Quiet places lost

[fishhead]

http://www.backcountryhunters.org/in...casbackcountry

[Haggis]

I don't have a horse, but I do get out on my snowshoes for 1 to 2 hours everyday in winter, irregardless of the weather. I put up a few coyote snares a full half hour snowshoes walk from our wee cottage to insure I'd have to make the walk; ethics and all that. Snowmobiles and ORV's can't go where I go in the bush, well, they might try, but it isn't likely, and I've never seen sign of them back in the pucker bush, nor in the pole timber.

I own an ATV, Herself bought it for me in 1999 to help me with the chores about the croft, but I've never had it off the main paths, and never had it off our land. I haven't even started it in the last 4 years; can't stand the noise it makes, nor the smell of it.

Quiet suits to down to the bone, even on the lakes, I want the quiet paddle, not the painful drone of the Evinrude.

[PhilJohnson]

I am an ATV fan, have had one since I was 14. From what I have observed there is a difference between local riders and those who come from the big city. The big city people dress all up and look like they are ready to race motocross. Not a big fan of the big bore two stoke sport ATVs. I can hear them things for miles. All of the ATVs I have owned have been utilities. There are parts of the county forest that is near my house where one can canoe all day and not see another person. It is nice to find a little solitude once in a while.

[bowdonkey]

I worked for the MN DNR a few years back and did alot of GPS work for the trail survey before classifying all forests closed to ATV's except on designated trails. Started in the Cheng and ended up in Cloquet Valley, and as far east as the Solana. I put on a few thousand miles recording every two track. Limiting ATV travel was a good thing as they where destroying the forest. I just hope enforcement is there in the future. I'm with you Haggis, many days I throw on the backpack and shoes and head out into the bush just to build a fire and have a cup of tea. There's 10,000 acres of public land on my western border. Mostly bog and low lying brush areas with islands of hardwood, many to small for loggers to bother with. Winter is the ideal time to see it, no bugs!

[Haggis]

Along my southern border there are nigh onto 7,000 acres of very much unimproved "public" land, along my eastern border it is closer to 20,000 acres of the same sort. To my north is a 40 acre abandonned hay field which is year 'round plagued by and infested with ATV's and snowmobiles, never mind the NO TRESPASSING signs and the TREES PLANTED signs put up by the owner. It make well be the upon taking one's ORV afield or at large one loses the ability to read or to respect another's land; at least it seems to often as not be the case.

[fishhead]

Our county has 104,000 acres of tax forfeited land and the state has 10's of thousands more yet it is impossible to find a quiet place in the winter. Sad.

[Haggis]

Originally Posted by fishhead

Our county has 104,000 acres of tax forfeited land and the state has 10's of thousands more yet it is impossible to find a quiet place in the winter. Sad.

It isn't merely the noise pollution created by these infernal machines; it is also the scars they leave in their passing. Snowmobiles don't so much scar the earth as they do push the frost down, wherein a snowmobile route is frequently used, causes greater upheavals come spring, but those ORV’s which tear at the soil leave nearly permanent wounds which will not in very many years repair themselves, perhaps not for several generations. If ORV's are used where the land is sideling, the falling rain or melting snow will collect in the ruts left by the ORV's and further erode the soil; the scars frequently become so severe that the ORV'er is forced to move their paths over a few feet and begin their destruction anew.

Even on the lakes, where one goes for solitude and quiet, one may easily hear the drone of the smallest outboard motor many miles distant; the sound completely destroys the effect and the peace one seeks in the wild places. Then too, one sees the damage done by motorized boats along the shore lines where the wakes created by such boats endlessly pound the shore line from all directions save the shore itself, and the wild rice that once grew profusely in quiet, undisturbed bays and inlets finds its roots being torn from the lake bottom as a result of large wakes being artificially formed and pounding where nature has ever forbade them enter.

There ought to be more protected quiet places, but there is little money to be made in the selling of goods to the person who prefers quiet, and endless quantities of profits to be made in the selling of motorized gadgets and gear to those who do not enjoy the quiet whisper of birds on the wing, sirens call of the wind in the pines, the chiming droplets of water falling from paddles, or the crackling of dry leaves under foot. Big business means big lobbies; big lobbies contribute to politicians who in turn pass laws favoring those who fill their campaign buckets.

It is the way of things, it has always been the way of things: the Church tells us “The Poor ye have with ye always”, then under their breaths say, “But the poor do not fill the offering plate, the rich do, and we shan’t preach against them”. The politicians tell us we need work together to protect our wilderness lands, but then yield to those who fill their “offering plates”. There is no answer for it beyond enjoy what we can find while we can yet find it.

[fishhead]

Here's a photographic account of how erosion started by ATVs progressed into massive erosion into a small spawning stream right during spawning season. I took the photos in 2005.

http://www.angelfire.com/mn3/dnrdocuments/HayCreek.html

[SunnyJim]

To me it's just another example of the sense of entitlement many people seem to feel today.

"I spent $5500 on this ATV so the state had better give me somewhere to ride it!"

Well I say tough taters. Destroy your own land riding around and squatting on your haunches. I'll be in the woods walking, like a man.

[jross]

Originally Posted by PhilJohnson

I am an ATV fan, have had one since I was 14. From what I have observed there is a difference between local riders and those who come from the big city. The big city people dress all up and look like they are ready to race motocross. Not a big fan of the big bore two stoke sport ATVs. I can hear them things for miles. All of the ATVs I have owned have been utilities. There are parts of the county forest that is near my house where one can canoe all day and not see another person. It is nice to find a little solitude once in a while.

I own a MaxII 6x6 amphib. We use it to pick up deer and firewood in our swamp where no four wheeler dares to go, since they do not float. It is noisey, oil changes are a pain, chain adjustments ( eight of em) are routine, but it is functional and we could not get a lot of wood out without it. I dragged a deer over 750 yards up over and under cedar stumps, blowdowns..etc, thought I was getting a coronary. That night I was on the phone ordering the Max from Recreative Industries in New York. It is tool, not a plaything.

[big rockpile]

Originally Posted by SunnyJim

To me it's just another example of the sense of entitlement many people seem to feel today.

"I spent $5500 on this ATV so the state had better give me somewhere to ride it!"

Well I say tough taters. Destroy your own land riding around and squatting on your haunches. I'll be in the woods walking, like a man.

Kind of like the Goverment Land next to me.We have hundreds of Horseback Riders every weekend.Seems there is such a number the state caters to whatever they want.

Then there is the river with thousands of Floaters.

Seems just so many coming from the cities not caring what they do.But its all about money around here.

big rockpile