Miles of illegal trails have been cut through a Minnesota state forest by a publicly funded motorcycling club without permits to build the routes.
Those findings from an investigation by the Department of Natural Resources are reviving concerns about how the agency manages an $8 million grant program that helps more than 200 snowmobiling, ATV and dirt-bike clubs build and maintain trails in Minnesota.
The case is the DNR's first detailed investigation of unauthorized trails on state land. And it has implications beyond the Paul Bunyan State Forest near Akeley, the focus of the nine-month inquiry.
No charges have been filed against the trail builders. But investigators questioned how money was spent, and faulted the DNR trails unit's oversight, according to e-mails and investigation papers obtained by the Star Tribune.
Three years ago, in a broad review of state-funded trail programs, the legislative auditor found that at least seven other clubs had violated wetland or other regulations. The audit also criticized management of the programs.
Trails officials acknowledge that there have been problems in the woods. "Did we screw up in the past and not do as much we should have? Probably," said Laurie Martinson, the head of the DNR Trails and Waterways Division.
She said she welcomed the latest investigation, and insisted that her division doesn't tolerate illegal trails and is taking steps to watch clubs more closely.
Some environmental groups contend that the DNR's financial ties to motor-sports clubs undermine its job of protecting resources.
Illegal motor trails are a problem because badly designed routes cause erosion and may conflict with other outdoor pursuits such as hunting and hiking.
Probe to prompt audit
In final reports on the investigation issued last month, conservation officers from Park Rapids concluded that two members of a dirt-bike club were reimbursed with state money for unauthorized work in 2004.
One of them was improperly paid under a state grant for work during a 2002 dirt-bike race, the report said. It doesn't list the reimbursement amounts, but other documents indicate that the total for both instances was $288.
The main target of the investigation, the Paul Bunyan Forest Riders Motorcycle Club, received a $25,000 DNR grant in 2004, but got no additional grants after discovery of the unauthorized trails by a forestry worker last May, Martinson said. She said a recently hired trails program auditor will review the club's reimbursements from 2002 to 2004.
DNR leaders and clubs have long defended the grants program as a way to maintain more than 18,000 miles of motor-sports trails without hiring state workers. They say most clubs spend the money wisely and work hard, often without pay, to groom trails, cut brush and do other manual labor. DNR trails officials pledged after the 2003 audit to be better watchdogs.
DNR's internal criticism
Yet that is not what two conservation officers heard during the investigation in the Paul Bunyan State Forest, which has a 115-mile trail network.
Club members told them that DNR trails officials allowed trail construction in the forest without permits, according to reports by conservation officers Colleen Adam and Michael Lawrence.
DNR trails officials have adamantly denied approving the illegal trails.
It remains unclear how many miles of unauthorized trails were built. Jim Fearell, a former club leader, said about 5 miles of planned new trails lacked permits. He insists they were not illegal.
The officers' final reports, obtained by the Star Tribune under the state open records law, do not accuse DNR officials of wrongdoing. But one officer criticized the DNR in e-mails and preliminary reports.
In an e-mail to supervisors early in the investigation, Adam declared that the DNR's Trails and Waterways Division "doesn't have a clue what is going on."
No such criticism made it into final reports because "anything we couldn't use in court, like opinions, were taken out," said Lt. Phil Meier, who oversaw the investigation. He said Adam agreed with the changes. Neither investigating officer agreed to be interviewed.
Changes are coming
Martinson said the conservation officers are not qualified to evaluate the agency's programs. And she said some changes already were in the works before the illegal trails were discovered.
Trails, forestry and enforcement officials are trying to improve communication about what's expected from clubs, she said. Some procedures for reimbursements also may be changed. One proposal under consideration for snowmobile clubs would eliminate the traditional, detailed work-hour reports. Yet that kind of information allowed officers to track the spending in the Paul Bunyan investigation.
Natural Resources Commissioner Gene Merriam ordered rule changes Friday for ATV and dirt-bike riding in the Paul Bunyan forest next year. Riders will be limited to marked, designated trails. Riders caught on unauthorized trails could get ticketed. Some dirt-bike routes will close, reducing the trail network by 15 miles, to 100 miles.
The Forest Riders club also has made changes, including the resignation last year of Fearell, its longtime administrator, who had helped build dirt-bike trails in the Paul Bunyan forest since the 1970s.
Fearell said the club used grant money properly, even the time he was reimbursed by the state during a club race in the forest. Fearell said a DNR official's surprise inspection on race day took four hours of his time. "We billed it just out of spite," he said in an interview.
The new leader of the club, Doug Deerring, said he doesn't think any more trails will be built in what's known as the Martineau trails network.
"This trail is one of the top 10 in the nation," he said. "It's because of the grant-in-aid program. People want to work on it, they get reimbursed for it and they want to make it good."
Not everyone agrees that the DNR is fixing problems. The grant program and the agency's desire to please what it calls "stakeholders" has turned the Trails and Waterways division into a promoter of motorized recreation, said Gene Larimore, a leader in the Jack Pine Coalition, a loose-knit group that opposes state policy for off-road vehicles. The DNR should stick to protecting natural resources, he said.
"Clubs have their missions, and the DNR should have its mission," Larimore said. "You can work with each other, but you can't sell your mission out."Minneapolis Star Tribune
