Keweenaw Report Your Source for Local News and Sports
ATV season started officially yesterday.
Please keep in mind Trail 3 between Dollar Bay and Lake Linden is undergoing some serious reconstruction.
“There was a question of naturalizing the trails, which essentially is walking away from it, and we found that unacceptable, so again, we went to Kevin [Store] and he helped us arrange meetings with all the powers in the area- the county commissioners, chamber of commerce, tourism council, (Markkanen), and we got the DNR involved and we just kept pushing, and finally the money became available, and now here we are, it’s finally going to get done. it’s one of the main routes from Hancock going to the harbor towns. The economic impact of [the trail] goes beyond Lake Linden. It affects Calumet, Laurium, and all the towns to the north.” – Daryl St. John, President of the Keweenaw ATV Club.
Brad Barnett, executive director of Visit Keweenaw, estimated how much the smaller towns in the tip of the Keweenaw depend on tourism. ATV tourists make a large impact on the economy, but there are no known studies that have studied the economic impact specifically of ATV tourism in the northern towns of the Keweenaw.
“The state has statistics that they keep that suggest that anywhere up to 10% of Houghton county employees are in somewhat supported by visitor spending. If you head north to Keweenaw county, that figure goes closer to 70%. That’s seven zero. So our region, like much of the Upper Peninsula is certainly impacted by tourism, and in some cases, depending on [what areas] you look, it’s more important than others.” Brad Barnett, Executive Director of Visit Keweenaw.
Visit Keweenaw encourages all riders to watch their videos about riding safely on the trails, what to expect in the Keweenaw, and leaving no litter or trace of your beautiful trip.
See the most recently video here.
