HEALTHY Forests & TRAILs

Twelve years of study and inter-agency collaboration has resulted in the articulation of Five Standards for Protecting Minnesota from Motorized Recreation In 1999, MRR published ourlandmark evidentiary, Off-Highway Vehicles in Minnesota report documenting the impacts of OHVs and the policies, practices and institution that wittingly and unwittingly promote these impacts. In 2003, the Office of the Legislative Auditor published its Program Evaluation Report: State Funded Trails for Motorized Recreation , requested by MRR and supported with extensive MRR evidence. The report recommends include completion of Environmental Assessment Worksheets and oversight and accountability in the disbursement of gas-tax funds to motorized recreation clubs. In 2005 through 2007 MRR, University of Minnesota and others collaborated in two Off-Road Vehicle Effectsand Cost of Restoration Studies. Synthesizing the recommendations of these major reports and research efforts over the past twelve years MRR has developed the below Five Standards for Protecting Minnesota from Motorized Recreation.

Five Standards for Protecting Minnesota
from Motorized Recreation
There is a place for everything when everything is in its place. To determine what place off-road vehicles might have on Minneosta's landscape MRR works in legislative, administrative and legal arenas to implement the following. Policies mus be implemented in concert in order for each individual mitigantion to be effective:

1. Public and environmental review, ie, completion of an Environmental Assessment Worksheet or Environmental Impact Statement, to select ATV, dirt-bike motorcycle, and four-wheel drive truck routes
2. "Selected Routes Only Policy" requiring machines to stay on selected routes
3. Adequate enforcement to keep riders on selected routes
4. Repair all accumulating damage
5. Oversight and accountability to ensure above objectives are accomplished. (Implement recommendations from the Legislative Auditor's 2003 Program Evaluation Report: State Funded Trails for Motorized Recreation)

Academic origin of MRR's Five Standards. A place for everything when everything is in its place.