BLUERIBBON COALITION PARTNER ALERT!
MICHIGAN - Important Upper Peninsula ORV Trail Development Association Board Meeting
Dear BRC Alert Subscriber,
First off, apologies for the short notice. This one slipped by us.
Skip Schulz from MiTRALE sent us an email about the Upper Peninsula ORV Trail Development Association Board Meeting at Northern Michigan University in Marquette.
We've pasted Skip's email below. Please take a minute to read the alert, take action and then pass it along to friends, family and riding buddies.
Thanks,
Ric Foster
Public Lands Department Manager
BlueRibbon Coalition
208-237-1008 ext 107
TO: Mi-TRALE Members, Associates, Friends, Media
FR: Skip Schulz, Mi-TRALE President/Founder
RE: Update and March 19th Meeting at Northern Michigan University
This coming Monday, March 19th, the Upper Peninsula ORV Trail Development Association will hold a Board Meeting at Northern Michigan University in Marquette. The Board Meeting, which is open to the Public, will start at 10:00 am ET and be held in the Huron/Erie Rooms of NMU's Student Center. It will be at that Board Meeting that the Association's Bylaws will be finalized, and the 1st Annual Meeting of this very important Association will be set. That Annual Meeting will be held in May and it is going to be very important that we have as many people as we can get attend this historic meeting. I will be keeping everyone informed as to when and where that Annual Meeting will take place.
However, this update isn't just about the UP ORV TDA Board Meeting on Monday, it is what is going to be happening that afternoon. Starting at 12:30 pm, this Monday Afternoon, a meeting between Legislators, the Michigan DNR, Tourism Officials, Business people, and ORV stakeholders will be discussing many issues dealing with our sport. Of those major issues is going to be NEW Michigan ORV Legislation that Mi-TRALE has been working closely on with State Senator Tom Casperson and State Representative Matt Huuki. Not only will Sen Casperson and Rep Huuki be at that meeting, but Governor Snyder's UP aide, other State Legislators, and representatives from US Senator Debbie Stabenow and US Senator Carl Levin's office.
You can well imagine how important it is for Mi-TRALE to get as many people as we possibly can to attend that meeting. The Legislation that we REALLY need people to speak up on is changing the States Recreation Improvement Fund (RIF). The RIF gets less then 1% of State Gas Tax Revenues. With that 1% going into the RIF, Boating gets 80%, Snowmobiles gets 14%, and the DNR (other) gets 6%. For the past 30 years, ORV riders have not received a single penny back on the MILLIONS of DOLLARS we pay in State Gas Taxes. We're asking the Legislators to merely reduce Boating to 70%, and put 10% of the RIF money into the ORV Program. We're not asking to take any money from Snowmobiling or the DNR's (other) fund.
We NEED the legislators to hear how important the legislation that legalizes the development and maintenance of ORV Connector trails along State and Federal Highway Right of Ways and allowing ORV's to use the shoulder to cross State and Federal Highway bridges happens to be. We are also asking the legislators to change the 'group riding administrative rule' to allow groups up to 75 people to ride TOGETHER without having to go through the DNR's permit process. In other words, make this 'group riding permit' the same as the US Forest Service. We are also asking our legislators to have a weekend set aside where one does not have to have an ORV Trail Sticker, preferably the same as Michigan's Free Fishing Weekend.
We NEED as many people as possible to attend Monday Afternoon's meeting and to let the legislators know how important those changes in the legislation are to our sport! If you cannot make the meeting, please help us get the word out to others and to try to get others to attend!
Thanks,
Skip Schulz
Mi-TRALE President
UP ORV Trail Development Association President
Map
http://www.sharetrails.org/uploads/NMUParkingMap.pdf
Agenda
http://www.sharetrails.org/uploads/March_19_invite.pdf
The BlueRibbon Coalition is a national recreation group that champions responsible recreation, and encourages individual environmental stewardship. With members in all 50 states, BRC is focused on building enthusiast involvement with organizational efforts through membership, outreach, education, and collaboration among recreationists. 1-800-BlueRib - www.sharetrails.org
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