one of our 3 yearly membership meetings. Thanks.
CLUB MEETING: Our last club meeting for 2018 was held on Saturday September 29th, 2018 at 10:00 am at Mulligans. A total of 49 members were in attendance. After completion of the meeting we went on a fall ride over to Crooked Lake, we had 18 machines and 30 people on the ride. The weather was cool but the color's were great!! We went to Crooked Lake to support the year long Poker Run event that is sponsored by Dusty Trails ATV Club and Crooked Trails ATV Club. After the Poker Run the group ended up back at the Lakewood Trailhead for the Club's annual picnic held at the Lakewood Trailhead. Over 50 people braved the chilly weather but the food was hot and a fun time was had by all.
LANGLADE BRIDGE PROJECT AND ATV TRAIL FROM NICOLET STATE TRAIL IN OCONTO COUNTY TO WOLF RIVER TRAIL IN LANGLADE COUNTY UPDATE: Since our last meeting and newsletter in August a DNR grant has been procured in the amount of $403,000.00 to build a new stand alone all user recreational bridge across the Wolf River in Langlade and an ATV Trail from Fish Hatchery Road to the Wolf River Trail. Approximately $150,000.00 dollar came from the Snowmobile Program and the remainder from the ATV Program. The ATV program is paying for 1/2 the bridge and the entire trail from Fish Hatchery Road to the Wolf River Trail, the snowmobile program is paying for 1/2 of the new Recreational Bridge (they already have an existing snowmobile trail from Fish Hatchery Road to the Wolf River Trail). There are no tax payers money paying for this, the funds are from the snowmobile and ATV registration program. Also on September 26th our club along with others testified in Hayward WI before the Natural Resource Board to change the DNR's Master Plan to allow ATV's on the DNR Property on the east side of the Wolf River and the west side of the Wolf River. After the testimony the Natural Resources Board voted 6-0 to allow ATV's on this property. This is another step closer to getting the trail from the Nicolet State Trail to the Wolf River State Trail. We will continue to work on this project, we have gained some ground with the funds and the DNR property we still have some issues to work out. We will keep you updated as things progress!!
DETOUR OF ATV TRAIL: On Saturday October 20th and Sunday October 21st the ATV Trail on the O'Briens Property along Hwy T (along the white fence) will be closed for those 2 days to allow a Fall Dog Sled Race on the O'Briens property. The Oconto County Highway Department has given us permission to use the blacktop surface of Hwy T for those 2 days from Eichoff Road to the Storage Sheds along Hwy T. The club will put up detour signs and will have our Trail Ambassador in the area to assist. The Oconto County Sheriff's Department is also aware of this detour.
CLUB ELECTIONS: We also held our annual elections on Saturday with the following results: President – Shawn Fidler, Vice-President – Loren Nelson, Treasurer – Tom Siudzinski, Secretary – Jim Wisneski, Membership Secretary – Schomker and Board of Directors: Mike Richling, Tim Stephani, Dave Pitterle, Ron Schomker, Gene Dunsirn & Brian Fitzpatrick.
MEMBERSHIP DUES: Your 2019 membership dues are due December 31st, 2018, you will be receiving your dues notices sometime in November.
OCONTO COUNTY ATV TRAILS: Another ATV Season is winding down but still over a month to ride. The Oconto County ATV Trails will close on Sunday November 4th, 2018. The 2019 season will start the last Saturday in April, 2019 (weather permitting). The Board of Directors would like to thank the membership for another great ATV Season!!!
BUSINESS MEMBERS: The following is a list of Business Members, please help support their business: Lakewood Hardware, Lakewood Super Valu, Mulligans, The Beach Club, Lotter's Shell, J&J contracting, Animal's Bear Trail Inn, Maple Heights Campground, Echo Valley Campground, Boulder Lake Campground, Tebo Lakewood Realty & Cellular, O'Neils Halfway Bar, Firelite Bar & Grill, Waubee Lodge, The School Housae Bar & Grill, Sandtrap Bar & Grill, Lakewood Motorsports & All Season Rider's ATV Club. Thank You!!!
CLUB MEETING: Our last club meeting was held on Saturday, August 18th, 2018 at Animal's Bear Trail Inn at 11:00 am. A total of 42 members were in attendance. This was also the same date as our Annual Fundraiser. Our Fundraiser was very well attended with the weather cooperating this year also. The Board of Director's would like to thank all the people that attended and all of our members that helped from Friday to set up to Saturday evening to clean up. This is our only fundraiser for the year and it helps us create more ATV trails and to insure the safe riding of all of the ATV Riders that travel our trails. Thanks to all!!
LANGLADE BRIDGE PROJECT: On August 28 & August 29th, the Governor's Off Road Vehicle (ORV) Committee will meet on August 28th and the Governor's Snowmobile Council Committee will meet on August 29th to decide on the DNR grant that was submitted to build an ATV Trail from Boulder Lake in Oconto County to the Wolf River Trail in Langlade County, this grant also includes building a recreational bridge across the Wolf River in Langlade. This is only one step in the process (a big step) but there are other hurdles that need to be worked out before this project will go forward. One hurdle along with others is the determination of the use of the DNR property on the West Side of the Wolf River in Langlade to be used for ATV travel. Our club, with the White Lake ATV Club, and the Red Arrow ATV and Snowmobile Club will continue to work on this, another update will be at our next membership meeting in September.
TRAIL UPDATE: We continue to monitor the hilly areas on our trail system. We have had a very dry summer so far and our waterbar's that we installed along with the dry weather have held up very well so far. The Board would like to thank the members who volunteered this year to keep the waterbar's cleaned out. We also did some work along Highway F in the ditch line East of the Beach Club. We also repaired the hill coming from the Beach Club to Highway F. We will continue to monitor these ditch lines.
NEW RECREATIONAL OFFICER: We now have a new Recreational Officer, his name is Ben Schindel. Ben is an Oconto County Sheriff that is assigned to patrol in the seven towns of Townsend, Lakewood, Riverview, Doty, Mountain, Breed and Brazeau. Approx 60% of his salary comes from the ATV, Snowmobile and Boating Registration. This additional officer will insure that the 2% of ATV rider's that think they are above the law and that do not have to obey any laws will help curb their poor decisions.
THIS WEEKEND: Labor Day Weekend is right around the corner and I would like to take some time to promote events that are going on this weekend. RED ARROW SNOWMOBILE AND ATV CLUB: On Saturday September 1st the Red Arrow Club will have their ATV Parade at 11:00 AM leaving their groomer builder traveling over to the Old Town Hall in Townsend. After the Parade they will have meat raffles and other raffles along with food & beverage thru out the day. RIVERVIEW FIRE DEPARTMENT CORN ROAST: The Riverview Fire Department will hold their annual corn roast also on Saturday September 1st. LAKEWOOD FIRE DEPARTMENT: The Lakewood Fire Department will hold their annual corn roast on Sunday September 2nd.
NEXT MEETING, CLUB RIDE AND CLUB PICNIC: Our next meeting will be held at Mulligan's Sports Bar on Hwy 32 in Lakewood on Saturday September 29th, 2018 at 10:00 am. After the meeting we will leave Mulligan's and ride over to Crooked Lake for the End of the Year Poker Run event hosted by Dusty Trails ATV Club and Crooked Trails ATV Club. We will have lunch at their event, lunch is on your own. After lunch we will head back to Lakewood to have our annual club picnic at the Trailhead in Lakewood. The club picnic will start around 4:00 pm, all food and beverages are free. Anyone that needs to trailer their machines for the meeting can park at the Lakewood Trailhead and ride your ATV/UTV to the meeting at Mulligans at 10:00 am. The club ride will end up back at the Trailhead in Lakewood. All members are welcome to attend the entire days event or if you only want to ride or come to the club picnic that is fine also. Hope to see you there!!!
BUSINESS MEMBERS: The following is a list of Business Members, Please help support their business: Lakewood Hardware, Lakewood Super Valu, Mulligans, The Beach Club, Lotter's Shell, J&J Contracting, Animal's Bear Trail Inn, Maple Heights Campground, Echo Valley Campground, Boulder Lake Campground, Tebo Lakewood Realty & Cellular, O'Neils Halfway Bar, Firelite Bar & Grill, Waubee Lodge, The School House Bar & Grill, Sandtrap Bar & Grill, Lakewood Motorsports & All Season Rider's ATV Club. Thank you!!!!
the club. Thanks Loren and your crew for a job well done!!!
which also includes an all user recreational bridge in Langlade.
ATV's/UTV's next to the existing Highway 64 bridge.
plan on riding in the parade.
the area. More information regarding this meeting will follow.
annual fundraiser on August 18th.
closed for ATV's/UTV's but will still be used for a snowmobile trail.
Please stay out of the ditch and ride on the blacktops and follow the signs.
sold by July 4th, so if you still want one, I suggest getting one soon!!!!
refreshments. Please mark your calendars!!!
HELP: We will need help the day of the Fundraiser and the day before.
set up some large tents and other things on Friday starting at 1:00 pm.
hiddenbeartrailatvclub@centurytel.net or call me at 920-562-7872.
Trail Inn. All members's are welcome to attend our board meetings.
CLUB MEETING, CLUB RIDE AND CLUB COOKOUT: Our last membership meeting for 2017 was held on Saturday September 30th at the Firelite Lounge in Lakewood WI. A total of 36 people attended the meeting, along with other business we also conducted our annual elections. The following were the results of the election: President, Shawn Fidler, Vice-President Loren Nelson, Treasurer Tom Siudzinski, Secretary Jim Wisneski, Membership Secretary Dawn Schomoker, Board of Directors Dave Pitterle, Gene Dunsirn, Jim Schommer, Brian Fitzpatrick, Tim Stephani & Mike Richling. After the meeting we left the Lakewood Trailhead for our 2nd club ride of the year, it was a beautiful day, we had 21 machines and a total of 30 people. The ride took us to Crooked Lake for Lunch at the end-of-the-year Poker Run that was held at the Sportsman Park in Crooked Lake. After Lunch we returned to the Trailhead to enjoy the club cookout, we had over 40 people in attendance at the cookout. Please visit our website atwww.hiddenbeartrailatvclub.com for pictures of the days event. A special thanks for Jenny for opening the Firelite early for our meeting!!!
LANGLADE BRIDGE AND FOREST SERVICE REPORT: On September 12th our club attended the quarterly Forest Service Meeting in Lakewood, where we found out that the NEPA (National Environment Protection Agency) was approved to do work on the new trail from Traxel Point Road in the Town of Doty to Fish Hatchery Road. Our club has procurred a $20,000 grant to repair this trail for ATV/UTV use. Work on this trail will not start until we find a way across the Wolf River. Currently our club and 2 other area ATV Clubs are working on private landowner easements to get to the bride and over to the Wolf River Trail. We are also waiting for the DNR to allow us to use the existing DNR Property in Langlade for ATV's. This is a very complex project and will require additional time but we have not given up.
COUNTY F ISSUES: We continue to receive complaints that ATV riders are riding on County F in areas that are illegal. One area is riders are illegally crossing Highway F at Lake John Road and another area is riding on Highway F from Smyth Road to Waubee Lodge. Our club has met with the Oconto County Highway Commissioner to try to resolve some of these issues with more signage. Please obey all signs in this area.
WORK BETWEEN HWY T & BLUE SPRUCE: Our club just completed the DNR Grant Project in the first .30 miles from Highway T going toward Blue Spruce Road. The Grant was for $7200.00 to repair the hills in that area. Our contractor put down a layer of Breaker Run and then put a layer of crushed gravel on top. We also installed 5 man-made waterbars to help the water drain off of the hills to avoid future washouts. We also posted a 10 mph speed limit in this area due to the hills and curves. We also hope the lower speed limit will eliminate some of the bank curves that we get during the year. Please slow down in this area!!!
WISCONSIN ATV ASSOCIATION (WATVA): Now that the Governor signed the budget for this year the Wisconsin ATV Association will start to receive the money that they lost the last 3 years. They have worked very hard the last 3 years without very little budget and have held the Association together. Look forward to more info regarding this in the WATVA magazine. Our club would like to thank Randy Harden and his staff for working thru these issues the last 3 years!!!!
