11/08/2019- There’s a proposal to bring a new kind of recreational trail to Marinette County- and to the state of Wisconsin. The County’s Infrastructure Committee heard a request Wednesday to consider establishing off-road vehicle trails on portions of county land. Bob Heroux with the Titletown Jeepers organization says the trails and obstacles could be entirely built and maintained by the club at little to no cost to the county and would be the first public ORV trails in the state, offering a big boost in tourism revenue for the county and local businesses.
“Gas stations- fueling up tow rigs, jeeps, filling the cooler with snacks, the bars and grills, coming in for lunch, more camping permits sold, more camping business. It’s another way to use the forest.”
The group is currently eyeing land in the Goodman/ Dunbar area to start. Some committee members were concerned about the potential impact the use of ORV trails could have on hunting and fishing activity within the county forest. Heroux says the trails would not impede on any waterway and the club is willing to shut down the trails during part of the year to allow for hunting.
“We’re open to closing it down during hunting season because right now we have nothing…We’ll take six months, nine months of trail versus no trails. You want to close it down for hunting season from September to January? We’re fine with that.”
Heroux says they’d like access to between 400 and 1000 acres of forest land now and could expand from there, however, there’s no firm plan yet of exactly where the ORV trails would be located. Heroux and County Forestry Administrator Pete Villas will work on mapping that out and present it to the Committee again next month.