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[ Signup ] [ Classifieds ] [ Event Schedules ] [ Clubs and Promoters ] [ Point Keeping ] [ Other Links ] [What's New ] [ Home ] Urgent Legislative Alert!!ARMCA Members: Urgent Legislative Alert!! Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2001 11:11:47 -0600 (CST) ARMCA Legislative Alert This is a bad bill for dirt bikers and all OHVers...MRR and groups like them want us off of public lands .. Read On..MRR's anti-OHV legislation has been introduced (HF 1551 & SF 1381) and it is a direct attack on our access to land, funding, and trail system planning. It amounts to a de-facto ban on all dirt bikes on state forest lands. The bill calls for "closed unless posted open" on all state lands, while at the same time crippling the process to designate and sign trails. In other words they are telling us to only ride on trails posted open, yet make it near impossible to designate any more trails with their call for a full environmental review of all trails. Then besides that, they want to take away our funds to develop any more trails! In a further low blow, they have filed suit against the trail plans, to try to tie them up in court for years before trails get designated. This is a bad bill for dirt bikers and all OHVers. We know that there are problems with OHV's, and we also know that more designated trails are the answer to most of these problems. So why is MRR objecting to designated trails? Because it's the solution to the very problems they are complaining about, and they don't want to solve the problems with OHV's with anything short of banning us. Don't be fooled by any of the moderate, feel good language they are using. They are as extreme as ever. MRR and groups like them want us off of public lands so they can use it for their own recreational purposes. At the end of this message is the ATVAM/ARMCA press release distributed before MRR's recent press conference. We have a virtual OHV life or death fight on our hands. It will take a strong effort to counter the slick and deceptive way MRR is marketing this legislation. And, we'll need your help in St. Paul when the bill comes up for a hearing. PLEASE contact the following legislators, especially those who are your senators or representatives, and tell them how misguided this legislation is. Senate Authors: - - URL for Senate roster Sen. John Hottinger, Mankato House Authors: - We also need to contact members of both Environment Policy Committees. Those URL's are: Don't hesitate, contact these legislators today -- the future of our OHV riding in Minnesota will depend on your effort. If you don't spend some time on this now, you'll have lots of time in the future that you used to spend riding. Don Youngdahl PRESS RELEASE Contact: Ray Bohn For immediate release Phone: 651-452-8506 March 13, 2001 Cell: 612-554-0840 Pager: 612-530-1655 Legislation Would Cripple State Forest Off-Highway Vehicle Management Legislation pending before the House and Senate Environmental Policy Committees (HF1551/SF1381) would cripple Department of Natural Resources and off-highway vehicle (OHV) user groups efforts to better manage OHV recreational activities on state forest lands. The legislation, sponsored by Minnesotan's for Responsible Recreation (MRR), would torpedo a five-year effort by the DNR and user groups to protect resources while providing opportunity for all users of state forest lands. Combining needless regulation with a "closed unless posted open" trail policy while there are very few designated trails shows the true intent of this misguided legislation. Sonia Bartz, president of the All-Terrain Vehicle Association of Minnesota (ATVAM) said, "ATVAM and other user groups have actively sought laws and rules to regulate and manage OHV use on state forest lands. The State Forest Lands Classification System and the DNR's trails planning process will afford DNR resources mangers the tools needed to manage our recreational activity on public lands." The proposed trails are part of the solution, not the problem. Diverting funding away from the solution by lowering the priority of trail development will only increase the problem. To require a formal environmental review process for all OHV trails will obstruct and delay the development of a well managed OHV trails system in Minnesota. Environmental factors are routinely taken into consideration by professional resource managers in the DNR during the development of OHV trails, similar to the process used for other types of trails and state recreational development in Minnesota. Most of the trails identified in the initial planning process already exist today, and the adoption of the DNR plan will allow them to be signed, monitored, and properly maintained and rules enforced. Moving forward with OHV system planning process will allow the DNR and OHV user groups to improve most of the situations MRR is complaining about today. MRR's legislation clearly demonstrates that they aren't interested in solving problems, just banning OHV recreational activity from public lands. END Questions or Comments: Email Don Youngdahl
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