POSSIBLE NEW RECREATIONAL OFFICER: The 7 towns in the Northern part of Oconto County are looking at getting another Recreational Officer. If approved this County Officer will be working full-time in these 7 townships and working approx 60% of his time on recreational issues. Currently Oconto County has 1 rec officer for the entire county. This additional position will create a larger presence in these townships. Our club has supported the efforts to hire another rec officer.
NEW CLUB CLOTHING: At our Club Fundraiser in August we sold most of our current clothing that we had and the Board of Director's will be deciding this week on what directions we will be going with new club clothing. A special thanks to Kris & Mark Allen for taking care of our club clothing for the last 6 years. Kris & Mark did an excellent job!!! Brian & Diane Fitzpatrick will be taking care of our club clothing going forward and the plan is to have new clothing by our First Club Meeting in June of 2018. Thanks for Brian & Diane for taking over from Kris & Mark.
OCONTO COUNTY ATV MAP: We are in the process of putting together the Oconto County ATV Map for the 2018-2019 season. Next year's map will be good for 2 years, in previous years a map was published each year but the map committee has decided to go to a 2 year map.
MEMBERSHIP DUES: Membership dues will be due by December 31st, 2017. One & 5 year members will receive their dues statement around the first week of November. All members that renew will receive a 2018-2019 Oconto County ATV Map prior to the 2018 season and a copy of the 2018 Club Events.
OCONTO COUNTY ATV TRAILS: The Oconto County ATV Trails will close this year on Sunday November 5th, 2017. The Oconto County ATV Trails will open again on Saturday April 28th, 2018 weather permitting. This will be our last newsletter of 2017 but we will keep you updated with any ATV/UTV information thru out the year!!!
BUSINESS MEMBERS: The following is a list of Business Members, Please help support their business: Lakewood Hardware, Lakewood Super Valu, Mulligans, The Beach Club, Lotter's Lakewood Shell, J&J Contracting, Animals Bear Trail Inn, Maple Heights Campground, Echo Valley Campground, Boulder Lake Campground, Tebo Lakewood Realty & Cellular, O'Neils Halfway Bar, 9 mile Bar & Resort, Firelite Bar & Grill, Waubee Lodge, Prospect Bar & Grill, The Schoolhouse Bar & Grill, Sandtrap Bar & Grill & Lakewood Motorsports. Please welcome new Business Member All Season Riders ATV Club from Elkhorn WI.
MEMBERSHIP MEETING & FUNDRAISER: Our 2nd membership meeting for 2017 was held on August 19th, 2017 at 10:30 AM at Animal's Bear Trail Inn. We had a total of 55 people in attendance. The meeting was adjourned at 11:30 am just in time to start our annual fun-fun-fun raiser. The event started right at noon with the first meat raffle and ended at 6:00 pm with the announcement of the winner of $4000.00 from our cash raffle. The weather was great this year and the turnout was even better. The Board of Directors would like to thank all the volunteers that worked that day and to all the people that attended the event. You can see pictures of the event by visiting our website atwww.hiddenbeartrailatvclub.com. The Board of Directors are already planning for next years event. This is our only Fund Raiser of the year and all proceeds from the event go back into the ATV Trail System. Mark your calendars for next year for the Saturday August 18th, 2018!!!
TRAIL UPDATE: We are continuing to work with the Forest Service, DNR, Local and County Government to get a connection from Boulder Lake Area to the Wolf River Trail in Langlade County. We have ran into some problems with this project but have not given up and will continue to work to get this accomplished but it is taking longer than expected. Please be patience, we are only volunteers and are trying to do our best to get this important project completed. After September 1st and before October 1st we will be repairing .30 mile of ATV Trail from Hwy T in Doty toward Blue Spruce Road. We have a DNR Grant for $7200.00. Our club has made 6 new water bars that we will be putting in on the hills in this area along with other repairs in this area. We have now completed the work along Hwy T in Doty in the ditch line. We had to wait to have the large rocks we put in to settle and then we put a layer of crushed gravel over the top. We are looking at doing this along Highway F east of the Beach Club in the ditch line also, this should be completed next spring.
NORTHEAST WISCONSIN ATV ASSOCIATION (WATVA) MEETING: The WATVA Northeast Meeting was held in Dunbar on Saturday July 15th. Our club partnered with Red Arrow Snowmobile/ATV Club and rode our ATV's/UTV's from Townsend to Dunbar to attend the Meeting. We had 25 people that went on the ride. It looks like the WATVA will be getting their funding they lost 2 years ago back (a total of $300,000.00 each year). This money was to run the Safety Enhancement Program (Trail Patrol Program). The other important discussion at this meeting was get a feeling on what members thought about having a winter trail pass issued to people that use their ATV's/UTV's in the winter. Currently the ATV Program pays over $500,000.00 a year to the snowmobile program for winter use ATV trails. Currently their is no program designed to get an exact count of how many ATV/UTV's use the winter trail system. If changed user's would need to pay a yearly trail pass fee.
NEXT MEMBERSHIP MEETING, CLUB RIDE AND CLUB COOKOUT: Our next membership meeting (and last meeting of 2017) will be Saturday September 30th, 2017 at 10:00 am at the Firelite Lounge in Lakewood WI. Elections for next year will be conducted at the meeting. All officer's positions are up, if you are interested in running for an office please contact Jim Wisneski at 920-562-7872. After the meeting (approx 11:00 am) we will start the club ride from the Lakewood Trailhead (their is plenty of trailer parking) going over to Crooked Lake again this year. We will have lunch at the Crooked Lake Sportsmans Club at the end of the year Poker Run Event sponsored by Dusty Trails ATV Club and Crooked Trails ATV Club. After lunch we will ride back to the Lakewood Trailhead and have our annual club cookout at the Trailhead. Any member, friends or family is welcome to enjoy the ride and the cookout. Anyone just wants to attend the cookout they are most welcome. The cookout will start at 4:00 pm and last until dusk.
BUSINESS MEMBERS: The following is a list of Business Members, please help support their business: Lakewood Hardware, Lakewood Super Valu, Mulligans, The Beach Club, Lotter's Lakewood Shell, J&J Contracting, Animals Bear Trail Inn, Maple Heights Campground, Echo Valley Campground, Boulder Lake Campground, Tebo Lakewood Realty & Cellular, O'Neils Halfway Bar, 9 Mile Bar & Resort, Firelite Bar & Grill, Waubee Lodge, Prospect Bar & Grill, The School House Bar & Grill, Sand Trap Bar & Gril & Lakewood Motorsports.
BOARD MEETINGS: The Board of Directors meet the 2nd Wednesday of each month from March – October at 6:00 pm at Animal's Bear Trail Inn. All members are welcome to attend!!
MEMBERSHIP MEETING & CLUB RIDE: We held our first membership meeting on Saturday, June 17th at the School House Bar & Restaurant. We had a total of 35 people at the meeting. After the meeting we went on a club ride over to The Beach Club, we had a total of 16 machines and 25 riders. The ride over to The Beach Club was dry using the Nicolet State Trail and Town Roads to arrive at the Beach Club at 12:30. We had a wonderful buffet of tacos, pizza, salads, chicken tenders, FF, onion petals and fruit. Thanks to Walt & Sandy for putting on a great buffet for a great price!! After lunch we went back to Mountain on the Crooked Trails ATV Club Trails, we encountered a lot of mud holes, needless to say the ride back was more fun!! We arrived back to Mountain around 3:30. The weather was beautiful with no rain. A special thanks to the School House Bar for opening early for our meeting and being very supportive of our club efforts.
BRAT FRY: This Saturday, June 24th our club will be holding a brat fry at the Lakewood Super Valu. Our Vice President Loren Nelson is heading up this event. The hours of the brat fry will be from 9:30 am to around 2:00 pm. If you are in the area please stop by for some great food and help support our club!!!
DNR ATV/UTV CERTIFICATION CLASS: Our club again will be partnering with the Red Arrow Club to host a ATV/UTV DNRCertification Class. Anyone born after January 1st, 1988 are required to take an ATV/UTV Certification Class and to travel with the certificate when driving an ATV/UTV. The Red Arrow Club is hosting the class which will be taking place on Thursday & Friday July 6th& July 7th from 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm at the Townsend Town Hall. Anyone interested in signing up for this class should go to the DNR website to register.
NORTHEAST WISCONSIN ATV ASSOCIATION (WATVA) MEETING: This year's WATVA NE Meeting will be held on Saturday July 15th, 2017 at Dunbar WI. The Dun-Good Riders ATV & Snowmobile Club will be hosting the meeting. This is our state ATV/UTV organization. The meeting will start at 9:30 AM at the Dun-Good Riders Club House, lunch will be at 11:30 and then an ATV/UTV Ride will follow lunch. Our club has partnered with the Red Arrow Club to ride from Townsend on our ATV/UTV's leaving at 7:00 AM from the Townsend Shell over to Dunbar for the meeting, after lunch we will be going back to the Lakewood/Townsend area. Anyone interested on going on the ride over to Dunbar, please let me know or just show up at the Townsend Shell at 7:00 am.
LAKEWOOD MARDI GRAS PARADE: Our club again will be participating in the Lakewood Mardi Gras Parade that will take place on Sunday July 16th in Lakewood. Our club will again furnish beads and candy to throw out at the parade. We will meet at the Lakewood Cemetary at 11:30 that day to line up for the Noon Parade. All members, relatives and friends are welcome to ride in the parade. Any one under the age of 18 that wants to drive or ride an ATV/UTV must wear a helmet.
HIDDEN BEAR TRAIL ATV FUND RAISER: We will be holding our one and only Fund Raiser again this year at Animal's Bear Trail Inn on Saturday August 19th from Noon to 6:00 pm. We will have a $1.00 meat raffle again this year, along with 50-50 raffles thru out the day. Also Food & Beverages will be served thru out the day. The $100.00 Cash Raffle will be drawn at 6:00 PM, along with a Gun Raffle & a Packer Autographed Football. We will be setting up at 8:00 am that day, we will need help to set up along with help selling meat raffle tickets (either from noon – 3:00 pm or 3:00 pm – 6:00 pm), and we need meat runner's for both shifts. If anyone can help please email me or call me at 920-562-7872. Please help support our club, tell relatives, and friends about our event. If you cannot help please feel free to attend and enjoy a fun day!!!
2017 CALENDAR OF EVENTS: Brat Fry Saturday June 24th at Lakewood SuperValu, DNR Certification Class July 6th & 7th, NE WI ATV Association Meeting July 15th in Dunbar WI, Lakewood Parade July 16th, Fund Raiser and Membership Meeting (11:00 am) August 19th, Membership Meeting, Club Ride & Club Cookout Saturday September 30th at 10:00 am at Firelite Bar & Grill in Lakewood WI. Your Club Board Meetings are held the 2nd Wednesday of each month from March – October at 6:00 pm at Animal's Bear Trail Inn, all members are welcome to attend!!
BUSINESS MEMBERS: The following is a list of Business Members, please help support their business: Lakewood Hardware, Lakewood Super Valu, Mulligans, The Beach Club, Lotter's Lakewood Shell, J&J Contracting, Animals Bear Trail Inn, Maple Heights Campground, Echo Valley Campground, Boulder Lake Campground, Tebo Lakewood Realty & Cellular, O'Neils Halfway Bar, 9 mile Bar & Resort, Firelite Bar & Grill, Waubee Lodge, Prospect Bar, Grill, The School House Bar & Grill, Sandtrap Bar & Grill & Lakewood Motorsports.
