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New Map for Maine ATV Riders

March 29, 2010 - NEWRY -- The opening day for local and visiting ATV riders in this part of the state is still almost two months off, but when those four-wheelers do hit the trails, they will have a new map to guide them.


The Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands has issued its annual “Maine All-terrain Vehicle Trail Map” for the upcoming riding season.


The exact opening date here, as elsewhere in the state, is up to local landowners and clubs, said Mike Worthley, president of the Roxbury ATV Riders Club.


“We shoot for May 22, on Memorial Day weekend, the date of our first poker run,” he said, “but if it dries sooner, we’ll open sooner.”


Picking the perfect opening day is an inexact science.


“Last year we got caught with our pants down,” he said. “We said the 22nd, and we opened them a week earlier, and then it rained for three weeks.”


When the trails do open, the clubs will put notices in local newspapers, he said.


Gateway but not to here


Worthley, a selectman in Roxbury, is also Western Maine vice president for ATV Maine, the Alliance of Trail Vehicles in Maine.


In that role, he oversees 18 other ATV clubs in Western Maine.


He is currently distributing copies of the map in this area.


The map does not show all the trails in the state, he said, but acts in the manner of an on-line gateway.


“It shows where people can go four-wheeling, but it doesn’t show all the trails,” he said. “We want to give people an idea of what there is out there to ride.”


For more detailed information on a given area, the map provides contacts, including websites and e-mail addresses, for local clubs.


Good news


Brian Bronson is ATV Coordinator for the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands’ ATV Program, which published the latest map.


“The good news,” Bronson said, “is that the map continues to expand in detail every year as the state’s trail system and the number of clubs continue to grow.


Maine now has 6,000 miles of trails,” Bronson said, “as well as the longest interconnected ATV system in the nation.”


That section, of approximately 2,300 miles, runs from Washington County to the top of Aroostook County.


“For the first time you can go from Machias to Fort Kent,” Bronson said.


He estimated such a trip would take about a week.


Bad news


But the bad news, said Worthley, is that not many of those trails and clubs can be found in the Bethel area.


“We have a hard time getting over to Bethel,” he said.


“Most of the landowners — and I hate to say it — are tree huggers over there, and don’t want ATVs on their land.


“We do have a trail as far as the Newry town line, but we can’t go any farther.”


The BP&L’s Bronson concedes that lack of access is a problem in some parts of the state.


“Clearly some areas of the state have more trails than others, but we are making headway across the state,” he told The Citizen.


Worthley said his club is working to that in this area.


The first step, he said, would be to connect from the Newry line to the Branch Road, so riders could pick up the trail system there.


The club is also sponsoring an ATV safety course, April 17, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the Roxbury Town Hall.


For more information, or to register, call him at 545-2715.


But for now, he urges ATV riders: “Respect landowners, and stay off the trails.”


The Roxbury club has 380 members, including several from the Bethel area, as well as 45 business sponsors.


by Michael Daniels, March 29, 2010, Bethel Citizen


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Regions: Sebago


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