Off-trail snowmobile riding has led to some trail closures and re-routes in recent weeks in the Northwoods.
The Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest is also warning that it puts sensitive wildlife species at risk.
Every winter, Brian Heeringa and his fellow Forest Service employees head out into the Moquah Barrens searching for tracks.
He’s the Washburn District Biologist within the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest.
They always find a wide range.
“Predator species like wolf, fox, coyote, bobcat, and fisher. Some of the birds that call the Moquah Barrens home year round wild turkey, ruff grouse, and of course, which is one species of particular concern,” said Heeringa.
This year, more so than in past years, Heeringa is seeing a lot tracks he doesn’t want to see, those belonging to snowmobiles.
“The tracks that have gone off trail, it seems to be much larger than it has, I don’t have a percentage of what increase that is, but just noticeably for a group of us that spends a lot of time out there it was markedly increased this year,” said Heeringa.
There are a couple concerns with that off-trail riding.
One is safety, if a rider gets hurt out there it could be hours before help can to them.
The other is concern for the wildlife.
Snowmobilers could be riding near where species like the sharp tailed grouse create snow roosts.
The noise from the machines could cause them to flush, possibly to a waiting predator that wouldn’t otherwise find them.
It also causes them to expend energy during a time of year they need to be conserving as much as possible.
“The sound of these machines, which can travel for several miles sometimes, and just the action of driving the machine across these open lands off trail can have those impacts that we might not directly see,” said Heeringa.
Heeringa gets it. That wide open, fresh snow calls to snowmobilers.
But he’s asking riders to be responsible and stick to the designated trails.
“There’s over 800 miles of groomed snowmobile trails on the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest.”
You can learn more about snowmobiling in the Chequamegon Nicolet National Forest here.
