Cook County ATV Club

Are you interested in public access to the forest around you here in Cook County? Have you considered what legal public right of way on old roads and trails you might have but may be denied access to by various government entities? Knowledge is power and protecting your rights is your responsibility.

The Cook County ATV Club has been researching these questions and would like to share the following information. The links attached below are good reading and perhaps helpful in trying to understand how to protect yourself and your rights.

Cook County will continue this research and its work to protect historic use of roads and trails. In Cook County, old right of ways that need access clarification can be grouped as follows:

*Old Township Roads

*Other Roads

* Historic Trails

Considerations as land owners and the ATV Club move forward are:

1. Roads that were pre-existing before the Forest Service or other public or private landowners acquired lands will have a stronger legal footing than those that came later.
2. Roads not formally abandoned by due legal process are  still public right of ways.
3. Travel management plans and such created by government entities may not have legal footing.
4. Treating motorized use with less respect than silent sports is discriminatory.

Click below for some interesting reading about this issue.

http://www.adirondackexplorer.org/stories/oldroads.php – Read how other areas of the country are dealing with this issue.

http://www.mntownships.org/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC=%7BC6C0C674-971D-40AE-B9E4-50B8C7F2C0AD%7D – The Minnesota Association of Townships has a wealth of information about town roads—prescriptive easements; establishing or dedicating or abandoning town roads and much more.

http://www.township.guthrie.mn.us/Road_Bridge/Township%20Roads%20-%20An%20Overview%20TR14000.pdf – An interesting overview of township roads by the Minnesota Association Attorney.

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