DNR struggling to keep up with ORV damage to off-trail ecosystems

UPPER MICHIGAN. (Northern Mich. Journalism Collaborative) - With almost 300,000 off-road vehicles (ORVs) hitting Northern Michigan trails every year, state forests are reaching a breaking point.

When the Legislature opened state forest lands in Northern Michigan to ORVs in 2018, lawmakers did so without providing new money to repair the damage that the vehicles can cause— especially when they go off-trail.

Benzie County, for example, has 193.2 miles of state forest roads, 173.5 miles of which are open to ORVs.

“We’re hitting the worst-case scenario,” says John Davis, forest fire officer for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) field office in Bellaire.

The destruction from ORVs is spread across state forest lands in Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula, but even the DNR may not have a full grasp of the damage.

According to a recent audit, the DNR has failed to properly document inspections of the state forest trail system.

The DNR had about $1.5 million from ORV license and permit sales to repair off-trail damage, but DNR officials say that barely scratches the surface for all of the repairs needed after the increasingly powerful vehicles tear a new path in the forest.

Davis’s office received about $5,000 this year to repair ORV damage.

“We’re understaffed, and we don’t have a lot of money,” he said. “So we’re trying to do the best we can.”

He thought if there could be “a completely separate division [of the DNR] for restoration and remediation of the environment… people could have work for years.”

‘There Won’t Be Anything Left’

Davis says that the main threat to state forest lands is ORV riders leaving the designated trail system and blazing trails of their own.

“It just takes one person to start a new trail,” he says. “And the next person will see those tracks and think it’s okay for them to go up there, too. Just one group of riders can punch a road that’ll last years and years.”

Those “user-created trails” become indistinguishable from the state-designated ORV trails. They are extremely destructive to the local ecosystem, because they can encroach on sensitive landscapes, causing significant erosion, loss of vegetation, even changing flow patterns of rivers and streams.

And, because these new tracks look just like any other ORV trail, even responsible riders can venture onto them without knowing that they are doing anything wrong.

The Michigan Snowmobile and ORV Association is well aware of the hazards that off-trial ORVs pose to the environment.

“If this assault on our forests doesn’t stop, there won’t be anything left,” said Karen Middendorf, the association’s executive director. “I don’t think they’re doing it maliciously. They’re thinking, ‘Hey, look, this is cool, we can drive into the lake!’ Yeah, it’s fun; I see why they do it. But they’re doing it without realizing they’re outside the law.”

Compounding the problem is the fact that the modern ORV, or side-by-side, is heavier and more powerful than older models. They’re capable of going places that were previously inaccessible by motor vehicles.

DNR ‘Did Not Develop A Plan’

Responsibility for trail maintenance falls on the DNR’s Trail Advisory Council, which manages more than 4,000 miles of ORV trails and administers the ORV Trail Improvement Fund.

Last year, that fund collected $11.9 million, primarily from license and permit fees.

An October 2024 report from the Michigan auditor general says that at least 50 percent of those funds must be designated for ORV trail maintenance, and at least 12.5 percent must go toward restoring off-trail damages. The funds are distributed to government agencies and nonprofit ORV clubs that apply for grants to support their trail maintenance and restoration efforts.

But the DNR “did not develop a plan and perform inspections to ensure ORV trails… were effectively protected, maintained, and managed,” the state auditors wrote.

According to state trails coordinator Tim Novak, that is because the DNR lacks sufficient staffing to inspect the trails on a yearly basis. Instead, his group is putting together a Trails Ambassador program that officials hope will provide funding to help volunteers to perform inspections.

Novak hopes the ambassador program will help the DNR to “better understand where our repair and maintenance efforts should be focused.”

The Mud Brothers is one of almost 70 riding clubs that maintain the ORV trail system. They are responsible for the Indian Gardens trail near Cross Village in Emmet County.

Vice president Kenny Reaume says members of that group “work hand in hand with the DNR and the state of Michigan to keep [the trails] in good shape.”

They receive funding from ORV Trail Improvement Fund grants, as well as from private donations, membership dues, sponsorships, and merchandise sales.

“I love the smell of the fresh air,” said Tammie Furgeson, a member of the group who has been riding ORVs for almost 40 years. “It’s not a busy world out here; we’re not driving through town. It’s peaceful.”

