Summary
Despite the continued resistance of the majority of Saint Louis County residents, the County Board of Commissioners continues to support, and even independently propose new all-terrain vehicle (ATV), dirt bike motorcycle and four-wheel drive truck routes. These routes are consistently developed quickly, quietly, and without public review. Currently pending within Saint Louis County is a proposal to designated 880 miles of ATV, dirt bike motorcycle, and four-wheel drive truck routes largely unknown to the public and without public and environmental review . To resist the current unwanted 74 mile and 880 mile route designations and ensure that the quiet majority is heard, the following actions are needed:
Action Needed
1. Contact the Saint Louis County Board of Commissioners (contact information below). Tell them:
a.
I want to be notified of and to participate in all motorized recreation decisions in St. Louis County. This is my right as a citizen of the County. It is disturbing and unacceptable to me that the Saint Louis County Board of Commissioners has repeatedly made high-impact decisions concerning ATV routes without consulting me, including the 2003 decision to convert the North Shore State Trail to ATV use, and the current Pequaywan Lakes area route proposal.
b.
I want less motorized recreation because, as noted in the 2001 St. Louis County Participation Survey, I value peace and quiet, fresh air, healthy streams and forests. We are the quiet majority of Saint Louis County.
c. Four things I require before any ATV routes are designated in the Cloquet Valley or other state forests:
- Public and Environmental Review, i.e., completion of Environmental Assessment Worksheets
- A designated routes only policy requiring machines to stay on designated routes
- Adequate enforcement to keep machines on designated routes
- Funds to repair existing damage in areas adjacent to designated routes
- Implementation of 2003 legislative audit recommendations for oversight and accountability to accomplish above goals
2. Help MRR reform public funding of motorized recreation in Saint Louis County and stop the unwanted and unrelenting proliferation of ATV, dirt bike motorcycle and four-wheel drive truck routes in our county. Learn how to use public data to educate yourself, expose illegal transactions, reclaim your tax dollars and exercise your democratic power. Discover how data collection can empower you for action. The simple truth provides ordinary citizens with an extraordinary tool for change. Ckeck our MRR's Toolkit for the Quiet Majority: Reforming Public Funding of Motorized Recreation and contact MRR to volunteer for our citizen audit of St. Louis County. Contact Caleb Wolden at 218-740-3175 or caleb@mnresponsiblerec.org.
3. Sign up to volunteer with MRR in ground-truthing these routes. Many of these route designations are being based on data collected from the air. In Sturgeon River State Forest it was found that many of the routes designated from aerial data were actually inappropriate. MRR will be completing its own ground-based assessments of these controversial routes, and needs volunteers to help gather simple written, GPS, and photographic data of damaged and sensitive areas on these routes. Training and equipment will be provided for this outdoor work. Contact Caleb Wolden at 218-740-3175 or caleb@mnresponsiblerec.org.
Background: Proposed 74-mile ATV Route to Receive Environmental Assessment
The legislation behind a 74-mile all-terrain vehicle (ATV) and dirt bike motorcycle route proposal near Pequaywan Lakes in southern Saint Louis County is typical of the Minnesota state legislature’s myopic push in recent years for the incredible over-designation of ATV, dirt bike motorcycle and four-wheel drive truck routes throughout the state. This push continues despite continued resistance from the quiet majority, and the marked absence of evidence showing that Minnesota’s citizens generally desire more of these routes. In 2003, in order to expedite the statewide designation of ATV, dirt bike motorcycle and four-wheel drive truck routes, the state legislature crippled public and environmental review of the process by suspending the Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW) requirement for these routes. Under legislative direction (and without an EAW requirement), Minnesota DNR is currently evaluating all Minnesota state forests with the goal of establishing 20,000 miles of designated ATV, dirt bike motorcycle, and four-wheel drive truck routes. The DNR (with the Saint Louis County Lands Department) is currently working to quietly designate hundreds of miles (the draft proposal called for 880 miles) of ATV, dirt bike motorcycle, and four-wheel drive truck routes in the Cloquet Valley State Forest. According to Minnesota DNR, “the actual effect of [motorized route] designation will be to make funds available from the DNR...to local trail clubs”. A January 2003 legislative audit of grant-in-aid, requested by MRR, found that grant violations, related party transactions and damage to public and private lands routinely occur without oversight or accountability. In 2006, the grant-in-aid process continues unamended and the quiet majority continues to pay for undesired and damaging ATV, dirt bike motorcycle and four-wheel drive truck routes.
A 74-mile ATV route proposed and supported by the Saint Louis County Board of Commissioners will be subject to an Environmental Assessment Worksheet before development, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and the Saint Louis County Lands Department. Recent public resistance to the Pequaywan Lakes area route has encouraged the County Board to revise the original route alignment, removing most of the route sections adjacent to highways or in ditches that cross private driveways. Minnesota DNR is currently in the process of selecting the location for the route from proposals by three counties. A 2003 Minnesota legislative mandate called for a 70-mile continuous ATV route somewhere in the state, and commissioned DNR to select and develop the route. The first selected route proposal in Becker County was scrapped due to strong citizen opposition. In the event DNR selects the Saint Louis County route proposal, MRR will be working closely with citizens to complete our own Environmental Assessment Worksheet for the route.
The first priority in MRR’s Five Standards for Protecting Minnesota is completion of an Environmental Assessment Worksheet. It is clear from last week’s surprise unveiling of the County Board’s support of the route plan in the Duluth News-Tribune that the public was not consulted in the selection or alignment of the 74-mile track. While Saint Louis County Commissioners, such as Commissioners Fink and Sweeney are now backing away from the route proposal, their constituents and all Saint Louis County residents should currently be asking: Why did Peg Sweeney, Dennis Fink, and other Saint Louis County Commissioners carry on a private conversation with the North Shore ATV Club in 2003 to quietly—and without public input—select the current route? More open government and democracy, not more publicly funded noise and damage to our environment, are what is really needed in St. Louis County.
St. Louis County Commissioners - Contact Info
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