Minn. ATV'ers want grid of trails

Aware their activity faces opposition from county officials and the public, recreational ATV riders in southwest Minnesota nevertheless hope to criss-cross the area with motorized trails.

Nearly 40 people attended an informational meeting of the Minnesota Valley ATV?Riders Club at the American Legion Hall in Redwood Falls on January 6, according to The Redwood Falls Gazette. Loran Kaardal, a member of the club, laid out the organization's vision of a grid of trails connected all 26 communities in Redwood and Renville counties.

"I?would love to see a grid of trails for ATVs here just like there is for snowmobilers," Kaardal said, according to the newspaper.

Obstacles include the current illegality of riding ATVs on county roads and Renville County's previous rejection of a plan to build an ATV park there.

Yet Kardaal said an exhausted gravel pit in the county could be turned into an ATV park which the county would own and police.

The newspaper paraphrased Kardaal saying "an important piece of getting a project like this to the next level is good public relations. That means helping the public see ATV?riders as responsible individuals, rather than a public nuisance."

An official with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources attended the meeting to inform the group of state and federal grants available for building ATV parks.

The article did not mention the death of 16-year-old Nicholas Scott Warner in at ATV accident 17 miles southeast of Renville in August 2009. Warner was a passenger on an ATV driven by a 15-year old juvenile male, who was also injured.