MEMBERSHIP MEETING, ELECTIONS, CLUB RIDE AND CLUB COOKOUT: Our last membership meeting of 2016 was held on Saturday September 24th at the Firelite Lounge in Lakewood WI. We had a total of 47 members and guest in attendance. We held our annual elections with the following results: Shawn Fidler President, Loren Nelson Vice President, Tom Siudzinski Treasurer, Jim Wisneski Secretary, Dawn Schmoker Membership Secretary, Dave Pitterle, Gene Dunsirn, Jim Schommer, Tim Stephani, Mike Richling, & Brian Fitzpatrick as Board of Directors. Kathy Steinbach was elected as an Honorary Board Member. After the meeting we left the Lakewood Trailhead on our way to Crooked Lake to join the Dusty Trails ATV Club and Crooked Trails ATV Club at their end of the year Poker Run. We had 22 ATV's/UTV's and 38 riders. The Kettle Moraine ATV Club also joined us for the meeting, ride and cookout. We ended back at the Lakewood Trailhead after a very enjoyable ride, with beautiful weather and with all rider's accounted for. Our club cookout started after we returned right at the Lakewood Trailhead with food, refreshments & fun. The best part was the interaction with our members and the members from the Kettle Moraine ATV Club. You can view pictures of the day's event on our website at: www.hiddenbeartrailatvclub.com.
FOREST SERVICE REPORT: Just an update on our clubs effort in trying on getting a route from the Boulder Lake Area over to the Wolf River Trails. We are working with the White Lake Club and based on what they have reported all the land easments are in place along with permission from the WI DOT to use the Highway 64 bridge in Langlade to cross the Wolf River. Our club and the Red Arrow Club are working with the Forest Service to use the current snowmobile trail from Traxel Point Road over to Killian Road. The Forest Service is in progress of doing their required studies. Our club has submitted a grant request for $20,000.00 dollars to make improvements to this trail prior to opening it to ATV's/UTV's. We should find out this week if that grant will be approved. We will keep you informed as we move forward with this project.
2016 CLUB ACCOMPLISHEMENTS: We are getting toward the end of another ATV/UTV Season (remember Oconto County Trails close October 31st) and thought we would list our 2016 club accomplishments: Opened a route from the Nicolet State Trail by Anderson Lake over to the Township of Doty via Bonita Road and County W (club paid for signs and labor on Hwy W), repaired 2 major washouts on hills between Island Lake Road and Star Lake Road, procurred a grant to fix hills next year between Blue Spruce Road and Hwy T in the Township of Doty, mowed the field on O'Briens Private Property along Highway T and formed 2 way traffic in that area, and brushed ATV trails and Routes on 2 occassions. The following is a list of Donations our Board of Directors approved (our Board feels that by helping others, it will be returned in numerous ways, along with keeping a positive image of our club): Lakewood/Townsend Rescue, Mountain, Doty & Riverview Rescue, Oconto River Kids, Lakewood Volunteer Trout Rearing Station, Kids trout tanks in Mountain & Chic's-4-a-cause. Without the support we get from our members none of the above could be possible. The Board of Directors would like to thank all of our members!!!
WISCONSIN ATV ASSOCIATION (WATVA) CALL FOR ACTION: Our State Organization (WATVA) is in the process of introducing a bill to the State Legislation regarding the Safety Enhancement Grant that was line vetoed by Governor Walker in last year's budget. The $300,000.00 grant that was eliminated was money from our ATV Registration that WATVA used to promote and administer our State Trail Patrol Program. This money was also used to assist the DNR with the Safety Certification Program along with other Safety Programs thru out the state. None of this $300,000.00 dollars was from the general taxpayers fund. I have attached information regarding how you can contact your local representative in regards to supporting LRB-4936/P2. You can contact your state senator and state representative along with Governor's Walker's Office. Please refrerence LRB-4936/P2.
BENEFIT FOR MOUNTAIN/SURING CHILDRENS CHRISTMAS PARTY: On SaturdayOctober 22nd, seven local business are holding a one-day Poker Run to help support the Mountain/Suring Children's Christmas Party. The Poker Run starts at 10:00 am at any of the following businesses: The School House Bar, Animals Bear Trail Inn, Halfway Bar, Tnt's Rusted Nail, Pour Haus, Skinny Daves, & Water Edge. You can ride your ATV to all locations or you can take any other means of transportation. The Poker Run will end at The School House Bar at 6:00 pm with 7 different chilies to try, along with meat & bucket raffles. Entry for the day's event is $10.00 (you can also start getting stamped on Friday October 21st). All proceeds will benefit the Children's Christmas Party that will be held in December.
BUSINESS MEMBERS: A sincere apology to the Northstar Motel in Lakewood for not including them as one of our business sponsor. The following is a list of Business Members, please help support their business: Northstar Motel, Lakewood Hardware, Lakewood Super Vallu, Lakewood Motorsports, Mulligans, The Beach Club, Lakewood Shell, J&J Contracting, Animals Bear Trail Inn, Maple Heights Campground, Echo Valley Campground, Boulder Lake Campground, Tebo Lakewood Realty & Cellular, O'Neils Halfway Bar, 9 mile Resort, Firelite Bar & Grill, Waubee Lodge, Prospect Bar & Grill, The School House Bar & Grill and The Sandtrap Bar & Grill.
2017 CALENDAR OF EVENTS: The Board of Director's at their October Meeting will finalize our 2017 Calendar of Events and will mail to all members with the 2017 Oconto County ATV Map in the spring of 2017.
MEMBERSHIP MEETING, CASH RAFFLE AND FUND-RAISER: Our 2nd membership for 2016 meeting was held on SaturdayAugust 20th at 11:00 am at Animal's Bear Trail Inn. We had a total of 35 members in attendance. After the meeting we started our annual fund-raiser from noon to 6:00 pm. Despite the rainy weather we had our best fund-raiser ever. The Board of Directors would like to thank all of our members that helped that day, we had over 45 members that helped before, during and after the event. We started setting up at 9:00 am in the rain and had everything put away by 7:00 pm that evening. Special thanks to the following: Paul Bunyan & Firelite Ice for doing our meat raffle (we got thru 101 spins), Animal's Bear Trail Inn for donation of pulled pork and a case of Vodka, Blue Bunny Ice Cream for the 50 ice cream coupons for the meat raffle, Echo Valley & Schoolhouse for the partial donation for the Gun Raffle, the Packer Organization for the 2015 Autographed Football and the Schoolhouse for the Lounge Chairs. We would also like to thank all of our members that bought and sold our 175 cash raffle ticket prior to the event. All 175 tickets were sold well in advance of the drawing that took place at 6:00 PM. A list of winner's were emailed to all members and will be published in the Beacon. Proceeds from the day's event goes to creating new ATV Trails/Routes, maintaining current ATV/UTV Trails/Routes and insuring all riders with a safe and enjoyable ride in the townships of Doty, Riverview & Lakewood.
MEMBESHIP REPORT: We have a total of 160 paying members and a total membership of over 300 including spouse and children. Thank you for being members!!!!
DNR ATV CERTIFICATION CLASS: On June 28th & June 29th at the Town Hall in Doty we held our annual DNR ATV Certification Class. We partner each year with the Red Arrow ATV/Snowmobile Club to hold this class. This year all 30 students passed their exam and received their temporary ATV Certification Card. A special thanks to the Town of Doty for allowing us the use of their facility. A picture of the class graduates and instructors were published in the Oconto County Newspapers. We also have 2 new apprentice instructors from our club, Brian & Diane Fitzpatrick. The Board of Directors would like to thank them for stepping up to be instructors!!!
LAKEWOOD PARADE: Our club again participated in the Lakewood Parade on Sunday July 17th. We had a total of 18 ATV/UTVs in the parade and this year we threw out beads and candy!!!
CLUB ACCOMPLISHMENTS THIS YEAR: The following is some of our club accomplishments this year: Repaired 2 washouts on hills between Island Lake Road and Star Lake Road in the Town of Riverview, repaired on 3 occassions the washouts between Hwy T & Blue Spruce Road, worked with the Oconto County Highway Department to allow ATV/UTV travel on 1.5 miles of Highway W in the Township of Doty, this allowed riders to get from the Nicolet State Trail by Anderson Lake over to Doty & Langlade County via Bonita Road (the club payed for all signs and the labor to put the signs up), the club payed for and replaced outdated, missing and damaged ATV/UTV signs in the Townships of Doty, Riverview & Lakewood, payed for the chipping and spreading of wood chips along County T, the club repaired all ATV/UTV crossings with gravel where needed, and built & installed new Kiosk at the corner of Blue Spruce & Mountain Lakes Road. The Board of Directors continue to attend all necessary meetings to insure that we continue to be successful.
CLUB DONATIONS: The Board of Directors have approved the following donations this year: Mountain & Lakewood/Townsend Ambulance, Oconto River Kids Project, Lake John Trout Hatchery Project, Kids Trout Pond at Mountain Town Park and the Town of Doty for use of Building for DNR Certification Course.
FOREST SERVICE REPORT: We are continuing to work with the Forest Service along with the White Lake ATV Club, Boulder Lake Sno-goers, and Red Arrow ATV/Snowmobile club to open an ATV/UTV Route/Trail from Boulder Lake to Fish Hatchery Road. The importance of this section is that it will connect us to the Wolf River Trail in White Lake. The White Lake Club has procurred land easements and DOT approval to use the existing Hwy 64 Bridge in Langlade for crossing the Wolf River. Our Club has requested a grant in the amount of $25,000.00 from the Forest Service to make necessary repairs on the trail between Boulder Lake and Fish Hatchery Road. An approval/disapproval of this grant should be made by August 30th. We will keep you updated.
BUSINESS MEMBERS: The following is a list of Business Members, please help support their business: Lakewood Hardware, Lakewood Super Valu, Lakewood Powersports, Mulligans, The Beach Club, Lakewood Shell, J & J contracting, Animals Bear Trail Inn, Maple Heights Campground, Echo Valley Campground, Boulder Lake Campground, Tebo Lakewood Realty & Cellular, O'Neils Halfway Bar, 9 Mile Resort, Firelite Bar & Grill, Waubee Lodge, Prospect Bar & Grill and the Schoolhouse Bar & Grill.
NEXT MEETING, CLUB RIDE AND CLUB COOKOUT: Our next membership meeting will be at 10:00 am at the Firelite Lounge on Saturday September 24th, after the meeting we will have a club ride over to Crooked Lake to have lunch at the Poker Run Event that is hosted by Crooked Trails ATV Club and Dusty Trails ATV Club. After the ride we will host our annual dlub cookout at the Trailhead in Lakewood. More info to follow.
MEMBERSHIP MEETING AND CLUB RIDE: Our first membership meeting was held on Saturday, June 18th at the Schoolhouse Bar in Downtown Mountain, WI. We had a total of 34 members in attendance. The meeting started at 10:00 am with the Pledge and adjourned at 10:45 am. At 11:00 am we left the Schoolhouse (see pictures on our website at www.hiddenbeartrailatvclub.com) on our way to Waubee Lodge for lunch. The owner of Waubee Lodge (Russ) met us and thanked the group for coming for lunch. The weather was beautiful and we arrived at Waubee at 12:30 for lunch. After lunch we took a detour on a trail in the Crooked Lake Area which was very wet and fun. We arrived back at the Schoolhouse Bar at 3:30 pm. Thanks to Chrissy & Clay from the Schoolhouse for opening early for our meeting and Russ from Waubee for a fantastic lunch!!
MEMBERSHIIP REPORT: We have a total of 157 paying members and a total membership of over 300. Thank you all for being members!!!
BRAT FRY: Our club will be at Lakewood SuperValu next Saturday, June 25th from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. If you are in the area please stop and support our club. Loren Nelson is heading this event and Don Jackson will be doing the cooking again this year!!
DONATIONS: Our club continues to help support local events and businesses in the area. This past year the board of directors has approved the following donations: $250.00 to both the Mountain and Lakewood/Townsend Ambulance, $300.00 to purchase a gun for the Oconto County River Kids (this organization helps terminally ill children with hunting opportunities), $250.00 to the Northern Oconto County Trout Association (this organization opened up the Lakewood Trout Rearing Station, all Trout that are raised are by volunteers and the troute are released in Oconto County), and $100.00 to the Mountain Business Association Kids Fisheree. Your board of Directors has been very generous to support these events and it helps portray a positive image in our community.
