February 2017 Update

Winter rides scheduled!
Three ATV clubs have winter rides coming up. They are:
-Northern Traxx Club, Polar Bear Ride: Feb 18, 10 am, Tom & Jerry’s Bar, Chisholm.
-Over The Hills ATV Club, Polar Bear Ride: Feb 25, 11 am, Granny’s Grill, Emily.
-Up North Riders ATV Club, Spring Ice Ride: March 11, 10 am,Fisherman’s Bay, McGregor

Help shape the future of ATVAM! All ATVAM members are invited to the 2017 ATVAM Vision Conference & General Membership Meeting, March 3-5 (Saturday is main day), at Sugar Lake Lodge, Cohasset.  Details at
atvam.org.

Club members advocating for new trails!
Thanks to all the club members who attended these public meetings, held recently in our area:

B2B Trail Meeting in Backus -- The DNR and NOHVCC held 8 meetings to get public input on the new Border 2 Border Trail, which will cross northern Minnesota from Lake Superior to North Dakota. It will be
primarily a 4WD truck trail, for families who like to ride slow on gravel roads open to highway licensed vehicles. Parts of the trail will also be open to ATVs. The DNR is looking for possible routes, destinations like campgrounds, and communities interested in being located along the trail to boost tourism. One of the meetings was held
in Backus on January 31st; thanks to all the Woodticks who attended!

Centennial State Forest Meeting in Remer -- Three years ago, Potlach sold 2700 acres of land southeast of Longville to the Nature Conservancy, which in turn donated it to the DNR. They turned it into a new State Forest, and held a public input meeting on February 1st in Remer. The DNR wanted input from the public on whether to designate the roads in the State Forest as “Limited” (open to ATVs), or “Closed” (no ATVs). About 50 people showed up. Thanks to our club members who attended, advocating to keep the Roads open to ATVs. You can help!
Simply send a short email saying you are in favor of keeping roads open to ATVs, to this email address:
foresttrailplanning.dnr@state.mn.us  The deadline for comments is February 15. For more information and to see a map of the new State Forest, click on this link:
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/input/mgmtplans/ohv/plans/centennial.html

Watch for our club ad!  A big thank-you to the Dirt Devils ATV Club inAkeley. It is printing a new trail map for the Round River ATV Trails,which it manages as part of the DNR Grant-In-Aid program. They charge $150+ for ads on their map, but are printing our club’s ad in the map for free this year. Thanks Dirt Devils! You’ll also see our ad in the
Hackensack and Longville Summer Guides, and an article on the club in the Leech Lake Summer Guide.

We have embroidered logo patches!
We have a lot of great club gear. In addition, you can turn your favorite riding gear into club gear by sewing on a club patch. They look just like the logo and feature quality embroidery. One member just bought 6 of them!  They are just $3, or 2 for $5. Reply to this email if you’d like to get some in the mail, and sew them on to outerwear for yourself or as gifts.

Where would you like to ride this year?
The club board will soon be planning our rides for this year. Let us know where you’d like to ride. In addition to our all-vehicle rides this summer, we are planning to do a SxS-only ride. Side-by-sides can go on the far right of county roads, which allows them to venture out farther. Watch for details!

DNR Instructor Forums  -- All instructors for ATV, snowmobile and firearms safety programs were invited to forums held around the state. News for our ATV instructors: 1) The DNR has created a powerpoint presentation for ATV safety classes. We sent the DNR a flash drive with our powerpoint and they used quite a few of our photos for
theirs, which is great. 2) The student quiz has been updated to include more user-friendly language, and some photographs. Totals for DNR safety classes for 2016:  Firearms-23,368   Snowmobile-7,339 ATV-4,749  Thanks to members who are now becoming ATV Safety Instructors and Trail Ambassadors this year. If you’d like to be
certified by the DNR and join our teams, here is a link to the class schedule and details:
http://dnr.state.mn.us/safety/instructors/atv/index.html

 ATVAM Region 3 meeting April 22 -- Each year, our club teams up with others to host an ATVAM Region 3 meeting. There are 10 clubs in our region. About 50-60 people show up, including folks with the MN DNR
Parks & Trails. We share information about our clubs and trails, and work toward connecting trail systems. This year’s meeting is April 22, 9 am to 1 pm, at the American Legion Post 443, 232 4th St, Ironton,
MN. The meeting is free and includes lunch. Join us! Reply to this
email if you plan on attending.

Thanks for supporting the club!   ‘Like’ us on Facebook and visit WoodtickWheelers.com. Send us your ideas, places you’d like to ride next year, and other comments!