12 Dec 2007 - Updates from the December monthly meeting

The December monthly meeting of the PCAA was held on Monday, December 10th at the Steel Horse Saloon on Highway 10 west of Ellsworth. A meat raffle was held as a fundraiser prior to the meeting. Although the turnout was very small, all of the remaining meat was raffled off with Kathy Gutting winning several raffles.

A number of topics were discussed and items acted on during the monthly meeting. Among them:

• Due to medical reasons, John 'Braut' Jones resigned as Secretary of the PCAA. Kathy Gutting was elected as the new Secretary.
• Ruth Esanbock resigned as an At-large Board Member to focus her efforts more on the Spring Valley Chapter of the PCAA. Eric Markwardt was elected to replace her on the PCAA Board of Directors.
• Discussions took place about holding another Trail Patrol Ambassador class sometime in the Spring of 2008. Anyone interested in this training should contact one of the PCAA Officers or Board Members and let them know where/when you'd like to see the training happen.
• A motion was made to change the monthly meeting to the third Monday of each month rather than the first Monday. It is hoped that this will avoid conflicts with Town board meetings and allow more people to attend the PCAA meetings. Since this will require a change in the Bylaws, it will be voted on by the members present at the February monthly meeting.
• Discussions were held about the PCAA teaching another ATV Safety Training class sometime in the Spring of 2008. Interested parties should contact Henry Marson at 715-273-4140 or Eric Markwardt at 715-262-3286 to let them know where/when they'd like to see a class held. This will be discussed further at the January meeting.
• A number of people expressed interest in holding club rides after the first of the year. Suggestions on where/when to hold a club ride should be forwarded to webmaster@piercecountyatv.org. This will also be discussed further at the January meeting.

The January monthly meeting will be held at 7:00pm on Monday, January 14th at Snowball's Bar in East Ellsworth.

21 Nov 2007 - Article on the PCAA published in the Pierce County Herald

An article titled "County ATV Association still in early stages in meeting goal" was written by Jason Schulte of the Pierce County Herald and published in the Nov 21st edition. The article talks about the PCAA's plans and progress so far with getting ATV Routes adopted in the county. The full text of the article is available online.

07 Nov 2007 - Fall Edition of the PCAA Newsletter now available online

Thanks to Eric Markwardt, Tony Brantner, Darren Place, Dave Swenson, and Cheryl Brickner, the second edition of the PCAA Newsletter should be arriving in PCAA members' mailboxes shortly. In case you missed the printed version, it's now available online in either PDF (167KB) or MS Word (165KB) formats.

04 Nov 2007 - PCAA article published in the River Falls Shopper

On Sunday, November 4, 2007, an article written by Eric Markwardt of the PCAA was published in the River Falls Shopper. This article also ran in the November 8th edition of the Red Wing Republican Eagle. The purpose of the article was to remind Pierce County ATV owners that riding ATVs on state, county, and township roads and highways is currently prohibited by law. The text of the article follows.

ATV use on roads is prohibited

The Pierce County ATV Association (PCAA) would like to remind all ATV owners that the use of ATVs on all state, county, and township roads and ditches in Pierce County is currently prohibited by law. The fine for illegal operation of an ATV on or in the vicinity of a road or highway is currently $186.00. Repeat offenders are subject to losing their ATV registration rights and/or their ATVs.

According to Darren Place, PCAA Trail Committee Chairman, "The PCAA is working with many town boards around the county on ordinance changes which would permit the use of ATVs on township roads that are designated as ATV Routes and are signed as such. Until this happens, however, ATV use on highways and roads is prohibited."

Riding an ATV with a slow-moving vehicle sign on a public road, riding an ATV on a public road to or from a deer stand, and using an ATV on a public road as a means of transportation to or from work, even if the work site is a farm or an agricultural area, are all examples which are currently prohibited by Wisconsin law.

ATVs with an agricultural registration may be operated on roadways for agricultural purposes only if the ATV is being used as an implement of husbandry. An implement of husbandry is a vehicle or piece of equipment or machinery designed for agricultural purposes, used exclusively in the conduct of agricultural operations and used principally off the highway.

The PCAA encourages all ATV owners that would like to have the privilege to ride their ATVs on township roads to contact their town board members and ask that they support the ATV route ordinance changes being proposed by the PCAA.

The PCAA is a non-profit organization created to support local ATV enthusiasts, promote safe and responsible riding habits, and work with state and local government agencies to design, designate, establish, and maintain ATV trails and routes in Pierce County. Further information is available on their web site at www.piercecountyatv.org.

This article was reviewed by the Pierce County Sheriff prior to publication. A list of the current ATV crimes and their associated fines was also included with the article.