NEW ATV ROUTE AND DONATION: Our club worked with the Oconto County Highway Department to establish a new route off of the Nicolet State Trail by Chute Pond using Bonita Road, Highway W and Town Roads to connect the southern portion of the Nicolet State Trail over to Doty and Langlade County. Our club payed for 1/2 of the cost of the signs (Dusty Trails payed 1/2) and installed all of the signs on the Town Roads, we also had to pay the County to install the signs on Highway W. A local business and members of our club heard about the cost and donated $500.00 to help pay for these expenses.
FOREST SERVICE REPORT: On Monday June 13th we met at our quarterly forest service meeting and discussed the project connecting the Wolf River Trail at White Lake to Oconto County via the snowmobile trail from Boulder Lake to Langlade. The FS will be starting a NEPA study of this project and will be going forward with this request. The White Lake ATV Club has gotten all the written easements from the land owners to get from Fish Hatchery Road over to the Wolf River Trail. They are also working with the DOT to use the existing bridge at Langlade to cross the Wolf River. With any luck this connection could be open sometime next year, but no promises!!
MAINTENANCE ON ATV ROUTE: Our club just finished with the help from our local contractor to repair two washouts on the ATV route between Star Lake Road and Island Lake Road in the Town of Riverview. We also repaired a washout earlier this spring on the trail between Blue Spruce Road and Highway T in Doty.
DNR ATV CERTIFICATION CLASS: Our club along with the Red Arrow Club will be holding our annual DNR ATV Certification Class on June 28th & June 29th at the Town of Doty. Anyone at least 12 years old and born on or after Jan 1, 1988 must have a certificate to drive an ATV. It is not too late to sign up for the class by visiting the WI DNR Website.
WATVA ANNUAL MEETING: Tom Suidzinski and I attended the WATVA Meeting in April in Wausau WI. A few highlights of the meeting are that WATVA has a plan to try to get their Safety Enhancement Grant that the Governor vetoed last year. More information regarding this will be coming out this fall. A new UTV law was passed regarding driving a UTV, prior to the change no one under the age of 16 could drive a UTV, the law was changed to allow anyone between 12 to 16 to drive a UTV under 200 cc's.
LAKEWOOD PARADE: Our club will again particpate in the Lakewood Parade on Sunday July 17th starting at Noon. We will line up at the Lakewood Cemetery at 11:30 am. This year we will have beads again to hand out and parade candy. We plan on inviting anyone from the Red Arrow Club to ride also.
CASH RAFFLE AND GUN RAFFLE: We are getting very low on cash raffle ticket for our event on August 20th. Anyone that would still like to get a $100.00 ticket can contact me, I am pretty sure that these tickets will all be gone by July 1st!! We also have a gun raffle that started and currently the gun is hanging at the School House Bar until the middle of July and then it will be at Animal's Bear Trail Inn until the day of our raffle. The gun is a Savage 308 Bolt Action, with Nixon Scope. Tickets are $10.00 for one ticket or 3 tickets for $20.00.
FUNDRAISER: Our main fundraiser is on Saturday August 20th, 2016 from noon to 6:00 pm at Animals Bear Trail Inn on the Corner of Hwy T & 64 in the Town of Doy. If anyone has not signed up to help and would still like to please contact me at 920-562-7872 or via email. We will have meat raffles, 50-50 raffles, food, beverages and fun. We will also have our club clothing for sale that day. Please mark your calendars!!!
BUSINESS MEMBERS: The following is a list of Business Members, please help support their Business: Lakewood Hardware, Lakewood Supervalu, Lakewood Powersports, Mulligans, The Beach Club, Lakewood Shell, J & J Contracting, Animals Bear Trail Inn, Maple Heights Campground, Echo Valley Campground, Boulder Lake Campground, Tebo Lakewood Realty & Cellular, O'Neils Halfway Bar, 9 mile Resort, Firelite Bar & Grill Waubee Lodge, Prospect Bar & Grill, Sandtrap Bar & Grill and The Schoolhouse Bar &Grill.
NEXT MEETING: Our next membership meeting will be at 11:00 am on August 20th before our Fundraiser at Animal's Bear Trail Inn.
MEMBERSHIP MEETING, CLUB RIDE & CLUB COOKOUT: We held our 3rd and final club meeting on Saturday September 26th at the Firelite Lounge in Lakewood WI at 10:00 am. We had a total of 34 members in attendance. Dave Thomson won the 50-50 raffle for $70.00. At 11:00 am we left the Lakewood Trailhead for our club ride over to Crooked Lake. We had 25 ATV & UTV's on the ride, with a total of 40 people on the ride. We arrived at Crooked Lake Sportsman park at 1:00 pm and we all had lunch at the Dusty Trails & Crooked Trails Poker Run that was taking place that day. We want to thank both clubs for the excellent food that they served. We left Crooked Lake at 2:00 pm and arrived back at the Lakewood Trailhead at 3:30 pm. The club furnished all the food and drinks for our annual cookout which we had right at the trailhead in Lakewood. We had 50 members at the cookout. All in all it was a very fun day and we could not have asked for any better weather. Thanks to all the members that attened!!!
MEMBERSHIP REPORT: We now have a total of 164 paying members. The Board of Directors would like to thank you!!!
WEBSITE REPORT: Dave Pitterle has now posted pictures of our annual fundraiser that we had in August and also pictures of the club ride and cookout. Please visit our website at: www.hiddenbeartrailatvclub.com for more club info.
FOREST SERVICE REPORT: Our club is continuing to work with the Forest Service to create more riding opportunities and to insure your safety on the trails that we currently have. Currently our club is working on the ATV trail/route from the Nicolet State Trail over to Doty in widening parts of the trail and repairing wash outs that occur during the year. As I write this newsletter, Oconto County is working on the trail at Highway 32 & Thelen Road, widening the approach and putting in more gravel. Our club obtained a $5000.00 grant from the DNR to complete this work.
NEW OCONTO COUNTY LOCATOR SIGN: In 2016 when traveling the ATV trails and Snowmobile Trails you will notice a new "three" digit locator sign. This new sign will replace the 2 digit intersection signs that you have seen in the past. The new sign will have a 3 digit number along with a GPS Location Number on the sign. In the past the Oconto County ATV Map and the Oconto County Snowmobile Map each had different 2 digit intersection numbers, with the new map the 3 digit number will be the same for each map. This project was worked on by the Oconto County Trails Committee which our club is part of. The three digit locator numbers will be 100, 200, 300, 400, 500 & 600. The county was divided into 6 parts, the south west part will have the 100 series, southeast will have the 200 series, the middle part of the county will be 300 & 400 series, the northwest part will have 500 series and the northeast part will be the 600 series. If you are riding in Oconto County North of Mountain you will see the 500 & 600 series locator signs. The new maps both snowmobile that will be coming out shortly and the ATV Maps that will be out next spring will have these new numbers please destroy any of your old maps.
NEW ATV ROUTE BONITA ROAD TO MOUNTAIN LAKES ROAD: We have a tenative agreement with Oconto County to use part of Highway W in the Town of Doty to get from Bonita Road to Mountain Lakes Road. We are waiting to get an agreement from Oconto County that our club needs to sign. More info and detailed riding instructions will follow once the agreement is signed. PLEASE DO NOT TRAVEL ON HIGHWAY W IN THE TOWN OF DOTY UNTIL THE AGREEMENT IS SIGNED AND WE INSTALL ALL THE SIGNS!!
ELECTIONS: At our membership meeting we had our annual elections for officers and the following were the results: President: Shawn Fidler, Vice President: Loren Nelson, Treasurer: Tom Suidzinski, Secretary: Jim Wisneski, Membership Secretary: Dawn S, Board of Directors: Tim Stephani, Gene Dunsirn, Jim Schommer, Dave Pitterle, Mike Richling & Kathy Steinbach. Congratulations to all!!!
BUSINESS MEMBERS: The following is a list of Business Members, please help support their Business: Lakewood Hardware, Timberline Restaruant, Lakewood Super Valu, Lakewood Powersports, Mulligans, The Beach Club, Lakewood Shell, J&J Contracting, Animals Bear Trail Inn, Maple Heights Campground, Echo Valley Campground, Boulder Lake Campground, Tebo Lakewood Realty & Cellular, O'Neils Halfway Bar, 9 Mile Resort, Firelite Bar & Grill, Waubee Lodge, Prospect Bar & Grill and The Schoolhouse Bar & Grill.
ATV LAW: One of our members suggested that each month we cover some of the ATV/UTV Laws so here we go!!! Operation of a Utility Terrain Vehicle (UTV): All UTV Operators at least age 16 and born on or after January 1, 1988 must possess a valid ATV safety certificate issued by this state or an other state or province. Operators must be in possession of this certificate while operating in an areas open to the public such as trails, routes and frozen waterways and display it to a law enforcement officeer upon request, (page 13, Pub-LE 500, 2014).
NEXT MEMBERSHIP MEETING: Our next membership meeting will be June of 2016. Date and place will be announced later.
LAST NEWSLETTER OF 2015: This will be our last newsletter of 2015, any important information will be mailed, emailed or put on our website as they occur. Remember the Oconto County ATV Trail system close on Saturday October 31st!!!
Membership Meeting & Fundraiser: On Saturday August 15th we held our 2nd membership meeting of 2015 at Animals Bear Trail Inn and also held our annual fundraiser. The meeting started at 11:00 am with a total of 32 members in attendance. Prior to the meeting starting at 9:00 am we had members set up for the fundraiser that started at noon. We had a very steady crowd all day even with the temperatures that soared into the 90's. We ended up doing all 100 of our meat raffles, along with 4 – 50/50 raffles and a gun raffle. Fun was had by all in attendance even with the extreme heat. The board of directors would like to thank all the members that volunteered, (we had in excess of 40 volunteers that day), thanks also goes to Dave Thompson and his crew for running the spin wheel all day, thank you to all the people that attended the event and a special thanks to Echo Valley, the Schoolhouse Bar, Animal's and the Beach Club for donated a portion of the gun for our gun raffle. Pictures of the days event can be seen on our website at: www.hiddenbeartrailatvclub.com.
Cash Raffle: We also held our annual cash raffle at our fundraiser. Thanks to all the members that purchased and helped sell tickets. The following is a list of Winners: $4000.00 – Mary Grutza, $2000.00 – Tim Stephani, $900.00 – MJ & JR, $700.00 – Tony Farder, $600.00 – Bob Dow, $500.00 – Ray Fiedler, $450.00 – Halfway Group, $300.00 – Not Bob's, $200.00 – RCH, Ron Jackson, Jackie Pitterle, Bob Goble, Great Northern & Animal, Gary Spiller, $150.00 – Julie Wolf, Halfway Group, Dennis Soulier, DC Hedman, CPDM, Marilyn & Shawn, Tom Pickett, Steve Fonder, Karen Pitterle, Yvonne Coulthard, & Jon Reformado.
Membership: Our club now has a total of 162 paying members and in excess of 300 total members which includes spouses & children. The Board of Directors want to thank you!!!!
Lakewood Parade: Our club participated in the Lakewood Parade again this year, we had 20 people ride in the parade from our club and the Red Arrow Club. The group gave out over 50 pounds of Mardi Gras Beads!!! A special thanks goes to Loren Nelson for leading the parade with our club logo and safety info. Pictures from the Lakewood Parade can be seen on our website also.
Trail Conditions: We are currently working with the Forest Service and Oconto County to increase the width and increase the visibility on the ATV Trail/Route from the Nicolet State Trail over to Doty. We are currently working in the area by Highway 32 & Thelen Road. Last week our club hired the Red Arrow Snowmobile & ATV Club to use their brush hog to cut the sides of the trail between Highway 32 & Star Lake Road. We also had 17 members from our club to brush the same area to increase sight visibility in 10 different areas between Hwy 32 & Island Lake Road. In the next few weeks Oconto County will be widening the entrance onto Highway 32 and Thelen Road along with putting down gravel in the first half mile of this trail. Also our contractor will be fixing some of the washout areas between Island Lake Road & Star Lake Road in Riverview. Just another reminder the main trail (Nicolet State Trail/Old Railroad Grade) is maintained by Dusty Trails ATV Club. They groom the trail from Mountain to Suring one week and the second week they groom from Mountain to North of Lakewood. The Red Arrow Snowmobile & ATV Club groom the Nicolet State Trail from Lakewood to the Forest County Line.
