TEL: (218) 740-3175 FAX: (218) 740-3179 EMAIL info@MnResponsibleRec.org WEBSITE: www.MnResponsibleRec.org

June 29, 2004

Jeff Brown, Executive Director, Minnesotans for Responsible Recreation 218-590-6188

Commissioner Bill Kron, St. Louis County Board of Commissioners H 218-624-4270, W –726-2450

Ed Beckers, Co-founder and President, Cycle Mesabi bicycle club 218-263-6594

Minnesotans for Responsible Recreation (MRR) has filed a petition with the Minnesota Environmental Quality Board (EQB) requesting completion of an Environmental Assessment Worksheet on a proposed dirt-bike motorcycle/ATV track sited to be constructed just 20’ from the edge of the Mesabi Trail bikeway near Eveleth, in St. Louis County, Minnesota. The proposed dirt-bike motorcycle/ATV track would cross the Mesabi Trail several times. MRR’s petition says the "odors, noise, and dust, and visual impacts" from the proposed project have a "potential for significant environmental effect" on the Mesabi Trail’s 55,000 bicyclists and walkers. The Mesabi Trail is the nation’s longest paved bikeway with 90 miles completed to date and connects the cities of Eveleth and Gilbert and numerous other Iron Range communities. $7 million in federal, state, and local funds have been invested in the Mesabi Trail bikeway so far. Bicyclists and walkers on the Mesabi Trail are expected to reach 100,000 in number this year. The Mesabi Trail will eventually connect the cities of Grand Rapids and Ely. The Mesabi Trail was developed and is managed by the St. Louis and Lake Counties Regional Railroad Authority. St. Louis County is the nation’s largest county east of the Mississippi River.

MRR’s petition has been forwarded by the EQB to the project proposer, the Eveleth-Gilbert ATV/Off-highway Motorcycle Trail Joint Powers Board, which has approximately 6 weeks to decide whether or not to complete the requested six page Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW). Final government actions on the project are now prohibited until the EAW has been completed or the request is denied. A thirty-day public comment period would occur on the EAW which requires the proposer to address the potential for a variety of environmental impacts. Should the Eveleth-Gilbert ATV/Off-highway Motorcycle Trail Joint Powers Board choose to deny the request for completion of an EAW, citizens would have thirty days to challenge such a denial in court.

DNR’s Trails and Waterways Division reports that it has already approved state funding for the proposed dirt-bike track and that it will not seek approval to cross the trail from the Regional Railroad Authority. The St. Louis County Board of Commissioners is poised to vote to provide $35,000 and easement across 40 acres of county-managed tax-forfeit land at its July 6 meeting in support of the dirt-bike motorcycle/ATV trail. Such action would be prohibited under Minnesota environmental review rules, Chapter 4410.3100, Prohibition on Final Government Decisions while MRR’s petition is in play. Should MRR’s petition for an EAW be denied, any government actions taken could be challenged in court within 30 days.

In its petition for public and environmental review, MRR quotes Mesabi Trail literature which invites people from across the nation to enjoy a "non-motorized" trail which "offers an abundance of nature… forests teaming with wildlife… streams and creeks…that…provide habitat for birds and animals" Guests are invited to "bike and enjoy the beauty and distinctiveness of the Mesabi Trail…and to "walk…skate, ski, snowshoe …along the trail". "Imagine a day of sunshine and a path to explore nature" and "enjoy a solitary patch of wild blueberries or strawberries as you rest along a refreshing brook" says Mesabi Trail literature. In its petition for public and environmental review, MRR states that the "odors, noise, and dust, and visual impacts" caused by dirt-bike motorcycles and ATVs could cause some people to stop using the Mesabi Trail. MRR cites a body of research including a U.S. Department of Interior study that states the presence of these machines "tends to displace tranquility-seeking recreation visitors and preclude their further use of the area." MRR’s petition, research, and other "material evidence" can be viewed on MRR’s website at http://www.mnresponsiblerec.org/2ndlevelpages/ohvs.htm.

MRR’s Executive Director, Jeff Brown says "There is a place for everything when everything is in its place. A dirt-bike motorcycle/ATV track 20’ from the edge of the nation’s longest bikeway is out of place." Brown says a 1999 report published by MRR, Off-Highway Vehicles in Minnesota, and a 2003 Legislative Audit of the DNR’s motorized trail program highlight five things that are necessary to determine the place for dirt-bike motorcycles and ATVs on Minnesota’s landscape. They are public and environmental review, a "designated routes only" policy, adequate enforcement to keep riders on designated routes, repair of accumulating damage, and implementation of legislative audit recommendations that would make sure motorized trails constructed are in fact the trails proposed and approved by the public. Brown says "completion of each of the above steps is the critical path to development of legitimate ATV trails and use in Minnesota."

St. Louis County Commissioner Bill Kron believes it is crucial for St. Louis County to provide leadership. Commissioner Kron says he is "working on a landmark policy for St. Louis County that would show lines of communication and insure openness and full public participation in motorized recreation decisions." To address the immediate question of the proposed dirt-bike motorcycle/ATV track twenty-feet from the Mesabi Trail bikeway, Commissioner Kron supports MRR’s call for completion of an Environmental Assessment Worksheet. To address future proposed projects Commissioner Kron says he will be "proposing development of a comprehensive recreation plan for the county that incorporates citizen input, insures fairness and respect for all recreationists and includes existing data regarding the recreational choices and needs of county residents". Commissioner Kron cites a 2001 St. Louis County Recreation Participation Survey Report that finds the vast majority of the county’s citizens participate in human-powered activities such as running, backpacking, biking, hiking and skiing. The report says "scenery, wildlife…, quiet and peace" are what respondents like most about recreating in St. Louis County. A third of respondents stated they have "stopped participating in a recreation activity because of the presence of other activities which … conflicted with [their] desired activity", with ATVs second highest on the list of activities causing such conflict. "What is needed" says Kron, "is an open and inclusive process for planning how this will occur." Commissioner Kron is also a board member of the St. Louis and Lake Counties Regional Railroad Authority that constructed and manages the Mesabi Trail and North Shore Scenic Railroad.

Ed Beckers, Co-founder and current President of Cycle Mesabi bicycle club in Hibbing, says he "has been volunteering for 14 years to develop the Mesabi Trail as a world class trail for bicyclists and walkers." Beckers says a designated ATV trail already exists along a short portion of the Mesabi Trail near Gilbert and "has posed numerous problems including rocks strewn onto the Mesabi Trail, machines driving on the paved surface and into adjacent wetlands, trespassing on private property and sadly, vandalism to the barrier posts meant to keep these machines off the bikeway." As an "experienced cyclist and bike tourist", Beckers says "the presence of dirt-bike motorcycles and ATVs would ruin any sense of adventure or tranquility that people are seeking on the Mesabi Trail. People come to the trail to relax and enjoy nature. A dirt-bike motorcycle/ATV trail nearby would cause people to stop coming." Beckers says "The very idea of more dirt-bike motorcycle/ATV trail within view and hearing distance of the Mesabi Trail is antithetical to the trail’s mission and to my and many other’s many years of hard volunteer work."