08 Oct 2007 - PCAA Annual Meeting and Family Fun Day a success

The PCAA Annual Meeting, Landowner Appreciation, and Family Fun Day was held on Saturday, October 6th at the Gas-Lite Bar and Grill in Trimbelle Township.

Scott Jones coordinated an ATV riding course and other games for kids and 61 Marine and Sports in Hastings provided several Polaris ATVs for the kids to ride.

Door prizes were given away every 30 minutes from Noon to 8:00pm and a silent auction was also held from Noon to 8:00pm. The silent auction raised roughly $1800 for the club.

A special thanks goes out to Dave Swenson and Collette Larson for coordinating the event and soliciting a LOT of door prizes from a large variety of businesses around the county. Thanks also to Bill Fleischmann at the Gas-Lite for allowing the PCAA to hold our event there.

27 Sep 2007 - ATV Route designation progress update

On Wednesday, Sep 26, 2007, Town Board members from El Paso, Ellsworth, Gilman, Martell, River Falls, Spring Lake, and Trimbelle townships met with Darren Place, Ron Anderson, Dave Swenson, and Eric Markwardt from the PCAA. The purpose of this meeting was to agree on a common ordinance to be used by all townships when/if they decide to allow ATVs to travel on town roads.

In addition to Wisconsin statutes governing ATV travel on designated ATV Routes, all Town Board members present agreed that the following restrictions would be in their ATV Route Ordinance, should they choose to one:

• Hours of operation: ATV travel on designated routes will be allowed from 6:00am to 8:00pm during Daylight Savings Time and from 6:00am to 7:00pm during Standard Time.
• Speed limit: The speed limit for ATVs on all town roads will be 40 mph or the posted roadway limit, whichever is lower.
• Roads to be designated as ATV Routes: All roads in each town, excluding dead-ends and driveways, will be designated as ATV Routes. Dead-ends may be used only by town residents and only to access designated routes.
• Method of travel: All ATV operators shall ride in single file.
• ATV Safety Certification: All ATV operators under the age of 18 and those born on or after January 1, 1988 shall possess a valid state-issued ATV Safety Certification.
• Age restrictions: All ATV operators ages 12 to 15 must be under the direct supervision of a parent or legal guardian at all times when operating on a designated all-terrain vehicle route.

The PCAA representatives present felt that these restrictions were fair and agreed that they should be in the ordinances. The next steps will be to continue the public hearings regarding adopting an ATV Route Ordinance within each township.

17 Sep 2007 - 30 students graduate from ATV Safety Training

On Monday, Sep 17, 2007, 30 students graduated from a WI DNR ATV Safety Training class sponsored and taught by the PCAA at the Ellsworth Middle School. The class covered ATV safety features, pre-ride inspections, basic riding skills, protective gear, rules and regulations, ethics, responsibility, and handling outdoor emergencies.

Congratulations to all of the students!

16 Sep 2007 - ATV Route designation progress update

Meetings with several townships (Ellsworth, Gilman, Martell, River Falls, Spring Lake, Trimbelle, and others) regarding having them adopt ordinances permitting the use of ATVs on designated township roads have continued over the course of the Summer. At this point the PCAA is cautiously optimistic that we'll have some ATV Routes designated and signed by the end of the year. Stay tuned for more updates!

12 Aug 2007 - PCAA float wins 2nd place in Ellsworth parade

The PCAA entry in the 2007 Ellsworth Fire Department Community Parade won 2nd place in the People's Choice category for best float. Thanks to Scott Jones and Darren Place for constructing the float and coordinating the parade entry.

23 Jul 2007 - PCAA participation in the Plum City Parade

8 riders from the PCAA participated in the Plum City Parade on Saturday, July 21, 2007. Scott Jones and Tony Brantner showed the PCAA's commitment to developing a safe and sustainable network of ATV trails and routes by wearing their Trail Patrol Ambassador gear. Other riders rode their ATVs in the parade and Ron Anderson pulled a trailer with the PCAA banner on it. Pictures courtesy of Cheryl Brickner are available on the Pics page.

19 Jul 2007 - Trimbelle Township ATV Ordinance public hearing recap

A public hearing regarding the proposed ATV Route Ordinance in the Town of Trimbelle was held on Thursday, July 19, 2007. No negative feedback was received from the public so the Town Board will review and discuss the Ordinance at their August meeting. A first public reading of the Ordinance will be done at the September meeting, followed by a second reading at the October meeting. If everything goes well and no opposition to the Ordinace is raised, the Ordinance will be adopted at that point.

Once the Ordinance is adopted it will be up to the PCAA to post signs on the agreed upon ATV Routes in Trimbelle Township and it will then be legal to ride ATVs on the designated routes. Thanks to Darren Place, Tony Brantner and the other PCAA members that have appeared at multiple meetings to show their support for making this happen!

