Next steps in the bike trail system? Look at a Vilas/Oneida map and dream with me:
Connecting Woodruff/Arbor Vitae to the Boulder Junction-Sayner-St. Germain Trail. That connects Vilas and Oneida County.
Connecting the Boulder Trail to the Presque Isle-Manitowish Waters Trail. This has been proposed, but has stalled.
Connecting Land O' Lakes, and Conover,to the Eagle River/three lakes trail
Connecting the LOL l and the Eagle River to the "big trail"
So who will step up to the plate? I have hopes that Boulder Junction will be next, so that it will contine to be the leader. A hub to Land O Lakes would be the easiest start.
From a strategic point of view, Woodruff and Arbor Vitae could easily become the Bicycle hub of the northwoods. It would be a great marketing tool! A bike trail north from Witches Lake Road to the Sayner bike trail (parallel to the Plum-Vitae road) would only be a couple of miles long. It would generate such interest that Lake Tomahawk would fight to connect along 47.. And St. Germain would have more motivation to connect via highway J.
Connecting the Boulder-Sayner-St. Germain trail to the planned Presque Isle-Manitowish Waters-Flambeau trail will be the difficult but very important next step. It will be connected to the south if LDF connects to Woodruff along 47, But that is a long way around, and people would probably want a central connection north as well. Ideally, Presque Isle, Boulder, and Land O Lakes will work a trail along B, and Boulder could connect easily with a link North of High Lake. Think of a grand circuit, or several grand circuits.
Where will the money come? 1) users fees. 2) Highway funds. Bicyclists buy gas for their cars, too. They want some of that money to go for bike trails. 3) wealthy donors. My guess is there are some individuals and corporations who would love to see bicycle tourism in the northwoods. 4) Businesses that would benefit from a bike trail. 5) fund raisers.
4 comments:
I've advocated that there should be pristine areas of wilderness totally off limits to humans, regardless of their nature skills and commitment to preserving nature - off limits to everyone except firefighters should a fire break out in that area. My pet peeve is 4-wheeling and snowmobiling in our national parks.Your thoughts please..
I like your idea of having places that are totally set aside from human contact. It would be comforting knowing they exist. On the other hand, some people would see no value in that, so there is always the issue of where, and how much. Got any ideas? What area would you like to see set aside from human contact?
As far as Motorized recreation in National Parks, I think it should be very tightly controlled when allowed at all. Trouble is, manufacturers sell these machines by selling a fantasy of power, speed, and freedom to go where you want. I think it was a travesty that regulations for sound and air pollution for snowmobiles were gutted by special interests.
-say 1/4th of all national parks and less for all state parks, though many state parks are large pic-nic areas for the most part and could be exempt. The collective sense of environmentalism is false, blatantly so, when we will tolerate no bugs and wild critters in our homes - the invaders are killed! - yet with arrogance we trod onto and into their habitat simply because we have the ability to do so and ascribe to the malicious notion that the earth is here to only serve human needs.
Good thoughts, all...
the real trick in Vilas, is going to be trying to limit the use of ATV's, to something less than the snowmobile system, that developed in the 60's...I started biking the North in the early 70's, and my greatest fear, is that, when multiple layers of trailage are developed, that the cyclists, who spend less than their motorized "friends", will be left out in the Northwoods cold....
~Allequash B
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