Vilas County Rejects ATV 

Trail Expansion On County Lands

2/19/04

For more information, contact: Jim Wise 715-453-3676

By a resounding 63% to 37% margin, Vilas County taxpayers said no to allowing ATV’s on county-owned property.  The vote sends a clear message to the Vilas County Board and the rest of the state that when voters have the choice between protecting their public lands or allowing ATV’s, they come out strongly in favor of protecting our precious forests and lakes. 

Situated along the border with Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, voters of this rural, bedrock conservative county have clearly said no to a recreational activity that damages public lands in neighboring counties and across the country. 

What groups like Environmentally Concerned Citizens of the Lakeland Area (ECCOLA) and others did was to basically shine a spotlight on the terrible safety record and serious environmental damage caused by ATV’s.  In contrast, the ATV industry claimed that it could control rogue riders who emulate TV ads and go off of the trails. 

ECCOLA’s ads, postcards and direct mail provided the voters with irrefutable evidence of ATV problems, such as photos of rutted forests, eroded streams, and the fact that 12-year-olds can legally drive ATV’s on roads designated as ATV trails.  This practice has become common to many other counties across Northern Wisconsin.  Despite being outspent on media, many voters, it appears, were not fooled by the ATV industry’s promises to behave.   

If a conservative rural county that touts itself as the snowmobile capital of the world rejects ATV’s, then it is quite possible that they aren’t welcome anywhere else where the voters have a choice.  Until the ATV industry cleans up its tragic safety record, and public agencies do a better job of preventing existing ATV abuse, the backlash against ATV’s will only grow.

ECCOLA is a 11-year old group based in Minocqua with approximately 380 members in Vilas, Oneida, and Lincoln Counties.