Changes to off-highway vehicle trail development, management may be down the road

Changes may be coming to how and where off-road vehicles can be operated in the state.

Or not.

Rep. Kristi Pursell (DFL-Northfield) sponsors HF1012, which would make several changes to laws regulating off-road vehicles such as ATVs and dirt bikes, including limiting their use on lands managed by the Department of Natural Resources.

But as the committee debate on the bill wrapped up Thursday, Rep. Josh Heintzeman (R-Nisswa) declared the proposal to be “an anti-ATV bill.”

The bill has no bipartisan support now, he said, and needs a lot of work to even give it a chance of surviving the committee.

Heintzeman is the Republican co-chair the House Environment and Natural Resources Finance and Policy Committee. No bill will emerge from that evenly split committee unless it has at least one vote from the other side.

As amended, the bill was laid over Thursday for possible inclusion in a later bill.

The proposed wide-ranging changes to the state’s off-highway vehicle laws include:

• placing restrictions on where future OHV trails may be located;
• establishing OHV trail planning requirements;
• requiring an environmental assessment worksheet for OHV trails; and
• limiting the use of OHVs on state lands administered by the DNR to only roads and trails designated and posted for their use by the department.

Both sides have their (brief) say

Interest in the proposed legislation was high as evidenced by letters, both for and against the bill, totaling 102 pages and by the 17 people who were each given 90 seconds to testify.

Several opponents from northern areas of the state said ATV trails are an extremely popular activity that draws a large number of visitors — and their dollars — to their communities.

Lake County Commissioner Rick Goutermont said the bill “threatens the responsible trail development that we have worked so hard to establish.”

“ATV recreation is a major economic driver in our region, bringing in thousands of riders from across Minnesota to explore the scenic trails of Lake County and beyond,” he said. “These visitors support our rural communities by spending money at hotels, restaurants, gas stations and other local businesses that rely heavily on outdoor tourism to survive.”

Supporters of the bill say that while off-roading activities may bring needed economic boosts to many areas, the high popularity of the activity is also causing significant environmental degradation, requiring more regulation and more thoughtful development and management.

Kelly Applegate, commissioner of natural resources of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, said there are already more than 500,000 off-highway vehicle registrations in the state.

“This activity has several acknowledged environmental impacts that threaten our delicate ecosystem. [Yet] the state continues to issue permits for expanding trail systems and allocates grant-in-aid funding for the creation of additional off-highway vehicle trails that may be located near reservation lands and ceded territories where tribal members have federally protected hunting, fishing and gathering rights.”