Crowdog
01-24-2004, 08:00 AM
http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/jan04/202158.asp
Line drawn in woods over ATVs
Vilas County set to vote whether to let off-road vehicles in county forests
By TOM HELD
theld@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Jan. 23, 2004
Eagle River - An old tale is making the rounds again in the North Woods - the story about the bicyclist who stops in at a restaurant, uses the bathroom, asks for a glass of water and leaves without spending a dime.
Business owners and motorized sports advocates have dusted off the chiding anecdote to show the gap in tourism spending between power sports enthusiasts and participants in silent sport. And the story has become part of a campaign to open Vilas County forestland to all-terrain vehicles.
That issue will go to the county's 15,000 registered voters in an advisory referendum on Feb. 17.
The question on the ballot is simply "Do you favor allowing the operation of all-terrain vehicles on Vilas County Forest lands and County-owned land in Vilas County?"
The County Board pushed for the referendum after five local ATV clubs sought permission to build a trail system on county forest property. The system would connect with trails in surrounding counties and the Ottawa National Forest in Michigan.
Opposition to the proposal ignited in the small border town of Presque Isle, where in July residents voted, 178-17, to prohibit ATVs on town roads. ATV opponents argued that the motorized four-wheelers would ruin the quiet beauty of their county.
While the referendum is limited to the 41,300 acres of county-owned land in Vilas County, it has brought renewed intensity to the debate between motorized sports advocates and those who seek quieter pursuits in the woods.
The referendum vote will take place as federal officials weigh alternatives to expand ATV trails in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest and the state Department of Natural Resources considers opening trails in the Northern Highland American Legion State Forest. Both the federal and state forest lands cover extensive areas of Vilas County, which has 318,000 acres of public land.
Despite some who suggest there's room for everyone, the rhetoric on both sides of the ATV debate has become hostile and fallen back on old stereotypes and barbs.
Business owners and motorized sports backers say hotel and restaurant owners would go broke if they relied on skiers, hikers and bikers who bring their own food, sleep in tents and, for the most part, stay out of the bars.
Environmentalists and silent sport enthusiasts say the "throttle jockeys" on loud, gas-guzzling machines will rip through the forests, create ruts and erosion, and spread invasive plant species.
In essence, they say, business owners will sell the county's soul for a few more tourist dollars.
Each side says the other has built its case on misrepresentations.
Roger Flaherty, president of the Landover ATV Club, said his club members and most visiting ATV riders, many of whom bring along their families, aren't looking to tear through wetlands and mudholes. They simply want trails on the county's forest roads to give them access to the woods and connect to surrounding trails.
"These people are paying taxes, and they should be able to ride their machines," Flaherty said. "It should be our privilege, if not our right, our privilege."
Flaherty said the clubs are seeking one east-west route to connect to the trails in Price County and one going north-south to connect with trails in Oneida County and Upper Michigan.
"The desire is to hook different trails systems up so people can get from county to county and business to business," said Randy Harden, the president of the Wisconsin ATV Association. "Vilas County is a detriment to that; everything comes to Vilas County and stops."
That's just fine with Jim Knuth and other members of his group, Northwoods Citizens for Responsible Stewardship.
Knuth, who moved from Elm Grove to Presque Isle six years ago, scoffs at the family-friendly picture painted by the ATV backers.
"Regardless of what they tell you, they don't stay on the trails," Knuth said.
To make his point, Knuth shares a videotape shot in Lincoln County, where ATV riders have access to town roads and county forest property. The tape shows deep wheel tracks skirting around signs clearly prohibiting ATVs from specific areas.
Small trees are ground down, hills have begun to erode where tires tore away vegetation, and once-smooth cross-country ski and snowmobile trails are marred with knee-deep ruts.
But for Conrad "Connie" Heege, executive director of the Eagle River Chamber of Commerce, it's an economic issue. ATV riders are seen as the summertime counterpart to the snowmobilers who fill cash registers in the winter.
"No one spends money like the snowmobilers," said Heege. And two winters with little snow pushed business owners to look for new sources of tourist revenue.
Chuck Champeny said he's tired of seeing the machines perched on trailers speeding past his Conover restaurant toward the Michigan border, about 10 miles away.
"We're the only area that doesn't have 'em," said Champeny, a former county supervisor and town chairman. "It's going to help everybody, and it's year-round recreation."
The machines themselves tend to bring an almost visceral reaction from silent sport participants.
"I hate those things," said skier Carolyn DeJohng of Rhinelander.
"I think there's so little space for exclusive silent sports, where you can go without hearing motors," she said. "And what can they see of the wilderness? When one of them goes through, any of the wildlife will be long gone."
Those who favor the ATV trails accuse the "greenies" of being elitist, a group attempting to take away their rights to their own form of recreation.
"I just see it as a big plot of the extremists," Flaherty said. "They want to create a non-motorized mecca in Vilas County, and they won't stop at ATVs. They're going to be after snowmobiles, jet skis and outboard motors on boats."
Regardless of the outcome on the referendum, it's unlikely to ease the growing conflicts in Vilas County or other areas where ATV enthusiasts are clamoring for space.
Mike Dombeck, who served in the Clinton Administration as the director of the Bureau of Land Management and chief of the Forest Service, said ATVs present one of the most complex and difficult conservation challenges of the century.
In Dombeck's view, the motorized groups have a right to use public lands for their recreation. But there is a limit to what the land can sustain, and off-road vehicles sometimes exceed that limit, particularly when irresponsible users venture off trails and into sensitive areas, he said.
"The reality is we have more people going more places than we have had at any time in history," said Dombeck,now at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. "Somehow we need to bring order to this.