Safety & Rules: At our last Board meeting it was suggested that in our newsletter that we put info regarding some of the ATV rules. Helmet Requirement: Those under 12 years of age must wear a helmet at all times. Those over 12 but under 18 must wear a helmet at all times except when traveling for the purpose of hunting or fishing. Public Roadway Restrictions: ATV route signs on public roads indicate legal UTV travel as well. State and County Highway surface travel is not legal in Oconto County. A few county highway ditch lines are clearly marked for legal travel.
Business Members: The following is a list of Business Members, please help support their Business: Lakewood Hardware, Timberline Restaruant, Lakewood Supervalu, Lakewood Powersports, Mulligans, The Beach Club, Lakewood Shell, J&J Contracting, Animals Bear Trail Inn, Maple Heights Campground, Echo Valley Campground, Boulder Lake Campground, Tebo Lakewood Realty & Cellular, O'Neils Halfway Bar, 9 Mile Resort, Firelite Bar & Grill, Waubee Lodge & Prospect Bar & Grill. Please welcome our newest Business Member, The Schoolhouse Bar & Grill.
Next Membership Meeting, Club Ride & Cookout: Our next and last membership meeting for 2015 will be Saturday September 26th at the Firelite Bar & Grill, in Lakewood WI at 10:00 AM. After the meeting we will go on a club ride followed by a cookout at the Lakewood trailhead. More info to follow.
Membership: Our club now has a total of 152 paying members and in excess of 300 total members which include spouses & children. The Board of Directors want to thank you!!!
Trail Conditions: Our club is responsible for the 50 mile loop that comes off of the Nicolet State Trail (Railroad Grade) north of Mountain over to Highway T in Doty and then back to the Nicolet State Trail. The majority of these miles are gravel town roads that we do not have to maintain. The 10 miles of area thru the Forest Service along this route is what our club maintains. We are currently working at the trail at Highway 32 & Thelen Road with widening the trail for UTV use. We continue to work on areas that have washouts and try to maintain these areas as needed. The main trail (Nicolet State Trail/old railroad grade) is maintained by Dusty Trails ATV Club. They groom the trail from Mountain to Suring one week and the second week they groom from Mountain to North of Lakewood. The Red Arrow Snowmobile & ATV Club groom the Nicolet State Trail from Lakewood to the Forest County Line.
Lakewood: Our club purchased and installed 10 Dust Control Signs along the Nicolet State Trail in Lakewood. We have recieved some complaints from the business owners in Lakewood regarding the amount of dust that ATV's/UTV's make, the 10 signs read: DUST CONTROL ZONE, 10 MPH, $501.00 FINE. Please remember when you are going thru towns that you respect the posted speed limit signs. We also closed on a temporary basis the ATV/UTV Route on County F by the golf course that goes down to the Sandtrap Bar & Restaurant. The Sandtrap is closed and is for sale, once it opens again we will open the route over to the Sandtrap.
Forest Service Report: Our Club and 4 other ATV Clubs are working on connecting LangladeCounty & County County for ATV/UTV use at Langlade. There is a project to construct a new recreational bridge in Langlade and if that does not get the funding we may be able to use the existing highway bridge in Langlade to cross the Wolf River. Our club is working with the Forest Service to get an ATV trail/route from Fish Hatchery Road over to Traxel Point Road in the Boulder Lake Area. This project, the bridge project and the easement project along Highway 64 will allow atvs/utvs access from Oconto County to Langlade County. We will keep club members updated on this project as they happen.
ATV Certification Class: Anyone born after Jan 1, 1988 must have an ATV certification certificate to drive an ATV. Anyone 11 or older can apply to take the course. The Red Arrow Club along with our club is sponsoring an ATV Certification Class on Monday July 6th and 7th from 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm at the Lakewood/Townsend Ambulance Building. The $10.00 fee is waived if your parents or grandparents are members of the Hidden Bear Trail ATV Club. You can register on line at the DNR website or Red Arrrow Snowmobile/ATV Club website. Just a few quick reminders of some of the safety regulations for ATV/UTV's: Anyone under the age of 18 must have a DOT approved Helmet when driving or riding an ATV/UTV, you must be 16 years old to drive a UTV, all occupants in a UTV must have a seat and are required to wear a seat belt and anyone from age 12 to 16 can drive an ATV on a road route but they must be accompained by a guardian or an approved adult guardian. Copies of the ATV/UTV Rules can be viewed on the Wisconsin DNR website.
NE Wisconsin ATV Association (WATVA) Meeting: Our club is hosting the NE WATVA meeting on July 18th, 2015 at the Riverview Town Hall at 15408 Highway 32, Mountain WI 54149. The event starts at 9:00 am on Saturday July 18th with a ATV/UTV Ride, followed by lunch at approx. noon, & followed by the WATVA Meeting at approx 1:00 pm. For our members this will be a great opportunity to ask our state leaders of the WATVA questions on subjects that pertain to the sport of ATV's/UTV's. You can register online to attend this event or just show up for any part of the event. If possible if you are attending lunch we are asking our members to bring a dessert that day, our club will be sponsoring the rest of the lunch.
Large Fundraiser: Our large fundraiser will be on Saturday August 15th at Animal's Bear Trail Inn, Hwy T & 64 in Doty starting at Noon with Meat Raffles, Gun Raffles, 50/50 raffles, food, drinks & fun. Our Large Cash Raffle will be drawn at approx. 6:00 pm. If you would like to purchase a large cash raffle ticket for $100.00 please contact Secretary Jim Wisneski at 715-276-6612 or via email. We have 25 total cash prizes with $4000.00 being first prize. You have a 1 in 7 chance to win cash!!!
Lakewood Parade: Our club will be participating in the Lakewood Mardi Gras Parade on Sunday July 19th. Any members, relatives or friends are welcome to ride in the parade. Line-up time is at 11:00 am at the Lakewood Cemetary followed by the parade at noon. Our club will again sponsor beads to throw out at the parade. We also will invite members from the Red Arrow Club to join us that day.
Business Members: The following is a list of Business Members, please help support their Business: Lakewood Hardware, Timberline Restaruant, Lakewood Supervalu, Lakewood Powersports, Mulligans, Beach Club, Lakewood Shell, J&J Contracting, Animals Bear Trail Inn, Maple Heights Campground, Echo Vally Camground, Boulder Lake Campground, Tebo Lakewood Realty & Cellular, O'Neils Halfway Bar, 9 mile Resort, Firelite Bar & Grill, Waubee Lodge & Prospect Bar & Grill.
Next Membership Meeting: Our next membership meeting will be the day of our Fundraiser starting at 10:00 am on Saturday August 15th at Animals Bear Trail Inn.
NEWSLETTER #3, 2014Membership Meeting, Club Ride & Cookout: On Saturday September 27th we held our last membership meeting of 2014 at the Firelite Lounge in Lakewood. We had a total of 30 members in attendance along with 12 members of the Kettle Moraine ATV Club. After the meeting we went on a club ride leaving Lakewood at 11:00 am, we had a total of 35 ATV's/UTV's on the trip, we stopped at Animal's Bear Trail Inn in Doty for Lunch and returned to the Lakewood Trailhead at 3:30 pm. After the ride the club sponsored a cookout right at the trailhead and we served almost 50 people including our guests from the Kettle Moraine ATV Club. The weather was terrific, the ride was beautiful with hitting the peak of the fall colors and all rider's had a fantastic time riding in the Northwoods. A special thanks to the Kettle Moraine ATV Club for supplying the refreshments for the cookout. Pictures of the ride can be viewed on our website at: www.hiddenbeartrailatvclub.com.Membership: Our Club now has a total of 147 members, 59 five year members & 88 one year members. Just a reminder the club due's notice will be send out the first part of November.Riverview, Lakewood & Doty Report: The Board of Director's agreed to donate 2 outside grills to the Park & Rec Dept in Riverview for the generous use of their large table for our annual Fundraiser. In Lakewood, we recently opened up a short distance of County F to get from the Golf Course over to the Sandtrap Bar & Grill. Please visit our website for directions and instructions to get to the Sandtrap.Forest Service Report: We have received to Grants one from the Forest Service and one from the WI DNR to widen the ATV Trail west of Highway 32 in the Town of Riverview. The intial work will be started by the middle of October with the first stage of work, the second stage should be completed during the 2015 riding season. We are also in the intial stages of looking at an ATV /UTV Trail/Route from the Nicolet State Trail south of Anderson Lake over to the Town of Doty using Bonita Road and part of Forest Service Property. This will allow rider's from Gillett & Suring a quicker route to Doty and Langlade County.
Elections: We also held our yearly elections at our Membership Meeting on Saturday September 27th with the following Officer's re-elected: President Shawn Fidler, Vice-President Loren Nelson, Treasurer Tom Siudzinski, Secretary Jim Wisneski and 6 Board of Director's: Gene Dunsirn, Dave Pitterle, Mike Richling, Jim Schommer, Tim Stephani & Kathy Steinbach. The Board of Director's meet once a month from March – October at Animal's Bear Trail Inn at 5:00 pm on the 2nd Wednesday of the month.
Business Members: The following is a list of Business Members, please help support their Business: Lakewood Hardware, Timberline Restaurant, Lakewood Supervalu, Lakewood Power Sports, Mulligans, Beach Club, Lakewood Shell, Sand Trap Bar & Grill, Lizer Lawn Care, J&J contracting, Animals Bear Trail Inn, Maple Heights Campground, Echo Valley Campground, Boulder Lake Campground, Tebo Lakewood Realty & Cellular, O'Neils Halfway Bar, 9 Mile Resort, Firelite Bar & Grill, Pine Grove Bar & Grill, Waubee Lodge & Prospect Bar & Grill.
Last Newsletter: This will be our last Newsletter for 2014, we will continue to email or mail our member's important ATV information when necessary. You can also get more club info by visiting our website at: www.hiddenbeartrailatvclub.com. Prior to the 2015 ATV/UTV season we will mail each member a new 2015 Oconto County ATV Map and a club calendar of events. The Oconto County ATV/UTV trail system closes on Friday October 31st and weather permitting will open in 2015 on May 1st. The Board of Directors would like to thank all of our member's, without member's our club could not exist. Our membership continues to grow and the Board of Director's will continue to work on increasing ATV/UTV riding opportunities in Northern Oconto County and beyond. Thank you and have a safe remainder of the 2014 ATV/UTV season!!!
NEWSLETTER #2, 2014Membership Meeting: On Saturday, August 16th at 10:00 am we had our 2nd membership meeting of 2014 at Animal's Bear Trail Inn in Mountain WI. A total of 32 members were in attendance. The meeting was called to order by President Shawn Fidler. The following information was shared with our members at the meeting. The meeting was adjourned at 10:45 am.Membership: Our club now has a total membership of 143 members, 84 one year members & 59 five year members. We signed up 6 new members at our Fund Raiser that day. Thanks to all of our members, without you our club would not be possible.Website: Dave Pitterle is our webmaster and is doing a great job in updating our website as things change. If you want more club info please visit our website at: www.hiddenbeartrailatvclub.com. Dave has a great picture gallery of events that our club is involved with thru out the year.Lakewood Mardi Gras Parade: Our club participated again in the Lakewood Mardi Gras Parade on July 13th in Lakewood. We had a great turnout with over 25 ATV's & UTV's and a total of 38 people that participated. Our club give out Parade Beads again this year. A special thanks to the Red Arrow Snowmobile & ATV Club that joined us in the fun. Pictures of that day's event is on our website.Riverview Report: We are working with the Forest Service to widen the ATV trail from Hwy 32 at Thelen Road for the first 1/2 mile to the west, it is narrow and caution is needed when riding thru that area.
