Makin’ Connections

Written by Penny Turgeon-Kimble, featured on her July 16th, 2019, blog titled Wilderness Weekend Living

It’s a hot, muggy Monday afternoon. Earlier in the day a violent T-Storm ran through the area, knocking down trees and temporarily flooded the streets. But this being northern Minnesota and all, it cleared up within the hour and the heat was on!

About 30 ATV rigs converged on an area in Beltrami that has been a topic of much debate and a ton of work to open up to riders. It was a major accomplishment for the two local ATV Clubs. The result of the countless, thankless hours of negotiations, YEARS in fact, is that we have ourselves a Pilot Program.

It’s called the Moose River Dike Road Pilot Project. Let me explain the reason this is so exciting and the profound effect this is going to have on our sport.

The Fourtown/Grygla Sportsman’s Club combined with the Roseau/Lake of the Woods Sportsman Club becomes the Northstar Trail Alliance. From here on out I will refer to the joined clubs as the NTA. By becoming one voice, we are a force that cannot be ignored.

The DNR has agreed to open the dike to riders on a two year pilot program. They will own it and maintain it. This will not be one of our trails. What’s special about this dike opening is that it literally joins up the one Club to the other Club and all the respective trails therein! This is HUGE. Up to now we had to take many miles of forest roads, shared with loggers, trucks and cars. The dust was inhibitive and dangerous. Now our trail system has exploded and the options are endless!

The beauty alone is a real treat and I expect all you riders to check it out as soon as possible.

A small celebration was held to commemorate this historic event on Monday, July 15th. A few words were shared by Jack Nelson who was instrumental in getting us to this point. He blamed his pigheadedness for not giving up or giving in. It’s solid leadership like this that inspires the rest of us. (Nelson is the President of the Fourtown/Grygla Sportsman’s Club.)

Our Representative Dan Fabian was proud to be on hand to give us a round of applause to congratulate the joint efforts to expand our trail system. He works tirelessly on our behalf at his post. He is hands on and is on board with us every step of the way. No matter what your party affiliation is, always vote this guy back in. He’s genuine and energetic and we appreciate everything he does for us and our sport!

Tony Moe let us know what this Pilot Project means. We have two years to prove that opening this dike up to ATV’s means there will be no negative environmental impact. There will be no tearing it up. There will be no ditching unless bone dry. There will be no garbage left behind. Signs will be placed at the main arteries leading up to the gates of the dikes to indicate whether they are closed or open because they will be closed if it’s too wet. This responsibility falls onto each and every user. And you want to know why we want you to be especially grateful for this opportunity? Because there is MORE.

This is only phase one of what we are coining as the Northstar Interstate. Through this artery we will be connected to Williams, MN. You want to talk about a superior trail system, we have it right here, folks. Work is in progress to connect all the trails for many, many miles of comprehensive, safe riding. We are setting up the future of the ATV sport like you have never seen before. The economic impact to our rural area will be huge.

This is what your local ATV Clubs do so join one today. Numbers speak volumes. Your membership and your votes is what drives these kinds of changes. You do not have to go to the meetings, unless I put out an “all hands on deck” call to you. But when the powers that be look at our numbers, they take into account how many people we have on our rolls. The power is in the numbers, folks.

And BUY the TICKETS! Go to the Fun Runs! These funds are imperative to the improvements that you see on the trails!

Wilderness Weekend Living is your one stop blog for all things Camping and ATV’ing in Beltrami Island State Forest, Warroad, Minnesota.