Future of Highland Trail Key to
Northern Highland Forest Master Plan

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Running through the heart of the Northern Highland-American Legion State Forest (NHAL) from Boulder Junction in the north to Lake Tomahawk in the south, the Highland Hiking Trail winds past picturesque lakes and pristine wetlands: where nature spices the air with the sweat aroma of pine forests.  That could all change if all terrain vehicle (ATV) proponents get their way during the current attempt to update the  Master Plan for the NHAL.  The Northwoods ATV Association, Inc. and the Wisconsin All Terrain Vehicle Association, Inc. are pushing  the DNR to change the Highland Hiking Trail to an ATV trail so that they can create an interconnected, multi-state trail system similar to snowmobile trials.

The Highland Trail is the key segment in the plans of ATV groups to create an interconnected maze of trails which would connect trails in Upper Michigan with trails in Iron County and Oneida County.  ATV groups have made it explicitly clear that the 600 miles of ATV trails around the NHAL aren’t enough.  They want to turn the Northern Highland American Legion state forest to ATV playground.

From a conservation perspective, converting the Highland Trail into an ATV track would threaten some of the best places left in the Northwoods to get away from noise and enjoy undeveloped lakes and rare habitats.  The Highland Trail bisects the “Highland Macrosite”; an area of sandy soils that was identified by the DNR as one of the best remaining areas in Wisconsin to restore a huge block of mature pine forest. (28,000 acre area which runs from Hwy. K in the north to almost Lake Tomahawk in the south.)  The trail runs through the Bittersweet lakes area which is a complex of undeveloped pristine lakes surrounded by large oaks and pines.

Like water that slips through your fingers in a cupped  hand, many ATV riders have yet to prove that they can restrict their movements to designated trails.  ATV’s are built and advertised to tear up the dirt and go anywhere.  Unfortunately, these smoke-belching two-stroke engine machines increase soil erosion, create incessant noise problems and are often associated with littering and poaching.

Currently, the Highland Trail is used as a hiking trail in the spring, fall and summer and as a snowmobile trail in the winter.  If the future NHAL is to hold any silence in which to enjoy silent sports, then anyone who enjoys a quiet hike should contact their peers and write the following officials to demand that the entire length of the Highland Hiking Trail remains, indeed, a hiking trail.

Here’s what you can do to protect the NHAL and encourage silent sports.

Write the WI. DNR at: Mary Hamel, Public Involvement Manager, P.O. Box 7921, Madison WI 53707 and Dennis Leith, NHAL Superintendent 8770 Hwy. J Woodruff, WI 54568 and tell them to do the following:
1. Keep the entire length of the Highland Trail designated as a hiking trail in the spring, summer and fall.
2. Continue the no ATV policy on the NHAL State Forest.
3. Protect the Central Highland Macrosite with protective land-use designations such as a Native Community Management Area, Type II non-motorized recreation area or state natural area.
Here are the main reasons:
  • Hiking trails are badly needed in the NHAL because the number of hikers has increased from 10,000 per year in 1989 to 30,000 per year in 1998.(WI DNR “Shaping the Future” pg.11-12)
  • There are 600 miles of ATV trails in the region close to the NHAL. There is no need to open up the NHAL to more motor sports.(WI DNR “Shaping the Future” pg.11-7)
  • The DNR doesn’t have the funding or increased personnel required to adequately enforce ATV regulations on a large expansion of new trail miles.
  • Smoke-belching snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles are  the source of significant air pollution in some cities.  ATV’s, jetskis and snowmobiles emit one-fourth of the amount of hydrocarbons that are emitted by all the nation's cars and trucks put together, according to an EPA study. More than 66 times as many cars and trucks are in use as snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles.
  • The Highland trail system runs through the heart of the one of the four most biologically  significant areas on the entire state forest. Concentrating ATV trials in this area wouldn’t make sense for long-term stewardship of the area.  (WI DNR “Shaping the Future” fig. 6)

    • According to the  national Consumer Product Safety Commission, over 1051 people, including many children, have died in accidents associated with ATV’s since 1990. According to figures released by the Minnesota DNR,  the ATV accident and death rate is 20 percent higher than the accident and death rate for snowmobile operation," where 20-35 people are killed every winter in both Minnesota and Wisconsin.  If the WI DNR allows the establishment of a huge interconnected trail sysyem, it would very likely sanction a sport where 30-40 people could needlessly be killed annually.
Visit the DNR's web site on the master plan for the Northern Highland Forest

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