[shimmery music]
- I'm in Oconto County,
cruising along the local ATV and UTV trails,
learning about what it takes
to keep these trails safe for everyone.
[twangy, woodsy music]
[vehicle engine roaring]
My first stop was to meet up with Randy Harden,
president of Wisconsin ATV / UTV Association,
to chat about their work supporting this growing sport.
- Randy Harden: Wisconsin ATV / UTV Association
is made up of individual families, businesses,
clubs, a lot of clubs,
about 120-plus local chapters around the state,
and advocates that subscribe to our, you know,
"Let's ride fun, let's ride safe,
Let's do things the right way."
And that's really what we're all about.
- And it's important.
- It is. It's a big sport.
There's close to half a million machines now registered
both private and public.
Then we have another 20... 25,000, what we call non-residents,
where they come in and buy a pass for five days or a year.
There's over 61,000 miles of legal road routes
around Wisconsin that hook up to our trail systems.
And that's what makes up a network.
[vehicle engine roaring]
- That's impressive.
Can you tell us about the significance of the work
the association does?
- Yeah, well, one of our main jobs
is to help clubs, our local clubs.
That's where everything happens on the ground.
We provide tools, I guess tools for their toolbox
and our trail ambassador program.
We've got literally hundreds of people that we've trained.
They go through a certification.
Our ambassadors are safety instructors
out on the trail,
but in a lighthearted way.
99% of the people are just happy to say,
"Hey, I didn't know."
Or "Thanks for watching," so it's really a rewarding job.
- Wonderful, I'm glad to hear that, it's, in general,
received pretty positively by people.
- Randy: Our state organization is functioning well,
but it wouldn't work without our clubs.
- Angela: People like Jim,
president of a local club here in Oconto County.
So, Jim, tell us about your club.
- Jim Wisneski: We have about 200,
I like to say, "paying members,"
and probably if you count all the spouses and the children,
there's probably around 300, 400 people
in our local club here.
- Angela: What should we expect today on our ride?
- The first part of the ride is gonna be pretty smooth
'cause we're gonna be on Nicolet State Trail.
We have a lot of trails off of the Nicolet Trail
that we're gonna be going on today.
A lot of nice scenery, a lot of nice trees,
wildlife, deer, bear.
We'll see just about anything today.
We don't know.
- Angela: You said we're gonna see bears, maybe?
- Possibly, I'm not gonna guarantee it,
but there is bear-- - Okay.
- Up in this area. - Okay, that's good to know.
Thank you, Jim. - Sure.
- Angela: It was time to buckle our seat belts
and hit the trails.
[vehicle engine roaring]
[upbeat music]
No bear sightings this time, but a safe trip,
all thanks to the efforts of local clubs
and the Wisconsin ATV / UTV Association.
[vehicle engine roaring]