ORV Advisory board meeting

[Ironman]

This Wed. Nov. 10 is the ORV Advisory board meeting at the Holiday Inn South Lansing MI.

I hope some of you can make it there.

Pat Kinne
Pres. GLFWDA
1-888-705-8683

REPORT BELOW
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[PeteC]

Unfortunatly I will be unable to attend and show my support at this meeting. I am sure Paul and Pat will be able to once again stand up for our interests.

[Miffy]

sorry pat we can not go either, booked for different event.

[yogi]

didnt get out of work till 930 last night .my schedual suck never can plan anything in advance hopefully next time



yogi

[Roadhouse]

Pat, anything interesting happen?

[Ironman]

Why yes Mike lots did happen, thanks for asking.

First let me say that the new ORV study that is being conducted by Dr. Chuck Nelson from MSU has its first draft due in by Feb. 05 and its final draft and full report due in May 05. Look for more public input meetings between Feb. and May.
Look for the progress on this on the DNR's web site.

I will preface this next bit of information with something that happened in July 03 with the ORV program. July 03 brought a change in who administers the ORV saftey training in MI. It was the responsibility of the Dept of Education to do so prior to July 03 and after that date it fell with the MI DNR to do this important rider saftey training. Since that time the DNR has been very slow to say the least, at getting the program up and running. They claim to now have done so, which is questionable to say the least. They are of the belief that this program can be run like the hunters safety and boaters safety and plain and simple it CANNOT.

This ATV and motorcycle saftey training must be conducted with a major portion of it being hands on. This hands on approach is what has been taught since the programs inception and now the DNR does not wish to continue to do so. The classes used to be an 8 hour class with 4 being classroom instruction and the other 4 being actual seat time on the machine the rider would be riding in their chosen sport. Now all that remains is the 4 hour classroom instruction with a student manual that was developed by the DNR which has neither the knowledge or the proper people in place to create such a device.

The meeting consisted of several folks from the different training organizations that used to perform under the Dept of Ed. and used to teach and get grant money for their 8 hour hands on course. These folks poured over the manual and promptly found several mistakes and several inconsistincies throughout it. The gentleman who was charged with putting the program together for the DNR Lt. Graig Greight took a verbal beating by several of these folks, and rightfully so.

The DNR does not care if our youth are getting the proper saftey training. All they seem to care about is taking a bite out of the ORV fund to line the pockets of the 200 so called safety intructors they claim they have. By the way Lt. Greight (sp. check) stated that most of these statewide instructors have never even ridden before, is this the kind of folks we want training our kids how to ride? NO!

You ask well how does this effect us? Well let me tell you as best I can. If this is what the DNR thinks of our ORV program, that it can just do what it feels like with the monies that all of us users put into it through the purchase of the ORV stickers, then we as full size users with the smallest voice out of anyone in the program are going to really be left out to dry with nothing we want to see the program acheve on our behalf ever happen!

Granted, we will always have the opportunity to do the Trail Maintenence (barring any insurance issues) and will always get paid for it (barring the DNR from doing it themselves and pocketing the money) but is that really worth it since we very rarely ever set foot on a signed "ORV ROUTE"? It has been said several times in the past, why are we maintaining something we do not use and offers us no challenge whatsoever?

What we really want is the money that we generate through the purchase of the $16 ORV sticker. We want some challenging trail that we have several times offered to build with volunteer labor. When I sat on the ST. Helen Motorsport advisory board almost three years ago I got a rock course to be put into the master plan. Well I put in for it the last 2 years through the grant process and it has been denied.

WHY? I do not know. This I do know, the Genesee county parks and rec. recieved in their 2004-2005 grant some $43,000 dollars for a new entry gate and paving of the parking lot along with some fencing. All I put in for was a mere $15,000 for rocks at ST. Helens that were approved over 2 years ago.

Paul Mulder, who incedently has been involved with this program since its inception back in 89-90 spoke on our behalf at the meeting and he expressed his disgust with where the DNR is taking this "user funded program" and said that he personally is done trying to work with them and that he believes it is a sad day for all involved. He recieved a round of applause from the audience!

Moving on, the ordinance that would allow bikes and atv's to ride the shoulders of the county secondary roads passed in Ogemaw county. This will be on a 1 year trial basis with the burden of keeping them open falling on the riders.

Also, a state senate bill "HJR-Z" to keep restricted funds restricted is moving through the state senate. We are asking you to contact your senators and encourage them to vote for keeping our restricted ORV fund just that.

The meeting schedule for 2005 is as follows:
Feb 9
May 11
Aug. 10
Nov.9
These are tenative dates and are subject to change.

If you have further questions please feel free to give me a call on the GL toll free line at, 1-888-705-8683

Thank you,
Pat Kinne
Pres. GLFWDA

[yogi]

i know one of the better orv training places is toms cycle just n of st johns the have a coarse set up and have some good trainers there



yogi