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ATV plans ready for review CASS COUNTY BOARD Cass County Correspondent HACKENSACK - Minnesota DNR recommendations for off-highway vehicle trails use in the East Central Group OHV Designation Area will be available for public review beginning Monday, with a 60-day comment period to follow.
Mark Sprague, Cass County land department, has been Cass' representative who worked with DNR and county representatives from Aitkin, Kanabec, Pine, Isanti, Chisago, Anoka and Washington counties to prepare this coordinated county-state trails system.
He told the county board Tuesday public meetings also will be conducted the last week of September, with the comment period closing the first week of October.
The county will try to make its trails designations as similar as possible to the state's, which is more restrictive than federal rules, he said. He also noted the county has studied the hydrology of soils before designating trails across county land to connect to the state system.
Portions of the East Central Group within Cass County include an area from an east-west line just north of Hackensack to the south boundary of the county. The state earlier set standards for Pillsbury and Foothills State Forests, so those areas are not under review in this East Central Group plan.
The Chippewa National Forest area of northern Cass County is under separate review, primarily by the U.S. Forest Service.
Alan Bradshaw, Hackensack area resident, asked the board whether this DNR trails system is for all off-highway vehicles or limited to smaller all-terrain style vehicles. A local ATV club cannot be expected to repair damage done by large "mudder" trucks, he told the board.
Bradshaw asked whether there is a payback system to cover costs for these trails when the county already is facing a financial crisis that has led to county employee layoffs.
Commissioner Jeff Peterson said he would oppose any new trails system without a plan in place before it opens to address enforcing rules for use.
Commissioner Bob Kangas questioned where the ATV license money goes when it's paid to the state, because Cass County receives no state reimbursements currently for ATV trail maintenance like it does for snowmobile trail maintenance.
Gene Larimore, Hackensack area property owner, said studies he has seen show that only 15 percent of ATV riders currently use existing state trails.
Sprague said specific public meeting dates will be published in area newspapers when the DNR sets those dates.
Minnesota DNR notified Cass County Land Department in June that the county was unsuccessful in seeking funding for a new snowmobile trail groomer for Longville Lakes Snowmobile Club this year. Administrator Robert Yochum said the county will reapply to seek funding in 2009, which would come through the DNR from a federal recreational trails grant.
Cass commissioners voted to support a DNR proposal to purchase 16.18 acres with 1,700 feet of shoreline along Lantern Bay of Woman Lake. This will leave only six privately owned lots on a shallow bay that had been proposed for a major housing development a few years ago.
The DNR has purchased two additional acreages since the development was proposed. The county already held some acreage adjacent to the bay as tax-forfeited land.
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