ottawa forest roads

[purproadking]

when did the forest service put up all the on atv signs on alot of the roads? i was under the impression that we were allowed to ride them as long as we had a sticker. just wondering what the rule was, or if it was just changed.

 

[ranlam]

That sticker is good for most county roads, and town roads. Some national forest roads are not included. Its to my understanding the forest roads with vertical number signs are legal, roads with horizontal number signs are illegal. The forest service seems to change there minds yearly so it is hard to keep up. Your best bet is to have a mi-trale and an ottawa national forest orv map. Skip is working hard along with the forest service to give us more and more trails and we sure appreciate that.

 

[mrsrunningbear]

That sticker is good for most county roads, and town roads. Some national forest roads are not included. Its to my understanding the forest roads with vertical number signs are legal, roads with horizontal number signs are illegal. The forest service seems to change there minds yearly so it is hard to keep up. Your best bet is to have a mi-trale and an ottawa national forest orv map. Skip is working hard along with the forest service to give us more and more trails and we sure appreciate that.

The vertical and horizontal signing is no longer, they stopped that a couple years ago. The new deal is if it is posted no ATV then you can't ride it if it's not signed you can ride it. Hope Skip will chime in but I 98% sure I'm right. Thats why all the NO ATV signs are up now they did it with in the last couple of weeks. We were at a meeting with the Forest & DNR where we talked about this.

 

[eao]

found this.....

Welcome to the beauty of the Ottawa National Forest's land and bountiful waterfalls that dot the approximate one million acres in the western end of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. This area is known for its hearty and friendly people as well as its hardwood forest, fishing, deer, grouse and bear hunting, spectacular fall colors, canoeing and plentiful winter snows.

The Ottawa National ForestThe US Forest Service has updated the regulations for ATV riding in the Ottawa National Forest. These updates affect all recreational riding including hunting, fishing and any other transporting to activities within the national forest areas.

All roads and trails open to ORV use are displayed on a Motor Vehicle Use Map (MVUM). The MVUM reflects the designated system of roads and trails available for motor vehicle use by vehicle class (e.g., OHV motorcycle, passenger vehicle, etc.) and if appropriate, by time of year. These maps are available to the public free of charge. The MVUM will be updated annually to incorporte any changes/additions/re-routes, etc.

Motorized vehicles are not permitted in federally designated wildernesses. In the Ottawa these areas include: McCormick Wilderness, Sturgeon River Gorge and the Sylvania Wilderness.

 

[purproadking]

So it seems they can change their minds whenever they want, I wonder how they pick what roads are good and what roads they close? A lot of the roads just tee into another road that is closed, so you really can't get anywhere.

 

[skipschulz]

The Designated Motor Vehicle Use Map is available in sections of the Ottawa NF. Even the representatives that Mi-TRALE works closesly with acknowledge that the DVUM is very difficult to read, and that the roads that are open to ATV use are not all signed.

Plus almost every one of the Forest Roads that are open to ATV's, are only open to conventinal straddle seat ATV's that are no wider then 50 inches. Those roads are dead ends, and were pretty much opened for hunting.

However the Ottawa NF and their Supervisor Ms. Susan Spear has worked closely with Mi-TRALE since the new OHV Law went into effect in Nov of 2005. We had a POSITIVE decision issued by Ms. Spear on adding close to 100 miles of NEW OHV Connector Trails in the Ottawa NF last October, but her decision was appealed. The appeal was upheld by the Eastern USFS offices in Milwaukee.

The Ottawa NF released a new report on that appeal last Friday. We are no under a 30 day comment period, then another decision, and hopefully this time we won't get another appeal.

All this just happened a few days ago. Now I am trying to find a way to get POSITIVE comments e-mailed, without getting ridiculus comments sent in. If only I could publicly tell you what the appeals were, you wouldn't believe it.

HERE IS THE BIG THING, Ms. Spear is going to be our Guest Speaker at our Annual Banquet on Oct 16th at Parkview Lodge and Grill in Twin Lakes. Mi-TRALE NEEDS AS MANY PEOPLE as possible to attend. E-mail me with your reservations, and PLEASE, PLEASE help us get as many people to that Annual Banquet as we can.

Thanks,

Skip Schulz
Mi-TRALE President