Furgeson and her husband, Mark, are in charge of a Mud Brothers-sponsored group ride at Chandler Hill Campground, near Boyne Falls. About 30 ORVs load up with fuel, snacks, and other necessities before setting out on a six-hour ride through state forest land near the campground. It is an all-ages event, and the whole Furgeson family is involved.

“It’s really fun, because my husband and my son and my nephew really put a lot of work into this ride,” Tammy Furgeson said.

Ride Right

Not every club has the same attitude as the Mud Brothers.

Another riding group, the Hooligans, found themselves in legal trouble after their leader posted a YouTube video telling viewers he and 20 ORVs were going out to deliberately destroy snowmobile trails that were off limits to ORVs. He was later ordered to pay $7,600 in restitution costs to rehabilitate an eroded hillside habitat near Lynn Lake in Otsego County.

In nearby Antrim County, ORVs were doing donuts on the banks of the Jordan River—a pristine riparian ecosystem was transformed into a sandy beach with a hole in the ground that was four feet deep and about 40 feet across. As the ORVs circled next to the river, their tires flung sand behind them and into the water, threatening to change the course of the river. Some ORVs were driving directly into the water.

Davis and a team of DNR staff have had to repair the site three different times.

Originally, they installed 4x4 posts to keep ORVs out of the area. Those were quickly removed by ORV riders, so Davis and his team moved large boulders to block the entrance point. Even then, he says, the powerful ORVs “strapped onto the rocks and moved them out of the way.” That prompted Davis to haul “the biggest boulders our equipment could handle” in front of the entrance.

He says that the current repairs have been holding for about a year. They have also planted native oak trees that are taking root.

“In 30 years, these trees will come up and help stabilize the soil,” he says. “They’ll basically be transforming this area back into a natural wooded habitat. Who knows? Maybe the Parks Division will put some picnic tables up and designate this as a nice day-use area. I might be 75 years old by then, but I’ll still come down and enjoy it.”

Both the DNR and the Michigan Snowmobile and ORV Association say education is essential to keeping people on designated trails and off sensitive natural environments.

“Ride Right” is the moniker for the DNR’s education campaign that has been adopted widely by ORV communities. Its main tenets are to “ride at a safe speed, ride sober, and ride on the right side of the trail.”

The current messaging does not contain language encouraging riders to stay on designated trails—Novak, the state trails coordinator, would like to expand those educational components to address off-trail ORVs.

“We want to make sure people know where they’re supposed to be riding, how to properly identify a trail, and make sure they don’t impact our natural resources and protected areas,” he says.

The DNR offers an interactive trail map to help riders understand where ORV access is allowed, but the prevalence of user-created trails has made it difficult, even for experienced riders, to recognize which trails are off limits.

Middendorf, of the Michigan Snowmobile and ORV Association, believes the trails “can be used in a way that doesn’t cause environmental devastation.”

The key, she says, is convincing people to have some discernment in where and how they are riding.

“Stay on the trail,” she says. “That’s what they’re there for. Don’t go in rivers. Don’t go in lakes. Yes, you can go in there, but don’t do it.”

If the riding community does not take the matter seriously, Middendorf adds, “they’re going to find more and more policies and regulations inflicted on them.”

Novak agrees. He sees two possible outcomes for the future of ORVs in Northern Michigan:

“Either our forests start to get overtaken, and the ecosystems become damaged beyond recovery, or our state Legislature recognizes [the devastation] before it’s too late, and ORV users start to lose access to public lands,” he says.

According to Novak, there is “nothing immediately on the docket” to raise license and permit rates or secure other funding to begin repairing the damaged ecosystems.

He says neither the DNR nor the ORV community want to see restrictions imposed on use of the trail system, but “if it comes down to a choice between providing recreation for people and protecting our natural resources, our first and foremost mission is to protect public lands.”

This reporting is made possible by the Northern Michigan Journalism Project, led by Bridge Michigan and Interlochen Public Radio and funded by Press Forward Northern Michigan.

The video above will feature the TV6 livestream until staff can clip the corresponding story, if available, from broadcasts or other TV6 content. You can subscribe to our YouTube page or download TV6+ to stream the latest local news and weather.