Doty Report: Our Club & Red Arrow put up new white strapping material along the 1/2 mile fence on County T, the old strapping material wore out, we purchased a stronger material hoping that this will last longer. Both clubs shared in the cost of the material and the work was done thru volunteers from both clubs. Pictures of the fence is on our website, along with the volunteer's. Our club sponsored a lunch for the volunteer's after the work was completed. Our club constructed and paid for a new ATV/UTV Trail thru Forest Service Propety that connects Shadow Lake Road and Blue Spruce Road in Doty. This allows rider's a short ride over to the Boulder Lake area from the Northern area of Doty & Riverview.
Dave you were correct about Ron Boeldt winning $200.00. I forgot to put that in the newsletter. I corrected it, can you put this copy on the web? I send him his check this morning. Thanks for catching that.
Lakewood Report: In July our club and the Red Arrow club put wood chips in the ditch lines along County F in Lakewood. Any place we use the County ditch lines, they want us to lay wood chips to decrease erosion and keep the dust down. Pictures from this work day is on our website. Our club has been working with Oconto County and have received approval to use the blacktop shoulder from Club House Lane (by the golf course) to the Sandtrap Bar on County F. We are in the process of ordering & paying for the signs, once the signs are received we will put them up and the route will be open. ATV/UTV travel along this area will be limited to both blacktop shoulder's with travel with the flow of traffic. The new ATV/UTV Route will dead end at the Sand Trap Bar, it only includes the 1/2 mile from Club House Lane to the Sandtrap Bar on the blacktop shoulder. It does not include the entire shoulder from Lakewood to the Sandtrap. ATV/UTV Rider's will have to use the Nicolet State Trail to North Road, to E Foresster Road to Lake John Road, to ditch line along County F to Club House Lane to get to the Sandtrap Bar. This is the first blacktop surface that Oconto County has allowed ATV/UTV travel, it is a pilot program to see how it works, please follow all signs including the 20 mph speed limit.
Forest Service Report: We have received a Forest Service Grant to widen the trail by Highway 32 & Thelen Road in Riverview. We are currently working on a project with the Forest Service to connect the Nicolet State Trail south of Anderson Lake over to Mountain Lakes Road in Doty using Bonita Road and Forest Service Property. This will allow ATV/UTV Riders a shorter route from Gillett, Suring & Chute Pond area to get to the Trail System that connects into Doty area, Boulder Lake Area and over to Langlade County. We are also working with the Forest Service, DNR, DOT, Oconto & Langlade Counties, local townships and 4 other ATV Clubs to build a recreational bridge over the Wolf River in Langlade that will connect Oconto & Langlade Counties ATV/UTV trail system. This will allow our rider's that can now get to Boulder Lake an opportunity to continue from Boulder Lake over to Langlade County and Forest County.
What your club has done since 2009: At our Fundraiser on Saturday, August 16th we had on each table a list of all things that our club has done since 2009. The following is a short list: Opened all roads in 3 townships and paid for all signs, opened a 50 mile ATV Loop off of the Nicolet State Trail that goes west into Langlade County, put up & paid for all signs on this project, paid for new trail between Blue Spruce & Shadow Lake Road, opened ditch lines along Highway F to have a closer route to Crooked Lake and to connect with the Northern Marinette County Trail System, club paid for and spread wood chips along County F & County T, obtained 3 different grants from the Forest Service to improve the riding surfaces on the 50 mile loop off of the Nicolet State Trail, obtained a grant from the Town of Riverview to improve the riding surface on Mountain Lakes Road, work with 4 other ATV Club to print a yearly Oconto County ATV Map, meet quarterly with the Forest Service to obtain additional riding opportunities thru the Forest Service, & club maintains all ATV/UTV trail/routes in Western Riverview, Doty & Lakewood.
Fund Raiser: Our only Fund Raiser was held on Saturday August 16th at Animal's Bear Trail Inn. Accept for the weather not cooperating all day, it was a great success. We went thru all 100 of our planned meat raffles. Conducted 4 – 50-50 raffles, conducted a gun raffle & served food & refreshments to all of our guests. Pictures from this year event will be on our website soon. Our Board of Directors would like to thank everyone who attended, purchased $100.00 cash raffle tickets prior to our event and people that purchased the gun raffle tickets. Also would like to thank all of our volunteers that helped that day. Proceeds from this event goes back into creating more ATV/UTV riding opportunities, maintaining our current riding opportunities and to insure safe riding opportunities for all riders in the townships of Riverview, Doty & Lakewood.
Cash Raffle Winners: We sold 150 – $100.00 tickets prior to the drawing at 6:00 pm on August 16th. All the tickets were sold by the end of June, again we want to thank everyone that purchased tickets. The raffle paid out 70% and 22 cash prize winner were drawn, which is a 1 in 7 chance to win. The following is the winner's of the cash raffle: $4000.00 – Mike Wisneski, $2000.00 – Halfway Bar Group, $900.00 – Jill Schmitzer, $450.00 – Tom Hintz, $300.00 – Bill, Rick & Jim, $200.00 Winners – Mariya Tuckwab, David Taylor, Bill Albers, Ron Boeldt, Sam Rydzik & JAR, $150.00 Winners – John Reformado, John Hutera, Marilyn Ver Bockel, Dave Hedman, Mindy & Mike, Nancy Sellnow, Steve Wilmet, Jim Diomar, Ron Jackson, Carmen Jensen & JAR.
Gun Raffle Winner – The winner of the Savage Bolt Action 270 Rifle with Scope was Maynard Gunnlaughson. A special thanks to the following businesses that donated a portion of the gun: Animal's Bear Trail Inn, Schoolhouse Bar, Beach Club Bar & Echo Valley Resort. We would like to thank everyone that purchased tickets for the rifle.
Next Membership Meeting, Club Ride & Club Cookout: Our last membership meeting for 2014 will be on Saturday September 27th at 10:00 am at the Firelite Lounge in Lakewood across from the ATV Trailhead in Lakewood. This will be our Annual Meeting & Elections. At approx. 11:00 am will be leaving the Trailhead and going on our 50 mile club ride, we will have lunch at Animal's Bear Trail Inn and then back to the Trailhead around 3:00 or 4:00 pm. After we return we will have our Club Cookout right at the Trailhead in Lakewood. All members are welcome even if you do not go on the ride, please feel free to come to the cookout that will start around 5:00 pm. Food & Refreshments will be served. We will also have another ATV Club on our ride and cookout, the Kettle Moraine ATV Club will join us that day. We are looking foward to a great and colorful ride.
Business Members: The following is a list of Business Members, please help support their business: Lakewood Hardware, Timberline Restaurant, Lakewood Super Valu, Lakewood Power Sports, Mulligans, Beach Club, Lakewood Shell, Sand Trap Bar & Grill, Lizer Lawn Care, J&J Contracting, Animal's Bear Trail Inn, Maple Heights Camground, Echo Valley Campground, Boulder Lake Campground, Tebo Lakewood Realty &Cellular, O'Neils Halfway Bar, 9 Mile Resort, Firelite Bar & Grill & Pine Grove Bar & Grill.
MAY 2014 NEWSLETTERMembership Meeting & Club Ride: Our first 2014 membership meeting was held at the Halfway Bar on Saturday May 17th. We had a total of 27 members and guest attend the meeting. After the meeting we had a club ride with 17 total ATV & UTV's and a total of 23 people on the ride. We made over 70 miles with a lunch break in Crooked Lake at Diamond Dave's. We left the Halfway Bar at 11:00 am and returned at around 4:00 pm. A special thanks to some of the Red Arrow Snowmobile and ATV Club for joining us on the ride.
Membership Report: As of 5/17/2014 we have a total membership of 132 paying members and 225 total including spouse's and children.
Website Report: Please visit our website at: www.hiddenbeartrailatvclub.com for up-to-date club info. Pictures from our club ride and our club work day (putting up a 1/2 mile fence) are on the website.
Lakewood, Riverview & Doty Report: The Trailhead in Lakewood now allows overnight parking. Anyone that is going on an overnight trip can now leave their vehicle at the Trailhead parking area in Lakewood. All 3 Townships now allow ATV/UTV travel on Town Roads, please insure you follow all speed limit signs and all other rules. County Roads F & T are not open for ATV/UTV travel except in marked ditchlines. County W is not open for any ATV/UTV travel.
Forest Service Report: Currently we are working to cut a 1/2 mile of new trail on Forest Service (FS) property to connect Shadow Lake Road in Doty to Blue Spruce Road. This will cut the distance down for riders in Doty to get to the Nicolet Trail and to the trail system to Langlade County. Our other project is to open a new route from Lakewood over to Sullivan Springs Road including getting riders from the Golf Course Area quicker access to the trail system. This project will benefit riders from Lakewood & Townsend a shorter distance to get to Crooked Lake. Our club is also working with other clubs, Forest Service, DNR, County Government and local Government to install a new Recreational bridge in Langlade to cross the Wolf River. This will connect Oconto County and Langlade County ATV/UTV trail systems.
Mountain, Lakewood-Townsend Ambulance Service: At our last Board of Director's meeting the Board voted to donate $250.00 to both Ambulance Services in our area. The donation will go toward improving and maintaining their recreational ambulance equipment.
O'Brien's Fence: On Wednesday May 7th, eight members of our club and 6 members of the Red Arrow Snowmobile and ATV Club worked on replacing the strapping material along Highway T in Doty on the O'Briens property. This is the fence that we installed 3 years ago and the strapping material wore out. Both clubs purchased new, heavier strapping with the hope of it lasting longer. You can visit our website to view our clubs "Hard at Work". The project was finished in just over 3 hours. The Red Arrow Club sponsored lunch after the work was completed.
Wood Chips: We are in need of Wood Chips to spread along Highway F ditchlines in Lakewood. If anyone has any info where we can get wood chips please contact Jim.
Brat Fry: Our club is holding a Brat Fry on Saturday July 5th, 2014 at the Lakewood Super Valu from 10:30 to 2:00 pm. We are in need of Volunteers to help that day. We will not be having another membership meeting until August, if you can help please call Jim at 715-276-6612 or email Jim at hiddenbeartrailatvclub@centurytel.net.
Mardi Gras Parade: Our club will be particating in the Lakewood Mardi Gras Parade on Sunday July 13th starting at Noon at the Lakewood Cemetary. We need ATV/UTV Riders, last year we only had 3 rider's in the parade. Our club will supply the Mardi Gras Beads to be given out, just show up!!!
ATV Safety Certification Course: Our Club along with the Red Arrow Club will be sponsing a DNR ATV Safety Certification Course on July 1st & July 2nd from 5:30 pm – 9:00 pm both nights at the Riverview Town Hall. Anyone born after January 1st, 1988 and at least 12 years old must have ATV certification to operate on public areas. You can apply for the class by calling Jim Wisneski at 715-276-6612 or you can enroll on line by going to www.dnr.wi.gov, click on education, safety classes, ATV class and then Oconto County. Class size will be limited to 30 participants. If you or family are members of the Hidden Bear Trail ATV Club or Red Arrow Club the $10.00 fee will be waived.
Large Raffle Update: Our $100.00 raffle tickets are going very fast this year. We are only selling $150.00 tickets, with first prize being $4000.00 this year with 21 additional cash prizes. Based on the sale of tickets already I believe all tickets will be gone by the end of this month. If you are interested in purchasing a ticket please contact Jim or purchase tickets at Animal's Bear Trail Inn or the Halfway Bar. Drawing for this raffle will be on Saturday August 16th at our yearly Fundraiser. You need not be present to win.
Fundraiser – August 16: Our Annual Fundraiser will be at Animals Bear Trail Inn on Saturday August 16th, 2014 from Noon – 6:00 pm. Along with our large raffle drawing at 6:00 pm, we will have food, meat raffles, gun raffles, 50/50 raffles and refreshments. Please tell you friends and relatives, we are hoping for a big crowd again this year.
FUNDRAISER HELP: Our next membership meeting will be the day of our Fundraiser and we need to get members to sign up to help. We need raffle seller's & food servers. If you can help any part of the day please contact Jim at 715-276-6612 or email at: hiddenbeartrailatvclub@centurytel.net.
