Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
A grader improves a section of ATV/UTV trail in Gogebic County. The Gogebic Range Trail Authority Snowmobile and ORV club recently executed a club-funded grading project between Jackson Road in Ironwood to Massie Avenue in Bessemer.
By TOM LAVENTURE
Bessemer - The Gogebic Range Trail Authority Snowmobile and ORV Club is looking to off-road vehicle riders to support a trail grading project.
"If we get some people to show up and help, it will just really show people care and are interested," club president Steve Hamilton said. "It's just the same seven board members and two club members who are working on it then we don't have the capacity to address the issues of trail quality."
The 4-mile section of rail-to-trail between Jackson Road in Ironwood to Massie Avenue in Bessemer is heavily used and in rough condition from frequent off-road vehicle traffic in the fall and spring, said Hamilton. This trail section is maintained by the club voluntarily and not yet an approved for ORV trail-permit funds from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, he said.
Along with grading efforts a trash pickup event will start at 11 a.m., Sunday, June 2, at the groomer barn, 708 W. Longyear Drive in Bessemer.
"We hope that putting our money directly into the trails helps spur riders to join us and take ownership of the trails so heavily used by many," Hamilton said.
The trail support is important with the growth in ORV use on the trails, he said. The spring is a delicate time for the trails when heavy ORV equipment uses the soft, wet trails, Hamilton said. When the trails lose the ability to drain, it becomes a difficult task to groom the large ruts.
The club membership is 85 percent snowmobile riders but the ORV use is growing in both summer and winter use, he said. The snowmobile user program is efficient and the effort now is to duplicate that with ORV users, he said.
The local ORV riders are invited to join the effort by providing an hour every other week to perform tasks requiring an over the road vehicle, he said.
Riders can pick up garbage along the trails and temporarily straighten stop signs and stop ahead signs until the posts can be replaced, he said. Riders can report active beaver damming on the trails for professionals to respond, he said.
The next trail authority club meeting is 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 18, at GRTA Groomer Barn behind the Bessemer VFW.
For more information, call Hamilton at 608-577-6653 or visit gogebicrangeta.org.
