Grass Roots Effort Fights for Multiple Forest Use
(Grand Portage) A controversial snowmobile trail reroute in Hovland, a rural township in northeastern Minnesota, is the catalyst for the formation of a group whose mission is to promote multiple use of forest lands in the Arrowhead Region. On Thursday, December 8, the Arrowhead Coalition for Multiple Use (ACMU) was formed at a meeting in Grand Marais, attended by approximately 30 representatives from area snowmobile and sports clubs. "Our goal is to fight the negativism that surrounds use of lands in the Arrowhead Region," said one organizer, Curtis Gagnon of Grand Portage. "We plan to be a positive group. We are not opposed to anything. We believe the forest should be open for all—hikers, bikers, skiers, snow-shoers, snowmobilers, ATVers, anglers, motor boaters, canoeists, kayakers, and horseback riders. There is a place for all."
Although attendees discussed a variety of shared concerns about forest access, the Coalition agreed that the first order of business was the need to spread the message that it wants the US Forest Service to replace the snowmobile trail it shut down in 2002 with a similar trail.
The trail, called the South Fowl Lake snowmobile access by the Forest Service and the Tilbury Trail by snowmobilers, was closed in 2002 because it had been found to be encroaching on the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW). ACMU acknowledges that the trail crosses the line into the BWCAW, however, the group points out that the trail existed long before the area was declared wilderness.
Former users of the closed trail state that the trail was known to have been within the BWCAW when the boundaries changed with the 1978 Boundary Waters Wilderness Act. The Forest Service environmental assessment confirms that the snowmobile trail is evident on aerial photographs from as long ago as 1961, before the 1964 Boundary Waters Act. ACMU argues that legally, the trail should have been replaced when the boundaries changed in 1978.
Of the five proposed reroutes in the Forest Service environmental assessment, two have risen to the forefront, Alternate 2, the North Route, preferred by ACMU and Alternative 3, the South Route, preferred by environmental groups such as the Sierra Club, Friends of the Boundary Waters, and Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness. There is relatively little difference between the two trails regarding their impact on sensitive plants, wildlife, or soil resources.
Environmental groups argue that the Northern Route, although introduced as an option to protect the Boundary Waters wilderness, is still too close. Atop a bluff overlooking the Royal Lake, the trail is approximately 400-feet from the wilderness boundary. Opponents claim that noise will be trapped by the bluff and will echo into the wilderness. They also believe the trail will be visible to wilderness visitors below. Environmental groups support the South Route, a longer, wider, trail built along County Road 16, the Arrowhead Trail.
Supporters of the Northern Route repeat the mantra "a trail for a trail." The cabin owners in the area and the locals and tourists, who use the trail to travel from McFarland to South Fowl Lake, don't want a wide trail dangerously close to a well-traveled gravel road. Users prefer a trail resembling what has been lost—a narrow, tree-lined, trail through the forest of white cedar and yellow birch.
Forest Service Gunflint District Ranger Dennis Neitzke will make the call regarding which trail reroute will be constructed. Neitzke said his office is being inundated with comments on the project. The deadline for comments is December 16, 2005.
ACMU is concerned that many people commenting are doing so at the urging of environmental groups and that these people have no idea what the environmental impact—or impact to local trail users—will be. ACMU hopes to rectify that, on this snowmobile trail reroute, and on other forest issues that may come. "We want to give the people a voice," said another organizer, John McClure of Grand Marais.
For more information on the Arrowhead Coalition for Multiple Use, call Curtis Gagnon (218) 475-2486; John McClure (218) 387-2076; Ron Carlson (218) 475-9913; or Myron Bursheim (218) 387-9220 or e-mail ArrowCoalition@yahoo.com.