Anti-ATV Zealots Are At It Again

by Kerry Thomas

October 13, 2005

The anti-ATV zealots are back, oh my. The same group that raised such a furor over Vilas County’s proposal to allow ATVs on county-owned lands has set it’s sights on Minocqua, over talk that Minocqua is “considering opening some town roads up to ATVs.”

Using the innocuously-sounding name Northwoods Citizens For Responsible Stewardship, this small but very vocal group has begun to plaster the local newspapers with letters to the editor (see Vilas County News Review letter 10/12/05), warning Minocqua about the evils of ATVs. They then encourage people to go to their website for “research” into ATVs.

Make no mistake. This group is adamantly against ATVs. Their “research” is decidedly one-sided and biased. Their evidence, the photographs on their website, are not credited, and don’t tell the viewer where all this ATV destruction occurred. Nearly half of their photographs simply show deep ruts through mud, ruts that could easily have been made by any good 4-wheel-drive truck.

Any time you find someone having a good time, you won’t have to look too far to find someone else who’s offended by that behavior. In America, there is no right not to be offended. If we, as a society, choose to ban ATVs, because their noise offends some, what will we ban next?

We’ve seen what a lack of snowmobilers does to our Northwoods economy. The arguments advanced by the anti-ATV zealots mirror those advanced by the anti-snowmobile crowd in the 1950’s & 60’s. They’re noisy. They pollute. They damage the environment. Of course, the same can be said about motorboats, SUVs, Harleys, lawnmowers, chainsaws, leaf blowers, airplanes, trains, and virtually any mechanized mode of transportation. Even such things as horse trails and deer paths through the woods often result in environmental damage, where they wear down the plants to bare ground that can then be eroded by a heavy rainstorm. With the heavy rains we’ve has this Fall, I’ve seen several areas in the woods where erosion has washed out the land, all without ATVs.

Nature is resilient. It has a way of regenerating itself after human action has altered the landscape. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Clear-cutting of forests looks terrible to some, but within a year most clearcuts have begun to regenerate. That mudhole you find so unappealing is something beautiful to an ATVer.

The anti-ATV group tells Minocqua to consult with Duluth about their banning of ATVs on city property. When you want information about the impact of ATVs, don’t you want to consult with areas and communities that actually allow ATVs, rather than those where ATVs are prohibited?

Can the city of Duluth compare with the Town of Minocqua? I would suggest going to Mercer or Hurley and see the actual impact ATVs have had on the geography and economy of those communities. Both Mercer and Hurley more closely resemble the geography and the tourism-based economy of Minocqua than does Duluth.

I don’t own an ATV. I have never ridden an ATV. But I know people who do and have. I believe they should have the freedom to enjoy their sport, just as the enthusiasts of any other recreational sport are free to do.