Choosing the right path

Denise A. Roymo

Franklin County continues to educate itself on development of a trail system for all-terrain vehicles.

And it has been looking to Michigan as the benchmark on how to do it right.

Lewis County in that state says ATV riders spend $32 million a year there, but it is also facing lawsuits concerning the 400-mile trail system it established in 2006.

Its situation is serving as a cautionary tale for Franklin County ATV Advisory Committee members, who would love the tourism and business dollars but not the headaches.

They want to reach the best compromise that a majority of stakeholders can live with if a system is developed.

Michigan's ATV plan was adopted in 1979 and confined riders to state-owned public lands, state-forest roads and lands and designated off-road trails.

Private landowners there were also instrumental in the development process, according to Franklin County Advisory Committee member David Rhodes.He said at a recent meeting that Michigan ATV advocates met with owners and "bought up a lot of private land where their trails are.

"They bought easements on chunks of land, and (private landowners) avoid the liability," he said.

An off-road vehicle used on Michigan's trails, according to an ATV handbook published by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, is "any motor vehicle that can be operated cross-country without benefit of a road or trail, over land, snow and other natural terrain." That covers ATVs but not snowmobiles.

ATVs and similar mechanized vehicles are allowed on trails almost exclusively in the top portion of the state, known as the Upper Peninsula, due to the thick population base and lack of forestlands in the southern part of the state.

Some off-road riding was established in the Lower Peninsula in 1991 that adopted a policy of "closed unless posted open" while one of "open unless posted closed" was retained for trails in the Upper Peninsula.

Signage placed every one-tenth of a mile identifies trail designations for riders.

Michigan has 3,100 miles of designated off-road trails.

LOGISTICS

Enforcement is one of the largest hurdles Franklin County committee members are struggling with — the sport's reputation is frequently tarnished, they say, by the behavior, actions and attitudes of just 5 percent of ATV riders.

No one agency wants to take over the responsibility for enforcing ATV public-safety laws because of the lack of manpower and money.

It is an argument Michigan has tackled as well.

"We have conservation officers and fire-protection officers that enforce the rules," said Mary Dettloff, media-relations director for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR). "But they do the enforcement on state trails. "And last year, the State Legislature passed a law that said 'you can ride ATVs in Michigan wherever you want, and it is up to the county you're riding in to do the enforcement.'

"And it is the county roads that have been the issue. We at the DNR have interpreted the law that enforcement belongs to the county.

"We're saying if you're going to open county roads, it's up to you to enforce it. But the counties are saying, 'No. No. We don't want to do it.'

"I don't know how the economy is in New York, but in Michigan, it's not great. Police departments and fire departments are laying people off because they have no money to pay for them.

"The DNR is at an all-time low for the number of conservation officers, so it is up to counties to do the trail enforcement."

MICHIGAN DETAILS

State-forest land makes up 73 percent of the trail-system land, 14 percent lies on national forestland and 13 percent of the land is on county or state roads designated for motorcycles as part of the Michigan Cross-Country Cycle Trail, according to the Department of Natural Resources.

ATVs cannot use highways nor are they allowed on the shoulder of highways or rights-of-way unless a local law in place allows it.

Michigan's ATV system includes six scramble areas, or bogs, that range from 15 to 1,200 acres in size where riders can travel cross-country off trail and get as muddy and dirty as they want.

Vehicle titles are $11 and obtained through the Secretary of State's Office, and the licenses are $16.50 and issued through the Department of Natural Resources.

The license is good from April 1 through March 31 of the following year.

No one under 16 is allowed to operate a three-wheeler in Michigan, and no one under 10 can drive a four-wheeler except on private property as part of farm work, the law there states.

A proposal to create a new $6 annual registration fee would send $1 to the secretary of state for administrative costs and 50 cents toward off-highway-safety education.

The rest would be split among participating sheriff's departments in proportion to the number of trail miles open in that jurisdiction.

Lewis County ATV club members within an association pay a permit fee of $40 per machine per year while nonmembers pay $80.

All funds go back to the county's Chamber of Commerce, which gets a portion to cover its administrative costs.

The fees also go for educational materials, law enforcement, maintenance and trail expansion.

RIDERS READY

The Advisory Committee in Franklin County has about eight weeks of research left before making a recommendation to legislators, said Committee Chairman Neil Seymour.

The final issues include learning what road designations the State Department of Environmental Conservation would assign certain state-forestland paths, what funding sources are available for a proposed trail system and the mechanism to be used to secure easements from private owners.

Seymour expects the committee to have its answers by the end of the summer.

And the answer is of special interest to ATV enthusiasts from around the region.

Steve McClean, president of the Outback Riders ATV Club in Clinton County, said his membership is watching what Franklin County is doing so it can expand its ever-shrinking riding space.

"The state and DEC keep buying up land, and we can't use it," he said. "We used to have a trail where you could reach from Lyon Mountain to Standish to Mountain View (in the Franklin County town of Bellmont).

"But the state bought up a piece of land between Lyon Mountain and Standish and shut if off," McClean said. "They won't let us cross it."

In order to gain the state's cooperation and trust, he said, the Outback Riders recently formed a limited-liability corporation to give itself a stronger standing in the eyes of the DEC.

"We felt they might take us more seriously and know we are going to take care of the trails and maintain them if they let us use them," he said. "They might be more willing to open them up when they see we're not going anywhere and we're maintaining the trails."

He said if, in conjunction with that, the Advisory Committee slowly works toward creating a connective trail system "it would be excellent for us because we'd be free to ride from Clinton County through Franklin County."

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Source: http://www.pressrepublican.com/homepage/local_story_086214046.html

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