28 Jun 2007 - Pierce County Town Boards meeting update

Board members from 5 Pierce County Townships (Martell, River Falls, Trimbelle, Union, and one other) attended a meeting hosted by the PCAA on June 27th, 2007. The purpose of the meeting was to update the Board members on what the goals of the PCAA are and to answer questions about the ATV Route and Trail systems we're trying to create.

Darren Place introduced the PCAA Officers and Trail Committee members. Eric Markwardt gave a brief presentation on the background of the PCAA and the process for getting ATV Routes and Trails established. A Q&A session was then held to address the remaining questions and concerns of the Town Board members. The next steps will be to continue the process of contacting the individual Town Boards to request scheduling public hearings about changing their Ordinances to allow ATV travel on township roads.

25 Jun 2007 - PCAA participation in the Ellsworth Cheese Curd Festival

The PCAA participated in 3 events during the 2007 Ellsworth Cheese Curd Festival. On Friday evening, June 22nd, over 15 volunteers from the PCAA helped put on the Truck Pull at the Pierce County Fairgrounds. Addtional volunteers helped stage the ATV and Garden Tractor Pull at the Fairgrounds on Saturday morning and then approximately PCAA members participated in the Festival parade in Ellsworth on Sunday. Pictures from the parade can be seen on the Pics page.

21 Jun 2007 - Summer Edition of the PCAA Newsletter now available online

Thanks to the hard work of Cheryl Brickner and Tony Brantner, the first edition of the PCAA Newsletter should have recently arrived in PCAA members' mailboxes. In case you missed the printed version, it's now available online in either PDF (245KB) or MS Word (1300KB) formats.

18 Jun 2007 - Jackson County Trail Patrol Hot Spot

At the request of WI DNR and Jackson County law enforcement officials, Eric Markwardt from the PCAA and approximately 20 other Trail Patrol Ambassadors (TPAs) from around Wisconsin participated in a Trail Patrol Hot Spot near Black River Falls in Jackson County the weekend of June 16-17.

Throughout the weekend the TPAs provided maps and directions, answered questions about WI ATV regulations, offered assistance to other ATV riders, and helped with sound checks being performed by DNR Wardens.

8 Jun 2007 - Updates from the June monthly meeting

The members present at the June monthly meeting voted to approve a change to the Bylaws regarding moving the monthly meetings from the first Thursday of the month to the second Monday of each month.

A meat raffle held at Furlong's Bar and Grill on Saturday, June 2nd, was very successful. 20 packages of meat were raffled off and the PCAA raised approximately $400 at the event. A big thanks to Dave Furlong for hosting this event! Due to the success of this event another one is being targeted for the September time frame. Details to follow.

Tony Brantner presented a draft of a letter he'll be sending to the Chairs of all Pierce County Town Boards. This letter invites them to a meeting being hosted by the PCAA on June 27th at which the PCAA will try to level set everyone in attendance on what the PCAA is trying to accomplish and answer any questions they might have.

Darren Place and Tony Brantner provided updates on the meetings regarding ATV Route designations which they and others have had with several Town Boards over the past month. In general the meetings have been positive and we're getting closer to having Routes designated in several Townships.

Tony Brantner will be sending out to all members the first edition of what will hopefully be a quarterly PCAA newsletter. Expect to see it in your mailbox shortly!

21 May 2007 - 25 people complete the WI DNR ATV Safety class

The first PCAA-sponsored Wisconsin DNR ATV Safety Training class was completed by 25 Pierce County youths and adults on Monday, May 21st. Additional classes are planned to be held in Pierce County as demand warrants.

Pictures from the class are available in the Gallery section of the Forums.

13 May 2007 - Clark County PCAA ride recap

On May 12th 8 people, 4 PCAA members (Steve & Judy Sampson, Jerry Punches, and Eric Markwardt) and 4 prospective members (John, Jeremy, Bob, and Bridget -- sorry folks, didn't catch your last names) rode about 90 miles on the Clark County ATV trails. They rode from Fairchild down to Hatfield to check out the flea market, back up to Rock Dam for a burger at the Haycreek Inn, and then back to Fairchild. While the trails were very dusty the weather cooperated and a great time was had by all. Check out the Pictures page for some photos of the day.

The next PCAA club ride will be held on Saturday, June 9th on the Sawyer County trails near Hayward, WI. See the Events page for more details.

04 May 2007 - Updates from the May monthly meeting

For personal reasons Henry Marson resigned as President, effective April 30th. Mark Denzer moved from Vice President to President and Ron Anderson was elected Vice President.

