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Keweenaw ATV Club gets bad news

Help is not on the way for the Keweenaw ATV Club, at least not yet. The group heard from Representative Greg Markkanen at its monthly meeting on Monday night, and got mostly bad news regarding two high priority issues.

Markkanen says that the Department of Natural Resources has made the repairs of the trail system connecting Hancock and Lake Linden into a “political” issue. The same goes for the potential land sale in Keweenaw County, totaling several thousand acres. President Daryl St. John says the group already manages contracts with 47 private property owners to keep the trail system accessible. The more fractured the map becomes, the harder it is to ensure buy in from all parties involved.

As far as recreational value goes, if you start breaking it up into small pieces, eventually you’re gonna lose access and control over the area. Also, you run the risk of someone buying 10 acres and throwing up a gate, and just closing off the whole Keweenaw. We only have one trail going from Calumet to the Keweenaw.

Markkanen says that Senator Ed McBroom has already offered a solution that the New York hedge fund putting the property up for sale says it would be amenable to exploring.

Senator McBroom has proposed a land swap with a parcel of land in Baraga County that the company is willing to look at, willing to deal with. We could make a deal tomorrow, or this week, no problem. The DNR wants to continue to talk.

Several members of the Keweenaw ATV Club expressed frustration at the logjam, and asked how best to keep the pressure on Lansing for solutions. Markkanen said everything should remain on the table. That could be a letter writing campaign, including from the general public, finding support among other clubs across the state, or appearing before the Natural Resources Committee in the State House and Senate.

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