In the spring, thoughts still turn to mud

Written by Mary Lou Aurell
Photos courtesy of Blandin Paper

Reports of environmental damage caused by irresponsible individuals driving off highway vehicles (OHVs) are fewer as more designated trails are built and riders are educated, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

Private land owners may not be so sure.

UPM Blandin Paper has blocked off roads to its forest land, in part because of OHV damage. Jim Marshall, Blandin Forestry Manager, said the company is trying to stop the ‘mudders’ that intentionally run through wetlands.

“Since the explosion of OHV ownership, riders like to go anywhere they can,” Marshall explained. “Soon that means they are in wetlands.” This is where they pile on the mud that they like to show off.

“From an airplane we can see OHV tracks running through bogs,” he revealed. “These will be there for years and years disrupting plant life.

“The riders also run up and down steep slopes, causing erosion, and have run over our seedlings.” There was even an OHV rider who was roaring back and forth across a trout stream because he could.

After properly posting their land, Blandin Paper now partners with the DNR to patrol it. However, the company is not keeping OHVs off its property, but rather asking them to stay on the obvious roads and skidding trails where they are allowed.

In the public arena, those building the three new trails in Itasca County must be sure that trail surface and root zones can sustain repeated motorized traffic, Itasca Land Commissioner Garrett Ous said. Soil must be coarse enough to stand OHV weight and displacement.

For the most part, established trails seem to be keeping OHV riders out of the woods and away from sensitive areas on state forest lands.

An acronym explanation: OHVs include all terrain vehicles (ATVs) or four-wheelers, off road motorcycles (ORMs) called dirt bikes, and off road vehicles (ORVs), such as monster trucks, 4x4s and jeeps.

Minnesota has more than 1,500 miles of established trails; those for ATVs number 42. There are 18 trails covering more than 500 miles that welcome dirt bike aficionados. ORVs have the fewest designated places to go - six locations with over 1,500 acres where they can play and about 200 miles of trail.

The Itasca County Land Department oversees over 900 miles of county forest access roads/trails that are open for ATV use, Ous said.

DNR enforcement officers monitor and check the condition of state trails every few weeks to make sure they are not being abused, said Sam Johnson, soon to become the Acquisition & Development Specialist for the DNR’s Trails & Waterways Division.

They are assisted by the Itasca County Sheriff’s Office.

State trails are closed in the spring to protect the sensitive forest floor and OHV riders usually respect these closings, according to Dave Olson, DNR Regional Superintendent of Conservation.

“We didn’t find so much rutting and other damage this spring,” he noted.

Even though these trails protect a fragile environment, Olson feels that the educational efforts of the DNR, 74 clubs and the All-Terrain Vehicle Association of Minnesota (ATVAM) have been even more important in making OHV riders responsible riders.

The DNR and state associations recently formed a unique Volunteer Trail Ambassadors program that trains club members to educate those who use heavily-traveled trails about responsible riding and respect for the environment, explained Johnson. The ambassadors do not enforce DNR trail regulations.

Johnson said that the most environmental damage occurs during deer season. Under current state law hunters can travel cross country in ATVs on state and county lands to build deer stands and to retrieve big game. “The forest floor can be as sensitive in the fall as it is in the spring,” Johnson noted.

To strengthen enforcement efforts, the Minnesota State Legislature passed a new law regulating OHV use last session. According to Sen. Tom Saxhaug, the legislation stiffens OHV penalties. It is now a gross misdemeanor to recklessly upset the ecological balance of wetlands or public water land. Riders caught doing this cannot operate their OHVs for a year.

If riders are caught a second time, they will receive another gross misdemeanor. “If they are convicted,” Sen. Saxhaug said, “they will lose their OHV.

“They might get it back at auction,” he added.

The third part of the new law covers ATVs ridden on the shoulders of roads, which has been prohibited. It is now allowed if ditches are environmentally sensitive. OHMs and ORVs are not able to ride on shoulders or in the ditches.

The legislators also provided more money for enforcement.

Yet, there will always be those who do what they want to do despite education, state laws, DNR regulations and monitoring. “Groups still go out bush whacking and mudding,” Olson said.



READER COMMENTS:

This is the only game were it's 3 strikes but your never out. I have to yet to see where the rider clubs have done anything to curb the outlaw mentality. Every time legislation is proposed that has any teeth to it they are dead set against it. There is no way all the trails can be patrolled by law enforcement and that is the way they want it and got it. If you want renegade riders stopped take their OHV on the first offense. -Rob Bullis

Another negative side effect of OHV activity is the proliferation of signs in the forest, especially those nailed to living trees. -Harvey Tjader

I'll believe it when I see it and so far history has shown that designated trails do not stop trespass and environmental damage to adjoining areas. Instead they provide a route for sustained off trail problems. Enforcement is underfunded and will always be underfunded because of the number of trail miles open. Self policing isn't working even after a decade of trying. - John Reynolds