From the Executive Board of ATVAM

Can it be the middle of summer already? Better get out and enjoy it now. Time is flying by this year and hopefully all of us have had a few good rides and enjoyed our machines a little bit in the summer mode. We just wanted to recap a few items on the front-page for now, with more to follow later.

Our membership continues to increase, and that has been outstanding. Where we celebrated our 10,000th member in May, we now have about 10,300 members and businesses partners in ATVAM for July. What ever you are doing to bring in new members and keep our other members renewed, keep up the good work. Increased membership means we are attracting the right kind of people, and that helps us get trails on the ground, helps with education efforts, and supports our enforcement efforts to keep it all together. That increase in membership is a great accomplishment, so keep up the good work members.

Our ATV Youth Safety Program is also going great. As of the end of June, we have over 400 qualified instructors certified by the DNR and those instructors have certified over 1,800 students since the July 1st start date in 2003. That is a lot of good people willing to contribute their time and efforts into kids 12-15 ensuring they know the rules, regulations and safety requirements to ride ATV’s safely in Minnesota. We are very proud of this great accomplishment and will continue to keep moving forward with this program. Way to go Instructors!

Fox News (Channel 9 Metro Area) is just completing a segment on ATV’s, to air sometime in July. We are not sure how it will turn out just yet but they did a number of interviews over the last couple of weeks including one with Dave Hendricks at Buck Hill in Burnsville while he was doing an ASI ATV RidersCourse. They wanted to see the DNR Youth Safety Course as well, but scheduling between the two did not make their deadline. Hopefully they contacted other instructors for the segment as well.

If you are an ATV Club President or Regional Director, we hope you turned in your requested surveys sent out in May. The ATVAM Executive Board will be requesting a meeting with the Regional Directors in August and your input is very important for some of the items we’d like to address. There’s still time, there’s always time for input to make our organization a better place to enjoy our sport.

The finishing touches are going into the website so we can begin to purchase ATVAM clothes and accessories over the web. We’ve only put out a few to test the concept so we’ll put out a little alert on the page when it’s up and running. If you don’t see it but want it, email Cheryle Young and we’ll see if we can get it.

Lots of things are always happening in the ATV clubs of ATVAM, if you have an event you’d like other ATVAM members and clubs to know about let’s get it out on the web. Parades, Mud Runs, ATV Pulls, Day Rides and Fund Raisers, they are all worth a calendar entry, maybe even an annual event someday.

We know you’ve seen it before. . . .

Trails: Check the DNR website for up-to-date information regarding trails, and most importantly, keep an eye on the weather.

Education: Parents, make sure your kids get a little ATV training over the summer. Check the list of ATV Classes being offered.

A little education can go a long way to enjoying the summer months.

Enforcement: Make sure your ATV’s are registered

ACTION ALERT: Mark the homepage as a favorite in your browser and check it daily.

ATVAM continues to be a very pro-active organization for motorized recreation. Without a doubt, our trails are valuable, and anti-access groups would like nothing better than to have them taken away, (they are working on it every day). Continue to make 2004 a great year by making a difference. You do more by riding correctly in the eyes of a non-rider then any laws will.

Remember: Show a non-rider a ride, a rider a club, a club to ATVAM.

ATVAM Executive Board