From The Pioneer Press by Chris Niskanen
When fall comes around in the Chippewa National Forest, Mike Bellomy takes his allterrain vehicle deep into the national forest to hunt grouse and deer or to collect firewood, often riding on overgrown roads or undesignated trails.
Bellomy sees nothing wrong with using the rough trails, which often began as game paths that were trimmed and expanded by ATV users.
"It's not like we're slamming through the brush,'' said the 61-year-old retiree who lives near Suomi, Minn., in Itasca County. "We're just following old game trails or old logging roads built with taxpayer money."
That's not how officials with the Chippewa and Superior national forests see it.
Starting Tuesday, both of Minnesota's national forests banned off-road vehicles from cross-country travel or travel on undesignated roads and trails. The ban came out of long-range forest plans approved in August and are part of a national mandate by U.S. Forest Service officials concerned with unmanaged recreation in national forests.
No one knows how many undesignated trails or forest users will be affected in the 2.1-million-acre Superior National Forest or the 660,000-acre Chippewa National Forest. But Bellomy believes "thousands" of hunters, including most of his neighbors, will be prohibited from riding their ATVs through the national forests this fall.
"There are hundreds of deer camps around here that would be affected,'' said Bellomy, who retired to northern Minnesota six years ago from Peoria, Ill. "I'd say about 30 percent of our little community up here would be affected."
Forest officials are quick to point out that the ban only affects cross-country travel and riding on trails that aren't part of the official forest road network. Other roads remain open, they say.
In the Chippewa National Forest, for example, about 1,600 miles of low-maintenance roads out of the forest's inventory of 2,600 miles of roads will remain open to ATV use, according to Mike Martin, a recreation planner based in Cass Lake, Minn.
"A lot of the low-standard roads are still open, and over the next year we'll be looking at designating roads and trails" for off-road vehicle use, he said, adding that there are plans to add 90 miles of ATV trails in the future.
In fact, a cross-country travel ban in the Chippewa forest has been in effect since 1986. However, it was either not widely known by users or ignored, Martin said. He said usage has given rise to a network of illicit trails, a trend that has paralleled the popularity of ATVs.
In the Superior National Forest, about 1,400 miles of low-maintenance roads are still open to ATVs, and managers are hustling to erect signs denoting open roads. But Judy Ness, a recreational specialist, said some hunters who have dragged their deer cross-country using an ATV might have to change their ways.
TVs have become a favorite tool for dragging deer out of the woods and it might be Nov. 6, the opening of the firearms deer season, when many hunters using the national forest become aware of the new rule.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources allows big-game retrieval off trails with ATVs during specific daylight hours on state forest lands, Assistant DNR Commissioner Brad Moore said. But some hunters may be confused whether they are on state or federal forest lands.
"I think the biggest challenge will be the different regulations between state, federal and even county lands,'' Moore said. "We're concerned about it."
Moore said there are no plans to change the hunting-retrieval law on state lands while the state conducts its inventory of trails and forest roads for ATV designation.
"But I know the hunting community is divided on it," he said. "Even our managers feel differently about it, depending on what part of the state they're in."
While driving off trails and through vegetation might be an obvious no-no for most ATV users, the ban also prohibits riding on illicit trails that have been created in forests.
Superior officials said they would take a mostly "educational" approach to enforcing the cross-country ban this year, but Chippewa officials said they might be more aggressive in ticketing. The fine ranges from $75 to $100, depending on the infraction.
Mark Johnson, executive director of the 20,000-member Minnesota Deer Hunters Association, said he has heard very few complaints from his members about the ban.
"A few hunters I've spoken to said it won't be a big deal," he said. "But deer season will definitely put it in people's faces."
Bellomy said he thinks some hunters might ignore the policy.
"I can't afford a ticket," he said, "but I know a guide who said, 'They haven't been able to enforce laws in the past, and they won't be able to enforce this one, either.' "
