By
Drew Hanson
Here
we go again.
A group
of people want to add a more dominant use to a segment of the Ice Age Trail. It’s
a story that replays every so often. This time it’s some good folks who want to
bring along their ATVs on the Gandy Dancer Segment of the Ice Age Trail. The problem isn’t the extra people wanting to use part
of the Ice Age Trail, it’s that they want to bring along a use (in this case
their ATVs) that will adversely impact others.
What
follows is an updated version of a letter I wrote in 2004 to support establishing the Ice
Age Trail as a footpath primarily for pedestrian use—the most common
denominator of all trail uses.
The Ice Age Trail is a popular conservation, recreation, education, economic and public health facility. To
maintain these qualities, the Ice Age Trail needs to remain primarily a foot
trail. A Gaylord Nelson statement comes to mind, "Hiking trails provide
the entire American family with perhaps the most economical, most varied form
of outdoor recreation."
Thousands of volunteers commit tens of thousands of hours
of their time to its care and development every year. An editorial in the
Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter on January 26, 2004 stated “When completed, the
Ice Age Trail will inject millions of dollars annually into Wisconsin’s tourism
trade.” Public support for the Ice Age Trail and public interest and awareness
of the health benefits of walking and hiking have never been greater.
According to a number of studies, including the Wisconsin
Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan and 2003 Town of Middleton
Trail Use Survey, most people enjoy walking and almost as many enjoy hiking. In
comparison, much smaller numbers of people ride horses, ATVs or mountain bikes
off-road. The Ice Age Trail has always been intended for the largest common
denominator: pedestrian use. It is open to all users.
Every few years, a loud minority of people want to bring
with them any number of intrusive labor saving devices onto the Ice Age Trail
that degrade the quality of the Trail and effectively diminish the experience
of the majority for whom the Ice Age Trail is intended. The Ice Age Trail will
fail as a trail for all users if it is opened to more uses. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.
There are sensible reasons why deer hunting with a bow and arrow occurs separately from
deer hunting with a gun. There are sensible reasons why interstate highways are
not open to bicycles and pedestrians. There are sensible reasons why horses and
all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) are not allowed inside the State Capitol or Miller
Park. All such rules are in place to benefit the public by discriminating
against uses, not users.
 |
| ATV abuse of the Ice Age Trail near Firth Lake in 2002. |
A more assertive use, such as an ATV, will unfairly
dictate management decisions over other users
of a shared trail. We have seen this occur in the Southern Kettle Moraine State
Forest. Mountain bikers were initially allowed on the Ice Age Trail but in the
early 1990s as conflicts and trail degradation became obvious, it became policy
to create separate foot and bike trails with the longer-standing Ice Age Trail
volunteers forced to construct a new parallel trail. The minority of users who
want to impose their private uses on the majority of foot travelers misuse the
concept of “multiple use” or “shared use”, ignoring that their dominant use
overpowers the majority pedestrian user.
Multiple use can be an effective management goal for
large blocks of land, but less so for individual facilities such as freeways
and trails. The Ice Age Trail is already shared by walkers, hikers, anglers,
backpackers, bird watchers, snowshoers, in some instances snowmobiles, and
more. It works as long as the resource-impactful uses of a minority are
separated from the shared use by the majority. Doing so keeps Wisconsin’s
trails safe and civil.
In order to continue as a
popular conservation, recreation, education, economic and
public health facility the tread of the Ice Age Trail should remain primarily a
foot trail.
