Minnesota

When groups of landowners met last year, they discussed their ideas about off-highway vehicle (OHV) use—benefits, negative impacts, and how OHV use can be managed.

The discussions were part of a two-year study conducted by the University of Minnesota to explore perceptions of OHV use among private landowners of seasonal and forested lands in Central Minnesota. Four separate focus groups discussed these issues, and the discussion became part of a more extensive survey that was mailed to a random sample of more than 1,500 landowners of seasonal recreation and private forest lands within an 8-county area in Central Minnesota.

The survey and analysis focused on how these factors-- land use types, benefits of OHV use, negative impacts from OHV use, and management actions -- influence landowner willingness to allow OHV access on their properties, whether by family and friends or the general public.

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is asking off-highway vehicles riders to drive carefully in state forests to avoid damaging trails and roads.

Due to recent heavy rains, trails are wet and soggy throughout much of northeastern Minnesota, increasing the chances of trail damage.

“We are asking ATV riders to use good judgment when they are out in the forest,” said Jim Rupert, acting re-gional forestry manager for northeastern Minnesota. “We have had four to eight inches of rain in the last 30 days. Water stays in the soil at this time of the year because there is very little evaporation. And, the forecast for the next two weeks is also for more warm, wet weather.”

Sarah Smith

ATV traffic in ditches is getting out of control.

That’s the message a group of frustrated property owners brought to the Hubbard County Board of Commissioners Wednesday at the board’s regular meeting.

It was the group’s third appearance before the board, and they didn’t mince words.

For the first time, riding all-terrain vehicles for fun on state forest trails will be banned during the firearm deer season this November, the state Department of Natural Resources said Thursday.

DNR officials said the ban, which also applies to dirt bikes and off-road trucks, will keep riders safe and reduce noise and conflicts that disturb deer and hunters.

The ban only applies to non-hunters who are out for a ride. Those caught violating the ban face a warning or ticket, though no specific fine was set.

Tom Robertson

Bemidji, Minn. — DNR officials have so far trained about 30 trail ambassadors. They expect to have close to 100 ready to hit the trails by the end of May. Nearly all of them come from existing ATV clubs throughout the state. They come from a pool of people already certified as youth ATV safety instructors.

DNR Division of Enforcement education coordinator Mike Hammer says he expects trail ambassadors will have a big impact.

"I think the first thing we'll see is just that having that visibility out there of the trail ambassadors is going to keep those few bad apples out there, hopefully behaving themselves a little bit more," said Hammer. "When there's some eyes and ears out there and people know that they're being watched, they have a tendancy to not do bad things."

Eleven-year-old Dakota Sullivan doesn't remember being thrown from the all-terrain vehicle he was driving. He doesn't recall being in a coma for two weeks, or the blow that resulted in the brain trauma that has limited the use of his left arm and leg, or breaking his right arm in the late April accident.

"He's alive only because my little brother did CPR twice while Dakota was laying in the field," Dakota's mother, Cheryl Benjamin, said Thursday from Regions Hospital in St. Paul. "In a matter of seconds on that ATV, all our lives changed."

Over the past decade, the number of registered ATVs in Minnesota has more than quadrupled. Although fatalities and injuries also have increased, state and industry officials say it appears that the overall risks involved in riding on the state's popular ATV trails are actually declining. The accident rate per 100,000 registered ATVs in 2004 was less than half what it had been a decade earlier.

HALLOCK, Minn. (AP) - Evidence gathered by a trail camera has helped convict a man of illegally operating an all-terrain vehicle in a state wildlife management area in northwestern Minnesota.

Officials from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources filmed a 66-year-old Mound man on two occasions using an ATV in the Beaches Lake Wildlife Management Area near Karlstad. ATV's and other motorized vehicles are banned in WMA's.

The man was charged in November with two counts of illegal ATV use in a wildlife management area. Last month, a Kittson County judge ordered him to pay $$364 in fines, fees and surcharges.