article, Citizens for Sustainable Off-Roading, is comprised of a mix of Cook County residents, some born and raised here, long time summer residents, a few retired DNR foresters, ecologists and wildlife biologists, as well as residents from across the state including Pequot Lakes, Duluth and Minneapolis. We worked with a lobbyist last year in the legislature focused on sustainable approaches to OHV recreation. Our position was backed by all 16 statewide Izaak Walton League chapters and the Minnesota Sierra Club.
Mr. Langness states in the article that our group hired a lobbyist “to kill a three-point bill to use our ORV fund revenue to make it better for our local government partners. It authorized a B2B administrator….” We did not hire a lobbyist to kill the bill that their lobbyist was advocating.
Our position was specifically that state funds would be better spent on creating larger and improved OHV recreational parks like the very successful Gilbert OHV Park. Further, that a nationally advertised, designated route on remote forest roads would be almost impossible to manage without an improved plan to address maintenance funding, route monitoring and the risk of significant, cumulative environmental impacts along the route. We also noted that the very same roads proposed on the B2B route, can already be driven by any highway licensed OHVs in a dispersed, sustainable manner.
Regarding delays in implementing the proposed route, we want to point out that there were alignment issues in the northwest part of the state stemming from opposition by the Minnesota Association of Townships. Their concerns center on insufficient reimbursement monies for the B2B and the conditional maintenance terms. As a result of this opposition, the route had to be changed to avoid township roads. In addition, concerned Cook County citizens, County Commissioners, and most recently Sheriff Eliason, brought forward reasonable concerns and questions about traffic volumes, monitoring, staffing impacts, increased risk of forest fires and long term funding. However, it was the lack of clear answers to these questions by the MN4WDA and the Minnesota DNR that led to further delay.
In addition to our group’s concerns, a letter of opposition was sent to the Cook County Board in Fall 2019 by the Cook County Coalition of Lake Associations, which represents almost 1,000 Cook County taxpayers.
They noted that the proposed route roads were already open to highway licensed OHVs, and “It would be important to look at how existing closed courses with multiple route options and challenges would perhaps be a wiser investment of public funding than the current B2B route that would be very difficult to adequately manage.”
To our knowledge, there was no response from the Minnesota DNR or MN4WDA considering this alternate approach.
Susan Schubert, On behalf of Citizens for Sustainable Off Roading
Leave a Reply