From Brook Waalen: How we can make a difference!

Very inspiring email From Brook:

Friends,

Sterling Township in northwestern Polk County recently considered a resolution to open 60 miles of township roads to ATVs. This Township is in a sparsely populated region adjacent to the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway and thousands of acres of acres of state and county forestland.

Supporters of this resolution had all the votes they needed and it looked like a slam dunk but in the end ATVs were not allowed on these rural roads.

Reasons for the victory and lessons learned:

1) One opponent wrote a thoughtful letter to the editor one week before the Township voted which brought this issue to the attention of her neighbors. She received responses immediately from some of her neighbors as well as from the Township Chairman who supported the resolution and wanted to assuage her concerns.
2) The letter to the editor is how I found out about this proposal. I then contacted her and the one sympathetic Township Board Member. (Note: The information and materials I provided did absolutely nothing to help the cause other than to give these two people a grounding about local and state ATV issues.)
3) Opponents invited law enforcement, a DNR forester, the county forester, and the National Park Service to the meeting to comment and answer questions.
4) Opponents rallied their neighbors to attend the meeting and speak out against opening their local roads to ATVs. 40 people showed up to protest the resolution!

People power made the difference in this instance.

Brook

Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters
2596 State Road 35, Luck, Wisconsin 54853

Office: 715.472.5000 Cell: 608.658.0186
Email:brook@conservationvoters.org

www.conservationvoters.org