Duluth, MN - After a review of Saint Louis County records received in November of last year, Minnesotans for Responsible Recreation delivered a Citizen Audit of Publicly Funded Snowmobile and ATV Clubs and Routes in Saint Louis County to County Attorney Melanie Ford today. The audit finds pervasive violations of state grant agreements, including a lack of required written permissions from private property owners on motorized routes. Audit recommendations include a request that Saint Louis County suspend all public funding of motorized recreation until it can comply with state grant agreements and all local, state and federal laws. The audit further recommends that Saint Louis County adopt standards to mitigate the unwanted effects of these machines.
Jeff Brown , MRR Executive Director, says “this audit finds county violations in the administration of these grants, especially the absence of required permissions from private landowners, clear route maps, and necessary permits for water crossings and impacts. Sponsorship of motorized routes places liability for their safety, upkeep, and enforcement on the county. While the report underscores a need for more and better oversight, especially as the county begins to consider grants-in-aid for summer-use ATV routes, it also provides a route evaluation plan designed to be used as a working blueprint to meet oversight goals and realistically assess costs associated with these routes.
Brown states that “the Minnesota public provides over $15 million annually in dedicated gas-tax revenue to promote recreational motor vehicle access to public and private lands and waters. Local units of government disburse around $7 million of these public funds to snowmobile and ATV clubs. MRR wants to redirect public funds to mitigate the unwanted effects of these machines through implementation of the following five standards:
- Public and environmental review, i.e., completion of Environmental Assessment Worksheets to select all new routes, and provision of ongoing public and environmental review of existing routes with consistent and clear annual reporting;
- Designated routes only policy requiring machines to stay on selected routes;
- Adequate enforcement to keep riders on selected routes;
- Adequate funds used to repair accumulating damage: conditions leading to sedimentation or pollution of public waters, safety hazards, impairment of routes designated for other uses, prohibited wetlands impacts, aesthetic and resource damage to public lands, damage to private property;
- Transparency, oversight and accountability sufficient to accomplish the above objectives.
While today’s audit concludes MRR’s review of St. Louis County records, MRR says it is now commencing a field audit of selected publicly funded snowmobile and ATV routes in the county. Trail photos and findings from MRR’s field audits will be posted on MRR’s website, www.MnResponsibleRec.org, and provided to the county in a final audit report this summer.
Brown says “MRR has requested suspension of all Saint Louis County public motorized recreation funding. Instead of disbursing more public funds in violation of grant agreements, MRR wants to see St. Louis County, the largest east of the Mississippi, implement clear and sustainable off-highway vehicle standards that will provide a statewide, perhaps nationwide, model for responsible recreation while providing and protecting access for all.”
MRR’s Saint Louis County Citizen Audit is the first of several audits MRR has commenced statewide of local government sponsors of snowmobile and ATV clubs, including Clover Township, Hubbard County, City of Orr, Fredenberg Township, and Lake County.
Learn more about how Minnesotan's pay for motorized recreation at the gas pump, the many unwanted effects of this public funding and specific reforms needed to mitigate these unwanted effects.
Support MRR's work to
reform or abolish public gas-tax funding of motorized recreation
with a tax-deductible contribution.
