Fat-Assed ATV Riders Face More Setbacks in Minnesota

[JoseCuervo]

Another day, another state, and more news about the need for restrictions on the Fat-Assed ATV riders....

OFF-ROAD VEHICLES: Bill that lessens ATV restrictions is pulled


People with beefs about Minnesota's off-highway vehicle laws may have to wait another year for relief.

The chief sponsor of a Senate bill that promised to ease strict legislation approved last year tabled the bill Monday after it was altered to give all-terrain vehicle users greater access to wetlands and bogs.

"I will not carry a bill that opens up wetlands to ATV use,'' said Sen. Dennis Frederickson, R-New Ulm, adding that unless he detects a change of heart, the bill is dead in the Senate. "I think current law is better than this.''

An amendment offered by Sen. Tom Saxhaug, DFL-Grand Rapids, and supported by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources allowed users of ATVs and other such vehicles greater access to private wetlands and frozen public wetlands. The amendment, which passed 34-33, was widely supported by northern lawmakers whose constituents contend they can't get the access they want to their property.

After the 2003 Legislature adopted a law restricting off-highway vehicle use in the state, some people said the law went too far.

Frederickson's bill was intended to address many of those "unintended consequences,'' giving farmers, the military, police, utilities, hunters, loggers and others specific exemptions. It also offered other protections, such as prohibiting use of the vehicles in calcareous fens and allowing the DNR commissioner to withhold trail grants to recipients who have violated local ordinances.

He and others contend the increasing popularity of such vehicles has resulted in widespread environmental damage to wetlands and bogs. In response, the DNR is establishing a system of public trails aimed at balancing increased access with environmental protection.

A House bill that would open up public and private wetlands to even more access than Frederickson's bill hasn't received a floor vote.

 

[Plainsman]

I didn't know Minnesotans road their atv's in Minnesota. I thought they all road them here in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

 

[Ithaca 37]

Good for Frederickson! Sounds like he has some brains. Why would the MN Dept. of NR want more access for ATVs? They know they can't control them.