The Department of Natural Resources is moving ahead with a controversial snowmobile trail through Blue Mound State Park, west of Madison, over objections from cross-country skiers and the park’s friends group.
The DNR board first approved the 1.4 mile snowmobile trail a year ago. Wednesday, about 30 people who say they prefer silent sports at Blue Mound asked the board to reconsider the plan.
Retired DNR employee Jeff Carroll said many prominent conservationists have emphasized the need for a quiet outdoors.
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“Thoreau, John Muir, Aldo Leopold, they all stressed the importance of silence when going out into nature,” he said. “Those are the visionaries that led the formation of the conservation movement, and of this agency.”
Board members discussed some potential changes like lowering the trail’s proposed speed limit to 35 mph. But DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp spoke against any changes right now.
“We appreciate the concerns you’ve expressed, but to dictate that in specifics would be problematic, without having all the information, the surveying data, the inventory of what’s actually there, etc.,” Stepp said.
The board then re-affirmed its support for the snowmobile trail.
Christa Westerberg, an attorney representing two opponents of the trail, says her clients’ legal effort to stop it will continue.
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