Bayfield County ad hoc trail panel faces daunting task
An ad hoc committee composed of County Board members, owners of property adjoining the corridor and representatives of snowmobiling and all terrain vehicle groups sat down to see if there was enough common ground to keep the matter from becoming a prolonged and expensive legal fight.
The group unanimously selected County Clerk Tom Gordon as chairman and County Board Chairman Bill Kacvinsky as vice chairman for the group. Initially guided by County Administrator Mark Abeles-Allison, the group established a number of ground rules before discussing trail issues in earnest.
The ground rules included agreement to respect each other's opinions, to keep all meetings open to the public and to conduct business in a civil manner, as well as avoiding discussion of legalities as much as possible.
"We are all adults, if we can go to the Moon, we can solve our trail problems," said Gordon, who emphasized the ultimate goal was to accommodate trail needs and the desires of property owners and trail users without recourse to lawyers and the courts.
However, that hope almost immediately became clouded as members expressed significant differences in their approaches to the issue.
Property owner John Hawksford presented a proposal that would require the county to grant quiet title in return for successfully establishing an alternate trail between Cable and Drummond.
Other committee members noted that there were at least six areas of difficulty in the trail between the south county line and Ashland Junction, but Hawksford insisted that previous discussion had only centered on the section of the trail between Cable and Drummond.
"This is news to me, now we have six issues to solve all along the corridor," he said.
Hawksford indicated he was unwilling to substantially alter his proposal.
It was proposed that the problems should be handled one at a time, but another property owner said he objected to the threat of legal action being used as a bargaining chip in order to obtain trail concessions, calling that "completely unacceptable."
However another committee member noted that there would be little incentive for property owners to negotiate without the implied possibility of litigation.
The committee was also at loggerheads over the question of whether the trail should include all-terrain vehicles; something Hawksford said would vastly complicate the process.
Board member Richard Compton continued to urge the committee to consider one issue at a time.
"We've got to walk before we can run," he said.
The committee heard a presentation from Snowmobile Alliance spokesman Earl Orner, who spoke at length about efforts to reroute the trail north of Cable, and why a number of possible routes had failed. He asked for new ideas about routes that would not take snowmobiles across the ice of Lake Owen.
The committee was able to agree on one thing, that the county did not seek any trail changes north of Highway 2. However even this was not good enough for one property owner who said he needed to have his title cleared completely or he would go to court.
"If title is not determined, my son or my grandson will have to fight this all over again," he said. The committee was clearly still far apart when the self-imposed two-hour time limit for the meeting arrived. They did agree to meet again at the Bayfield County Courthouse on August 25, at 4 p.m. They also asked to have a representative of the U.S. Forest Service present at the meeting to discuss trail alternatives.