"We have to make sure there's a little bit for everyone."
Line drawn in woods over ATVs
Vilas County set to vote whether to let off-road vehicles in county forests
By TOM HELD
theld@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Jan. 23, 2004
Eagle River - An old tale is making the rounds again in the North Woods - the story about the bicyclist who stops in at a restaurant, uses the bathroom, asks for a glass of water and leaves without spending a dime.
Business owners and motorized sports advocates have dusted off the chiding anecdote to show the gap in tourism spending between power sports enthusiasts and participants in silent sport. And the story has become part of a campaign to open Vilas County forestland to all-terrain vehicles.
That issue will go to the county's 15,000 registered voters in an advisory referendum on Feb. 17.
The question on the ballot is simply "Do you favor allowing the operation of all-terrain vehicles on Vilas County Forest lands and County-owned land in Vilas County?"
The County Board pushed for the referendum after five local ATV clubs sought permission to build a trail system on county forest property. The system would connect with trails in surrounding counties and the Ottawa National Forest in Michigan.
Opposition to the proposal ignited in the small border town of Presque Isle, where in July residents voted, 178-17, to prohibit ATVs on town roads. ATV opponents argued that the motorized four-wheelers would ruin the quiet beauty of their county.
While the referendum is limited to the 41,300 acres of county-owned land in Vilas County, it has brought renewed intensity to the debate between motorized sports advocates and those who seek quieter pursuits in the woods.
The referendum vote will take place as federal officials weigh alternatives to expand ATV trails in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest and the state Department of Natural Resources considers opening trails in the Northern Highland American Legion State Forest. Both the federal and state forest lands cover extensive areas of Vilas County, which has 318,000 acres of public land.
Despite some who suggest there's room for everyone, the rhetoric on both sides of the ATV debate has become hostile and fallen back on old stereotypes and barbs.
Business owners and motorized sports backers say hotel and restaurant owners would go broke if they relied on skiers, hikers and bikers who bring their own food, sleep in tents and, for the most part, stay out of the bars.
Environmentalists and silent sport enthusiasts say the "throttle jockeys" on loud, gas-guzzling machines will rip through the forests, create ruts and erosion, and spread invasive plant species.
In essence, they say, business owners will sell the county's soul for a few more tourist dollars.
Each side says the other has built its case on misrepresentations.
Roger Flaherty, president of the Landover ATV Club, said his club members and most visiting ATV riders, many of whom bring along their families, aren't looking to tear through wetlands and mudholes. They simply want trails on the county's forest roads to give them access to the woods and connect to surrounding trails.
"These people are paying taxes, and they should be able to ride their machines," Flaherty said. "It should be our privilege, if not our right, our privilege."
Flaherty said the clubs are seeking one east-west route to connect to the trails in Price County and one going north-south to connect with trails in Oneida County and Upper Michigan.
"The desire is to hook different trails systems up so people can get from county to county and business to business," said Randy Harden, the president of the Wisconsin ATV Association. "Vilas County is a detriment to that; everything comes to Vilas County and stops."
That's just fine with Jim Knuth and other members of his group, Northwoods Citizens for Responsible Stewardship.
Knuth, who moved from Elm Grove to Presque Isle six years ago, scoffs at the family-friendly picture painted by the ATV backers.
"Regardless of what they tell you, they don't stay on the trails," Knuth said.
To make his point, Knuth shares a videotape shot in Lincoln County, where ATV riders have access to town roads and county forest property. The tape shows deep wheel tracks skirting around signs clearly prohibiting ATVs from specific areas.
Small trees are ground down, hills have begun to erode where tires tore away vegetation, and once-smooth cross-country ski and snowmobile trails are marred with knee-deep ruts.
But for Conrad "Connie" Heege, executive director of the Eagle River Chamber of Commerce, it's an economic issue. ATV riders are seen as the summertime counterpart to the snowmobilers who fill cash registers in the winter.
"No one spends money like the snowmobilers," said Heege. And two winters with little snow pushed business owners to look for new sources of tourist revenue.
Chuck Champeny said he's tired of seeing the machines perched on trailers speeding past his Conover restaurant toward the Michigan border, about 10 miles away.
"We're the only area that doesn't have 'em," said Champeny, a former county supervisor and town chairman. "It's going to help everybody, and it's year-round recreation."
The machines themselves tend to bring an almost visceral reaction from silent sport participants.
"I hate those things," said skier Carolyn DeJohng of Rhinelander.
"I think there's so little space for exclusive silent sports, where you can go without hearing motors," she said. "And what can they see of the wilderness? When one of them goes through, any of the wildlife will be long gone."
Those who favor the ATV trails accuse the "greenies" of being elitist, a group attempting to take away their rights to their own form of recreation.
"I just see it as a big plot of the extremists," Flaherty said. "They want to create a non-motorized mecca in Vilas County, and they won't stop at ATVs. They're going to be after snowmobiles, jet skis and outboard motors on boats."
Regardless of the outcome on the referendum, it's unlikely to ease the growing conflicts in Vilas County or other areas where ATV enthusiasts are clamoring for space.
Mike Dombeck, who served in the Clinton Administration as the director of the Bureau of Land Management and chief of the Forest Service, said ATVs present one of the most complex and difficult conservation challenges of the century.
In Dombeck's view, the motorized groups have a right to use public lands for their recreation. But there is a limit to what the land can sustain, and off-road vehicles sometimes exceed that limit, particularly when irresponsible users venture off trails and into sensitive areas, he said.
"The reality is we have more people going more places than we have had at any time in history," said Dombeck,now at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. "Somehow we need to bring order to this.
"We have to make sure there's a little bit for everyone."