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WALKER - Cass County commissioners referred to their state legislators the issue of all-terrain vehicle (ATV) damage to private driveways where they cross highway ditches.

ATVs are allowed statewide to ride in public road ditches.

Commissioners Bob Kangas and Jeff Peterson researched the issue after a few county residents complained to the land department and highway department about the issue.

If a highway ditch is part of a state grant-in-aid ATV trail system, state ATV trail money can be used to repair damage.

However, recent complaints from residents on County State Aid Highways 5, 7, 40 and 77 are in areas where there are no grant-in-aid ATV trails and, thus, no repair funding available.

The issue arises in part because the state has designated road ditches in the state for ATV use, which the county board sees as an unfunded mandate, because there are no accompanying state funds available to repair damage ditch use can cause over private driveways.

Due to the thousands of driveways that are impacted countywide, it would require additional county levy money to address each driveway, the board concluded.

When the county did try in the past to repair a few driveways on high traffic grant-in-aid trails, the damage returned a year later, Land Commissioner Joshua Stevenson said.

The board wants the Legislature to authorize using fees collected from ATV users not only for grant-in-aid trails, but also for damage which results from ditch use, since the Legislature authorized using the state's road ditches as trails.

It costs homeowners $1,200 to $1,400 a year to keep their driveway passable in some high ATV traffic areas, Stevenson said.

He said he will continue to work with local residents who have problems in an effort to find a solution.

Commissioner Jim Dowson suggested the sheriff and DNR game wardens should be contacted to post an officer along ditches during high use periods like weekends to warn or ticket ATV drivers who are causing the damage.

Stevenson obtained board approval to award contracts to two low bidders to repair forest access roads. Northfork Boulders will apply gravel to a road in Bungo Township for $12 per yard and to a road in Moose Lake Township for $560. Holmvig Excavating will apply taconite tailings to a road in Thunder Lake Township, which also is a snowmobile trail.

MacNeil Environmental was the lowest of four bidders at $2,750 to test for asbestos and regulated materials in houses and sheds on seven tax forfeited parcels. Four are located in Cass Lake. The rest are in Bena, Pine River and Motley.

Cass County sold 3,532 cords of mixed timber and 17,900 board feet of red pine saw logs from county land at a Sept. 25 auction. Six of seven tracts offered were sold.

Loggers paid $26.31 per cord for aspen. They paid the least for ash at $12.25 per cord and the most at $35.61 per cord for red oak.

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