
On the trail with Wisconsin's ATV safety volunteers
Clip: Season 11 Episode 8 | 2m 58sVideo has Closed Captions
Angela explores Wisconsin's ATV trail systems and how volunteers help to maintain them.
Angela visits Oconto County to learn how volunteers preserve Wisconsin's ATV trails. There are 61,000 miles of routes connecting the state's trail systems, serving nearly 500,000 registered vehicles. Wisconsin ATV - UTV Association President Randy Harden and local club leader Jim Wisneski show how volunteers maintain trails and promote safety.
Wisconsin Life is a local public television program presented by PBS Wisconsin
Funding for Wisconsin Life is provided by the Wooden Nickel Fund, Mary and Lowell Peterson, A.C.V. and Mary Elston Family, Obrodovich Family Foundation, Stanley J. Cottrill Fund, Alliant Energy, UW...

On the trail with Wisconsin's ATV safety volunteers
Clip: Season 11 Episode 8 | 2m 58sVideo has Closed Captions
Angela visits Oconto County to learn how volunteers preserve Wisconsin's ATV trails. There are 61,000 miles of routes connecting the state's trail systems, serving nearly 500,000 registered vehicles. Wisconsin ATV - UTV Association President Randy Harden and local club leader Jim Wisneski show how volunteers maintain trails and promote safety.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship[shimmery music] - I'm in Oconto County, cruising along the local ATV and UTV trails, learning about what it takes to keep these trails safe for everyone.
[twangy, woodsy music] [vehicle engine roaring] My first stop was to meet up with Randy Harden, president of Wisconsin ATV / UTV Association, to chat about their work supporting this growing sport.
- Randy Harden: Wisconsin ATV / UTV Association is made up of individual families, businesses, clubs, a lot of clubs, about 120-plus local chapters around the state, and advocates that subscribe to our, you know, "Let's ride fun, let's ride safe, Let's do things the right way."
And that's really what we're all about.
- And it's important.
- It is.
It's a big sport.
There's close to half a million machines now registered both private and public.
Then we have another 20... 25,000, what we call non-residents, where they come in and buy a pass for five days or a year.
There's over 61,000 miles of legal road routes around Wisconsin that hook up to our trail systems.
And that's what makes up a network.
[vehicle engine roaring] - That's impressive.
Can you tell us about the significance of the work the association does?
- Yeah, well, one of our main jobs is to help clubs, our local clubs.
That's where everything happens on the ground.
We provide tools, I guess tools for their toolbox and our trail ambassador program.
We've got literally hundreds of people that we've trained.
They go through a certification.
Our ambassadors are safety instructors out on the trail, but in a lighthearted way.
99% of the people are just happy to say, "Hey, I didn't know."
Or "Thanks for watching," so it's really a rewarding job.
- Wonderful, I'm glad to hear that, it's, in general, received pretty positively by people.
- Randy: Our state organization is functioning well, but it wouldn't work without our clubs.
- Angela: People like Jim, president of a local club here in Oconto County.
So, Jim, tell us about your club.
- Jim Wisneski: We have about 200, I like to say, "paying members," and probably if you count all the spouses and the children, there's probably around 300, 400 people in our local club here.
- Angela: What should we expect today on our ride?
- The first part of the ride is gonna be pretty smooth 'cause we're gonna be on Nicolet State Trail.
We have a lot of trails off of the Nicolet Trail that we're gonna be going on today.
A lot of nice scenery, a lot of nice trees, wildlife, deer, bear.
We'll see just about anything today.
We don't know.
- Angela: You said we're gonna see bears, maybe?
- Possibly, I'm not gonna guarantee it, but there is bear-- - Okay.
- Up in this area.
- Okay, that's good to know.
Thank you, Jim.
- Sure.
- Angela: It was time to buckle our seat belts and hit the trails.
[vehicle engine roaring] [upbeat music] No bear sightings this time, but a safe trip, all thanks to the efforts of local clubs and the Wisconsin ATV / UTV Association.
[vehicle engine roaring]
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Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipWisconsin Life is a local public television program presented by PBS Wisconsin
Funding for Wisconsin Life is provided by the Wooden Nickel Fund, Mary and Lowell Peterson, A.C.V. and Mary Elston Family, Obrodovich Family Foundation, Stanley J. Cottrill Fund, Alliant Energy, UW...