Grill (thanks Rocky for opening up early). We had 18 members in attendance.
where it is not legal to ride.
the Oconto County ATV Trail System with the Langlade County ATV System. Our club is involved because if this bridge becomes a reality the plan is to connect our trail system at Saul Springs Road in the Town of Doty with this new Trail System over to Langlade and into Langlade County. Our club is currently working with the FS to get the needed trails from Saul Springs Road over to Langlade.
Years Membership Meetings: The Board of Director's have decided to change our Monthly Membership Meetings from May thru October to having 3 membership meeting's each year. Our first Membership Meeting in 2014 will be in May that will include a club ride, our second meeting will be our Annual Fundraiser in August and our 3rd meeting will be in September or October that will also include a club ride. The Board of Director's will continue to meet monthly from April thru October and any information that needs to be disseminated to our members will be via email or US Mail. We will only publish 3 newsletters a year but again if there is any pertinent information that our members need it will be sent out via email or US Mail. All information will be posted on our website also at www.hiddenbeartrailatvclub.com.
Oconto County ATV/UTV Map: Our club and 4 other local ATV Clubs are currently working on next year's Oconto County ATV/UTV map. The 2014 map should be ready for distribution around April 2014. If any member's has any comments on the 2013 map please let Jim know. We are currently in the planning stages and changes to the map can still be made.
Tim Stephani, Jim Schommer & Gene Dunsirn.
right at the trailhead in Lakewood and had approx. 30 members in attendance.
The day ended around 7:00 pm with everyone having a great time.
should be completed sometime next spring.
County Trail System to the Langlade Trail System.
& Grill on County W in the Town of Doty.
came thru with flying color's. Thanks again, we could not do this without you.
Chrissy (The Schoolhouse Bar) for donating the 308 Caliber Rifle with Scope.
were emailed to all member's and a list of winner's will be in the Beacon.
Report: All Town Roads are now open in the Town of Doty.
pm at the Doty Fire Department on County T.
install more 10mph signs on Forrester Road which we did.
Virginia Nelson for decorating the trailer in the parade.
trails, only on road routes.
purchase a ticket contact Jim at 715-276-6612.
fundraiser) at 10:00 am at Animal's Bear Trail Inn.
with a total membership of 240 members.
January 1, 1998 must take this course to ride an ATV or UTV in Wisconsin.
children or grandchildren of our club or the Red Arrow Club.
visit Don in Lakewood they patrol the trails in our area.
a ticket please email me at hiddenbeartrailatvclub@centurytel.net.
The drawing will be Saturday August 17th at 6:00 pm at Animal's Bear Trail Inn.
special meeting to discuss a possible ATV Ordinance to open most town roads in the Town of Doty. The final vote will be at the May 14th Town Board Meeting.
Riverview. All Town Roads where posted are now open for ATV/UTV Travel year round. Please abide by all speed limits and please limit use of the town roads to get to the trails where possible. Our biggest problem/complaint from the Town Boards is the speeding of the ATV/UTV's and the same people riding up and down the same road all day long. Please remember all of our members can help control the action of others.
website at www.hiddenbeartrailatvclub.com if anyone would like to read the new bylaws.
Blue Spruce Roads. The private land owner has completed the necessary work at Boulder Lake and if the Town Board opens all the Town Roads, the only area left is between Highway T and Blue Spruce Road to make the connector complete. This will allow all the riders at the 2 campgrounds and all the property owners in that area an opportunity to get to the Nicolet State Trail. We now have a new FS representative we are working with and have been in contact with him, he just started on Monday May 6th. The other project is from the Nicolet State Trail (just north of Mulligan's) over to Sullivan Springs Road and over to the backside of the Golf Course. If this is open it will allow the riders from Lakewood, Townsend, and Wheeler Lake Area a quicker ride over to Crooked Lake. We will be having our quarterly meeting with the FS in June and hopefully we will have more information to report on these 2 projects.
meeting was held in Wausau WI. 7 members from our club attended the meeting. Friday's session was focused on Tourism and how to promote our sport and the economic impact the sport has on the local economy. On Saturday numerous sessions were held including grant applications, legislative issue, a trail system East & West across the entire State and other informational sessions. The legislative information included giving local jurisdiction to local townships to determine if they want to eliminate the 10 mph speed limit on Road Routes in residential areas and the other is to change the law to require ATV/UTV Riders between the ages of 12 – 15 to be accompanied by a parent or a parent approved adult on road routes. Currently the law allows riders between ages of 12 – 15 with a DNR safety certificate to ride on road routes without an adult. WATVA supports both of these bills. At Saturday's Banquet our member Kathy Steinbach was honored as the top trail patrol ambassador in the state. Kathy performed in excess of 400 hours last year in patrolling our trails in our area. Thanks Kathy for being involved!!!
sign up email jbrantmeier@athernet.net or call 620-540-5948. The cost of the course is $10.00 and if you are a member of the club or have children or grandchildren that want to take the course, our club will pay the $10.00 registration fee.
Membership Meeting: Our last 2012 membership meeting was held on Saturday October 13 at 10:00 am at Pine Grove Bar on Hwy W.
We had 16 members in attendance. The meeting adjourned at 11:00 am.
Annual Report: A copy of the annual report was handed out and discussed with the members in attendance. Anyone that is interested in getting a copy of the annual report can contact me via email and I will email you a copy.
members and a grand total including family members of 221 members.
this will only make it more difficult for us to get areas opened.
Riverview Report: The Board of Director's have decided to hold a Fun Day in April 2013 at the Riverview Town Hall to raise funds to pay for the remainder of ATV signs that will need to be installed on Riverview Town Roads prior to May 1st 2013. More information will follow regarding this.
wood chip being put down on one end. This should help with any erosion and make it safer for ATV\UTV user's.
clubs met with the FS on September 10th at our quarterly meeting. We discussed our project from Blue Spruce Road over to Boulder Lake Campgrounds. We have now received a $5200.00 grant to repair part of that trail from the FS, based on the permits that will be needed due to a trout stream that passes thru that area and other issues, it looks like that section of trail will not open until sometime in 2013 at the earliest. The project from Mulligan's over to Sullivan Springs Road has also met with some issues regarding gates and some mis-communications regarding the retirement of the FS rep we were working with and the new rep. We had requested the area from Mulligan's over to Sullivan Springs Road and over to the Golf Course, and somehow the FS only submitted a request from Mulligan's over to Old 32. Hopefully this can be worked out.
membership meeting on October 13th. The following are your 2012/2013 Officers: President, Shawn Fidler, Vice President, Loren Nelson, Treasurer Mike Richling, Secretary, Jim Wisneski. Board of Directors: Tim Stephani, Gene Dunsirn, Dave Pitterle, & Kath Steinbach.
Membership Dues: We will be mailing our yearly membership dues out in early November, please mail them back, we need you as a member.
Last Newsletter of 2012: This will be our last official newsletter of 2012, we will continue to communicate with our members thru out the year via email and will continue to update our website at: www.hiddenbeartrailatvclub.com. Have a great remainder of the 2012 ATV/UTV riding season. Remember the ATV/UTV trails close October 31st each year in Oconto County. The Town Roads in Lakewood & Townsend are open year round but the Nicolet State Trail closes October 31st.
our website at www.hiddenbeartrailatvclub.com for pictures of the days event.
of 125 members, we gained 7 new members at our Fundraiser on August 18th and another member at our Membership meeting on Saturday September 8th.
here in a few weeks.
Forest Service and a private land owner.
over to Sullivan Springs Road. The Boulder Lake Project once the comment period is closed should be close to opening depending on any negative comments or reasons. The other project may have some delay due to grant money that may be needed to install gates where this new trail crosses the cross country ski area. We are meeting with the Forest Service on Monday September 10th and hope to have some more definitive information after that meeting.
that attend will be driving an ATV for the first time.
5:00 pm. More information can be obtained on their website at: www.kmatva.com.
will be held at Pine Grove Bar on County Highway W in Doty starting at 10:00 am on Saturday October 13th.
had 30 members in attendance.
roads opened in Riverview are posted with green ATV Signs.
this fall and if approved work will begin next spring.
members that are taking care of the clothing.
Schoolhouse Bar for donating a 20 gauge double barrel shotgun to raffle off.
Counties and you need all 3 ATV Maps to navigate the trip.
& Grill, Tebo Lakewood Realty & Cellular, & Prospect Lodge.
Remember to thank them when you stop at their businesses.
email out to our members.
asset to the trail patrol program and our club.
beads at the annual Mardi Gras Parade on Sunday July 15th at noon in Lakewood.
We will have more info and pictures on our website at: www.hiddenbeartrailatvclub.com.
up in Lakewood for ATV travel and at this time we have not had any problems.
Trails club and our club have agreed to share the cost of the signs and posts.
FS property being opened. Thanks Tim for spearheading this.
and are now re-certified as Trail Patrol members.
The June ATV Membership Meeting was held on Saturday June 9th, 2012 at 10:00 am at Mulligan's Sports Bar, Lakewood WI.
Membership Report: We have a total of 113 paying members and a total of 205 family members.
Update: We continue to update our website on a weekly basis. We have a link to Oconto County on our website where you can find the up-to-date Oconto County ATV map. We also have all the new info in regards to the new UTV bill & the new license plate information. Please visit our website at ww.hiddenbeartrailatvclub.com.
Parade: Our club participated in the Annual Mountain Memorial Day Parade on Sunday, May 27th. We had our "Hidden Bear" Float in the parade along with 12 ATV's and UTV's. We handed out over 40 pounds of candy to children along the parade route. It was a beautiful day and fun was had by all.
Report: All the Lakewood Town Roads were officially opened for ATV/UTV travel effective May 1st, 2012. We are currently working with Pat Scanlan the Oconto County Highway Commissioner to open portions of Highway F.
opened but must look at all alternatives before we present it to Oconto County.
We will keep the membership informed on the progress of this project.
Report: On May 29th our club attended a Planning Commission Meeting in the Town of Riverview. The Planning Commission voted to hold a public forum tentatively set for June 23rd, 2012 at the Riverview Town Hall at 10:00 am to open the remaining roads in the Town of Riverview for ATV/UTV travel. Currently there are 64 roads in the Town of Riverview open for ATV\UTV travel. We will need all member's including business members to attend the forum. The purpose of the forum is to assist the Planning Commission on making their decision in regards to opening the remainder of the roads in the Town of Riverview for ATV/UTV travel. The information regarding this meeting will be advertised in the local newspapers. I will send out a separate email when we get closer to the date to remind people of this important meeting. The Planning Commission will use the information gathered at this forum and will decide to either approve/disapprove the use of all town roads for ATV/UTV travel. If the Planning Commission approves it will then be forwarded to the members of the Riverview Town Board for a vote.
information regarding all of these projects.
Raffle Update – We still have tickets that are not sold.
715-276-6612 or email at hiddenbeartrailatvclub@centurytel.net.
Fundraiser on August 18th, 2012.
& Tebo Lakewood Realty & Cellular.
WATVA website for additional information regarding the ceremony at www.watva.org.
State Trail. We will continue to update you with info regarding Highway F.
signs were purchased by our club.
resident's and town officials to reach our goal.
waiting for the FS to meet with us to discuss this again.
at 11:30 am on County W west of Mountain.
secretary Jim Wisneski at 715-276-6612 or email at hiddenbeartrailatvclub@centurytel.net.
plate please visit the WATVA website at: www.watva.org.
to support us all year long.
Mulligan's on Highway 32 in Lakewood hope you can attend.
The October membership meeting was held at Firelite Lounge in Lakewood, with 16 members and 1 guest present. A club ride followed the meeting on our new route that was opened September 15th.
Wisconsin ATV Association attended our meeting and discussed the UTV permanent bill which is currently being worked on in Madison.
We expect that bill to be passed prior to July 2012 when the temporary bill expires. Along with the permanent UTV Bill, the same bill will include a self supplied license plate on the back of each ATV/UTV. More info on the license plate will follow if passed.
require children from the age of 12 to 16 to have an approved adult with them when they ride on any ATV Road Routes.
