Mi-TRALE – ATV Youth Safety Training Help Needed, Please Read

Shawn Tabb | August 16, 2010 | 0 Comments

BLUERIBBON COALITION PARTNER ALERT!

Mi-TRALE – ATV Youth Safety Training Help Needed, Please Read

Dear BRC members, supporters and action alert subscribers,

We just got an email from Skip Schulz, President of the Michigan Trails and Recreation Alliance of Land and the Environment (Mi-TRALE), letting us know about an important issue that they need your help with.

I have pasted Skip’s email below; please take a minute to read it over.
Please pass this on to your friends, family and anyone who you think might be able to help.

Thanks in advance for your involvement,
Ric Foster
Public Lands Department Manager
BlueRibbon Coalition
208-237-1008 ext 107
_________________________________________________________________________________

TO: Mi-TRALE Members, Associates, Friends, Media
FR: Skip Schulz, Mi-TRALE President
RE: ATV Youth Safety Training
DT: Sunday, August 7th, 2010

For the past 3 years, Mi-TRALE Volunteers that are Michigan DNRE Certified Youth ATV Safety Instructors, have graduated close to 100 children between the ages of 11 and 16. This past Friday, August 6th, we certified 15 more children.

The Mi-TRALE instructors does this AT NO CHARGE. Mi-TRALE instructors hold these ATV Safety Classes in Houghton, Ontonagon, Gogebic, and Baraga Counties. We are looking at doing a class in Iron County, once we can secure a classroom and field training location.

While we wait to see if the new Michigan OHV Legislation will require Field Training, Mi-TRALE feels strongly that Field Training on an ATV is as important as Field Training conducted for other forms of outdoor recreation. That is why Mi-TRALE’s experienced OHV riders instruct children on the proper and SAFE way to ride an OHV. Mi-TRALE teaches these children the safe way to turn an ATV, the safe way to go up a hill AND down a hill, and the safe way to STOP an ATV. Mi-TRALE makes sure that our young people know the controls of an ATV.

At the Mi-TRALE OHV Safety Training Course in Ontonagon, children are taught how to respect the environment, and are shown the different signs that they will see on the trail.

Problem we have had is that many children we seek and get to take the course, are those that ride friends ATV’s. Mi-TRALE not only wants children that have ATV’s to take our course, but also children that ride friends ATV’s. For those children, Mi-TRALE does not have an ATV that ‘fits’ a child. Plus we have many children that take our courses that are riding their parents ATV’s. Those ATV’s are simply too big for them to ride.

Mi-TRALE is looking for someone, some company, to PLEASE donate a 90cc-250cc ATV. Mi-TRALE is a federally recognized 501C4 Non-Profit Corporation. While you may not be able to use this as a tax deduction, you are helping Mi-TRALE in making sure that children are taught how to SAFELY ride an ATV that is designed for them to ride.

Mi-TRALE understands the difficult economic times we are going through, and that is why our organization has had to do so much with the limited financial resources we receive through membership. When one looks at all that Mi-TRALE has done, with so little, you can see why we are so proud to be affiliated with our organization.

Mi-TRALE has done all this…
– Developed an interconnecting OHV Trail System of over 600 miles in 5 Western UP Counties, and we’re working on adding another 100 miles by the Fall of 2011. 175 miles of MiDNRE Designated ORV Trails. Club started with 0 miles of Designated Trails and less then 50 miles of OHV Trails.
– Started the Motorsport Enthusiasts that Cares (METC) Fund that gives out money to families fighting cancer.
– Resurrected a Search and Rescue Unit for the area
– Run our annual Senior Citizen Fall Color OHV Ride (This year that will be on Sept. 23rd)
– Appointed to different Mi DNRE Boards and Councils on OHV/Snowmobile Recreation Legislation
– Members clean up the side of a Highway
– Participate in Fund-Raising activities for Habitat for Humanity
– Devloped the Michigan “Pilot” Program on OHV Trail Signing
– In the process of developing the Michigan “Pilot” Program on erecting Highway Warning Signs for OHV Trail Crossing
– Wrote and got approval of OHV Use on County Roads in ALL 5 Western UP Counties, before the passing of PA 240, which opened up the County Roads to OHV use.
– Layed out, printed, and distributed the FIRST Western UP ORV Trail Map (thousands have been distributed)
– Teach ATV Safety for DNRE Youth ATV Certification in 4 of our 5 Western UP Counties
– successfull in ‘officially’ opening the popular P (Pioneer) Trail by the Ottawa NF
– maintains 2 ORV/OHV Trailheads
AND MORE…

If you or your company can help us by donating a Childs ATV for our ATV Safety Training Program, please contact me.

Thank-you for taking the time to read this…

Skip Schulz
Mi-TRALE President
sschulz@jamadots.com
906-884-9101
610 Greenland Road
Ontonagon, MI 49953
www.mi-trale.org