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Streams, wetlands, forests, wildlife and peace and quiet on Minnesota's North Shore is in jeopardy. Lake County has requested that the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources amend the North Shore State Trail Master Plan to allow ATVs on the state trail in Lake County. The DNR has pledged to "assist and cooperate", wanting to convert the entire length of the 135-mile North Shore State Trail into the "backbone of the DNR's off-highway vehicle system in Northeast Minnesota".

Below photos are of a Lake County gravel pit, hereafter referred to as the defacto Alger Spur Scramble Area. The Alger Spur Scramble Area is proposed to become the County and DNR's ATV trailhead on the North Shore State Trail (see white box on map labeled "Alger Spur"). The Alger Spur Scramble Area is a quick ATV ride from the Superior Hiking Trail where it shares the North Shore State Trail. The Superior Hiking Trail is known as one of the nation's top hiking and backpacking destinations and is one of the most beloved of jewels on Minnesota's North Shore. Hikers and backbackers seeking a healthy North Shore, wildlife and peace and quiet may soon find themselves among scrambling ATVs if Lake County and the DNR have their way.

MRR has, for more than a decade been singularly opposed to ATV scramble areas because we believe they encourage ATV riders to leave designated trails and teach an anti-enviornmental ethic by allowing riders to randomly rip and tear. The DNR first proposed the development of scramble areas, where ATV, dirt-bike motorcycle and four-wheel drive truck drivers could travel randomly cross-country at more than ten locations - the first of which was developed in Orr with disastorous results. But for MRR's intervention in Cook County the DNR had proposed a scramble area on the Superior Hiking Trail there. The current proposal to use the below photographed Alger Spur Scramble Area as an ATV trailhead not only recklessly endangers the Superior Hiking Trail and points beyond, but demonstrates that the DNR's continued intentions to dot the region with ATV, dirt-bike motorcycle and four-wheel drive truck scramble areas.

Protect Minnesota's North Shore. Contact DNR Commissioner Mark Holsten today!

Alger Spur Scramble Area , Proposed trailhead for ATVS on North Shore State Trail

 

MRR has been protecting Minnesota's North Shore and the Superior Hiking Trail for over a decade.
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