Currently children from age 12 – 16 can ride on any road routes with an adult. Terry discussed a meeting that was held with the Forest Service in regards to allowing UTV's larger than 50 inches wide to travel on designated Forest Service Roads.
from the Nicolet Trail to Highway 64 & T and then North to Townsend to again connect with the Nicolet Trail at the Valley Inn.
working with the Red Arrow Club and Crooked Lake Club is a new route from Lakewood over to Crooked Lake. This will be a new route mostly thru FS property and will decrease the distance from Lakewood area over to Crooked Lake and will be a trueATV Route.
or email me at hiddenbeartrailatvclub@centurytel.net.
& Lakewood close the same date.
Resort, Halfway Bar, Mulligans, Maple Heights Campground & Lizer Lawn Care in Green Bay.
in Riverview that we are working on.
updated with new information regarding trail info, road routes etc. Please visit our website at: www.hiddenbeartrailatvclub.com.
Nicolet Trail 1.3 miles North of Tar Dam Road.
the fund raiser again and for members that purchased a $100.00 raffle ticket.
contact me via email and I will email you a copy.
Mulligans, Maple Heights Campground, & Lizer Lawn Care in Green Bay.
on Saturday October 8th at 10:00 am.
after the meeting and if opened going on our new route.
The August membership meeting and Fund Raiser was held at Animal's Bear Trail Inn on August 20th with a total of 25 members in attendance. We now have a total of 102 members.
DOTY UPDATE: The culvert across Highway 64 & T has been completed with the cost of the gravel shared between our club and the Red Arrow Snowmobile & ATV Club. The culvert & the work was donated by Gene Fredrickson Trucking. The Gate on the O'Briens property is now completed.
LAKEWOOD UPDATE: One additional road in Lakewood has been opened, it is Boat Landing 11 Road that will connect into Marinette County from the Town of Lakewood. Please check our website at www.hiddenbeartrailatvclub.com for all town roads that are open in Lakewood, Riverview & Doty.
FOREST SERVICE UPDATE: We are inching closer to opening the new route from the Nicolet Trail to T & 64 in Doty. Our contractor has completed the crossing at Hwy 32 and Thelen road along with the filling of low areas along the 3.7 mile of Forest Service Property and the mowing of each side of the trail. Members of the club were out 3 days last week to brush the route. We are now waiting for the Forest Service sign design and to order the signs needed. Once the signs are received the Forest Service will contact our club to assist with putting up the signs. This route could be ready in a few weeks and our club will then sign all the town roads from the Nicolet Trail to Highway T & 64. Once this is opened ATVer's will be able to make a 45 mile loop from the Nicolet Trail to Townsend via Highway 64 & T.
FUND RAISER SUPER VALU: Don Jackson, Loren Nelson, Jim Schommer & Dave Pitterle made $164.00 for the club at the Super Valu Brat Stand on Friday July 29th. Thanks guys!!!
ELECTIONS: Elections were held at our Membership Meeting on August 20th. The following is the result of the elections: President Shawn Fidler, Vice-President Roger Steinbach, Treasurer Mike Richling, Secretary Jim Wisneski, Board of Directors: Kathy Steinbach, Dave Pitterle, Loren Nelson, Tim Stephani, Gene Dunsirn. All terms are for one year.
LARGE RAFFLE WINNERS: The following were the winners from our large raffle event, 100 tickets were sold for $100.00 a ticket: $3000.00 Gary Dudley, $1200.00 Greg Zell, $800 The Pines, $400.00 Karen Hedman, $200.00 Kay Zimmer, $200.00 Stacie Fidler, $200.00 Dave Pitterle, $200.00 Amy Bruette, $200.00 Rick Smith, & $200.00 John Brantmeier. Thanks to all members who bought a ticket or sold tickets.
FUNDRAISER: Our Fund Raiser on August 20th was a great success. We conducted 32 meat raffles, 3 -50/50 raffles, and 2 separate raffles for a deer display and an ice auger. A report of the profits for our club will be announced at our next membership meeting. Special thanks to the following members who helped with the raffles, food and other duties: Jim Schommer, Dave & Connie Hedman, Pat Wisneski, Mariyln Treichel, Chet & Amy Bruette, Brita Kolb/Johnson, Ann Hogan, Kris & Mark Allen, Tim Stephani, Don Jackson, Dave Pitterle, Gene Dunsirn, Loren Nelson, Vince & Barb LeGreve, Gary & Char Veeser, Justin Wisneski, Animal & Amy, Lisa & Digger. All proceeds will go to maintenance, signs and working on opening new routes & trails. Thanks again and I hope I did not forget anyone that helped.
DONATIONS: The following businesses donated prizes for our raffle, please help support them: Lakewood Subway, Pour Haus, Firelite Lounge, Lakewood Hardware, Schoolhouse Bar, Scoopers, Green Lake Tap, J & J contracting, Fidler Trucking, Mountain BP, Echo Valley, Ferrell Gas, Waters Edge, 9 mile resort & Mountain Hardware. A special thanks to Mike Riching (Animal's Bar) for donating the Ice Auger, a Super Bowl Print and a Brewer Print.
The July membership meeting was held at the Halfway Bar on Saturday July 9th with a total of 13 members in attendance. We have gained 2 new business members since our last meeting. Please welcome Lakewood Super Valu and Maple Heights Campground.
DOTY UPDATE: We have received the DOT approved permit to install a culvert on the North side of Highway 64 to make the crossing from the trail across Highway 64 less of an incline. Also we will be putting up the gate on the new fence we installed on the O'Briens property.
LAKEWOOD UPDATE: Loren Nelson reported that he received a phone call from the Lakewood Town Clerk in regards to ATV's riding town County Highway F. Highway F is not open for ATV traffic.
RIVERVIEW UPDATE: We will be picking up a new town ordinance from Riverview with all the town roads that are open for ATV travel. We will then publish all Town Roads in Lakewood, Riverview & Doty that are open for ATV travel on our website.
FOREST SERVICE UPDATE: The Forest Service has cut the trees at our crossing at Highway 32 & Thelen Road. We are now waiting for the Engineer Company to finish the design for the crossing. Once the crossing is completed and the required fill and grader work is completed the route from the Nicolet Trail to Highway 64 & T (southern route) will be opened and will connect to the route we now have open from Townsend to 64 & T.
LAKEWOOD PARADE: Our club will have a float in the Lakewood Parade on Sunday July17th. Anyone that would like to drive their ATV in the parade should meet at the Lakewood Cemetery by 11:30. The club will supply beads & candy to distribute.
FUND RAISERS: Our large fundraiser will be on Saturday August 20th from noon to 6:00 pm. If anyone is interested in helping at the fundraiser please contact me, we need food servers and raffle sellers. Also we still have a few $100.00 raffle tickets, if anyone is interested please contact me, First Prize is $3000.00, you have a 1 in 10 chance to win. We also need a few helpers on Friday July 29th to help at Lakewood Super Valu to sell and cook brats & hamburgers from 10:00 to 2:00. Contact me if you can help.
The June membership meeting was held at Mulligan's on Saturday June 11th with a total of 15 members in attendance. After the meeting we had 10 members go on a club ride to Crooked Lake, the weather was chilly but we had a nice ride with no dust. Treasurer's report was a balance of $2504.00 and membership report is 191 total members.
DAIRYLAND INSURANCE: Please visit our website to get info regarding reasonable recreational vehicle insurance and by calling and getting a quote our club will be reimbursed $10.00 for each quote.
DOTY UPDATE: Trail is now opened from Townsend to Animal's Bar at T & 64, please see website for directions.
LAKEWOOD UPDATE: No new road have been requested to be opened in Lakewood, we will be posting all open roads in Doty, Riverview & Lakewood on our website soon.
RIVERVIEW UPDATE: Our club attended a Lake Association Meeting at Sunrise Lake to discuss the new roads that are open along with rules and ATV regulations.
FOREST SERVICE UPDATE: We have received the $23,000 Grant from the Forest Service to begin work on the new route from the Nicolet Trail to T & 64. This will complete about a 45 mile route from the Nicolet Trail north of the Lakewood Zoo thru Riverview, Doty, Wolf River and back into Townsend. We are hopeful that this will be open sometime this year. Updated info will be reported at our next meeting.
ELECTIONS: We will have elections on August 20th, 2011 at our annual meeting, President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer & all 5 Board members positions are up for elections. If you are interested in running for one of these positions please contact Dave Pitterle, or Jim Wisneski.
FUND RAISER: Our only fund raiser this year will be on Saturday August 20th, we will need a lot of help with food serving, raffle sales & raffle cashiers. Please contact Jim if interested in helping. Also we still have $100.00 raffle tickets for Sale if anyone is interested.
Treasurer's report, the club has a balance as of 5-14-2011 of $3031.82. Membership report: we have a total of 182 members.
Please check out the website, it has information and directions regarding the new route we opened last weekend from T & 64 to Townsend. Also info on ATV's, the trial program on UTV's, our fundraiser in August and current pictures of the ½ mile fence our club and Red Arrow Club constructed on our new route to Townsend.
WATVA ANNUAL MEETING IN WAUSAU 15, 16 & 17: The meeting was attended by President Shawn Fidler & Secretary Jim Wisneski. Two highlights were the Legislation that will be presented to the State was to make the temporary UTV program a permanent program starting July 1st, 2012 and introducing a "Youth on Road Routes\Youth Safety Bill", this bill would require anyone from the age of 12 – 15 with an ATV Certificate to drive on Road Routes with their parents, or an adult approved by the individual's parent (i.e. grandparents, uncle, friends, etc.).
DAIRYLAND INSURANCE PROMO: This also came out of the Annual Meeting. The Dairyland Insurance Company will reimburse ATV clubs $10.00 per insurance quote. The insurance will not be required to purchase just get a quote and our club will be reimbursed $10.00. The instructions to get a quote will be posted on our website at www.hiddenbeartrailatvclub.com.
FOREST SERVICE UPDATE: We are still waiting to start the project from the Nicolet Trail to T & 64 via Mountain Lakes Roads to the South & West. This project will begin as soon as we receive the $23,000.00 grant from the Forest Service. The other project that we started with Red Arrow & Crooked Trail ATV Club is a trail from the Nicolet Trail just North of Mulligans to Crooked Lake. We are hoping that this is completed next year in 2012. This will make it easier to get from Lakewood/Wheeler Lake area to Crooked Lake.
RIVERVIEW, DOTY & LAKEWOOD UPDATE: Riverview: This winter the Town of Riverview approved roads in the Sunrise Lake Area. Lakewood approved roads in the Wheeler Lake Area. Doty we got 2 town roads open and constructed a ½ mile fence to complete the route from T & 64 to Townsend. Hopefully the South route from T & 64 will be open sometime this summer. We will be posting all the Town Roads that are open in Lakewood, Doty & Riverview on our website at: www.hiddenbeartrailatvclub.com.
PARADE: We again will have a float in the Mountain Memorial Day Parade, on Sunday May 28th, 2011. The parade starts at noon. All members are welcome to ride in the parade. Please wear protective equipment including a helmet if you plan on riding in the parade. Please be at the old Mountain School house on County Road W by 11:30 am to line up. The club will furnish candy to hand out.
FUNDRAISER: Saturday August 20th, 2011 at Animal's Bear Trail Inn starting at Noon. We will be drawing our big raffle starting at 4:00 pm. We still have ticket available for our large raffle, if you are interested in purchasing a raffle ticket please contact Secretary Jim at 715-276-6612 or email at: hiddenbeartrailatvclub@centurytel.net. If you need more info regarding the raffle please check our website at: www.hiddenbeartrailatvclub.com.
NEXT MEMBERSHIP MEETING: Our next membership meeting will be held at Mulligan's on Hwy 32 South of Lakewood on Saturday June 11th at 10:00 am. A club ride following the meeting will be to Crooked Lake, which will be about an hour ride or so one way. We will leave from Mulligans, anyone that needs to unload their ATV can do so at the trailhead parking lot in Lakewood and drive south to meet at Mulligan's.