An ATV Safety Class will be held at the Middle School in Ellsworth on May 14th, 16th, and 21st, from 6:30-8:30pm each day. Attendance is required at all three classes to receive the ATV Safety Certification. This class will only be open to those who attending the ATV Safety Instructor and DNR Trail Patrol Ambassador training on March 24th and PCAA members and their families. Additional ATV Safety classes for the public will be held in the future. Cost of the training is $10 per person. Contact Henry Marson at 715-307-2193 or Eric Markwardt at 715-262-3286 or webmaster@piercecountyatv.org to register for this training.

During April Trimbelle Township moved a step closer to designating most Township roads as ATV Routes. If everything goes well we may have some roads opened up to ATV travel (dependent upon signing completion) by mid-Summer! Positive feedback has also been received from other Townships in the northern and eastern parts of Pierce County. Volunteers are still needed to help the Trail Committee with attending Township Board meetings.

Volunteers are needed to help with the truck and ATV pulls during Cheese Curd Days in Ellsworth. In exchange for $500 the PCAA has committed to having at least 15 people helping out during the truck pull on Friday evening (6/22) and at least 6 people helping during the ATV on Saturday morning (6/23). Contact Mark Denzer at 715-307-1278 if you can help.

29 Apr 2007 - Polaris Day and PCAA Meat Raffle at Furlong's Bar

Furlong's Bar and Grill in Ellsworth, a business member of the PCAA, hosted a Polaris Day and Meat Raffle in conjunction with Red Wing Motor Sports and the Pierce County ATV Association on Saturday, April 28th. The Pierce County Herald ran an article about the event on Thursday, April 26th.

Dave Furlong donated the meat for the raffle and all of the proceeds went to the PCAA.

12 Apr 2007 - General PCAA Info Updates

The start time for the PCAA monthly meetings has been changed from 6:30pm to 7:00pm, effective immediately.

Progress is being made on getting township roads designated as ATV Routes in both Trimbelle and Ellsworth Townships. Members are encouraged to show support at upcoming Town Board meetings.

Many events in April and May have been added to the Events page. Check them out and help support the PCAA where you can.

23 Mar 2007 - Update on Trail Committee volunteer needs

Thanks to the folks that have come forward to volunteer to help with the meetings in Trimbelle and Martell Townships. Additional people are still needed for the following meetings:

• Spring Lake Township meeting on Tuesday, April 10 at 7:30pm. N7717 County Rd B, Spring Valley.
• Gilman Township on Wednesday, April 11 at 7:30pm. W3616 770th Ave, Spring Valley
• River Falls Township meeting on Monday, April 16 at 8:00pm. W9015 770th Ave, River Falls
• Larry Johnson needs 1 or 2 additional people to go with him to Ellsworth.

Contact Darren Place at 715-273-3716 if you can help out.

20 Mar 2007 - Update: DNR ATV Safety Instructor and Trail Patrol Ambassador Workshop

The PCAA is sponsoring a DNR ATV Safety Instructor and Trail Patrol Ambassador Workshop on Saturday, 24 Mar 2007. The training will be held at the Pierce County Office Building (412 W Kinne St, Lower Level, Rooms 1-3) in Ellsworth, starting at 8:00am. Please plan on arriving 15 minutes early if you're interested in attending. This training is open to the public and is not limited to only PCAA members. See the Events page for more information if you're interested in attending this workshop.

14 Mar 2007 - Volunteers needed on April 10th for discussions with Township Boards

Volunteers are needed to meet with Boards of Hartland, Martell, Salem, Spring Lake, Union and Trimbelle Townships to help get the word out about what the PCAA is trying to accomplish. 2-3 people per meeting would be ideal. Handout materials and talking points will be provided by the PCAA. Contact Darren Place at 715-273-3716 or Henry Marson at 715-273-4140 if you can help out.

Check out the Pierce Country local government site for a list of all of the Township Board members, where and when they meet, etc.

11 Mar 2007 - Volunteers needed for the Trail Committee

Volunteers are needed for the Trail Committee to help with trail/route planning, talking with Township board members, and talking with landowners. One person is trying to do it all right now and there's no way that he can cover the entire County. If you'd like to have a trail system in Pierce County, now's the time to help out!

Contact Darren Place @ 715-273-3716 if you'd like to volunteer.

27 Jan 2007 - 1st ever PCAA club ride on the Cattail Trail

On Saturday, January 27th 30 people on 26 ATVs braved the winter chill and rode 50+ miles on the Cattail Trail from Amery, WI to the Poskin Lake Lodge and back. Warm up stops in Turtle Lake and Almena and at the Poskin Lake Lodge kept everyone going throughout the day. A brief stop at the Barron County ATV Intensive Use Area gave a few people the chance to see how high their ATVs could fly.

Photos from the ride are posted on the Pics page.