Illinois off-highway vehicle stamps to expand public-access trails
in Illinois
OHV stamps will be available beginning in January
Funds will leverage matching federal dollars
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[October 14, 2013]
SPRINGFIELD -- The Illinois Department of Natural Resources is
taking an important step toward improving off-highway vehicle
access. The new OHV Usage Stamp will be available in early 2014 at
DNR Direct license and permit point-of-sale vendor locations
throughout the state. The annual stamps are part of the department's
sustainability funding package passed last year and will be sold
beginning in January.
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The stamps will be valid from April 1, 2014, through March 31,
2015. They will be issued concurrent with fishing and hunting
licenses beginning in the 2014-15 season.
Illinois law now requires that an annual OHV Usage Stamp be
purchased and displayed prominently on the forward half of
off-highway vehicles, including all-terrain vehicles, off-highway
motorcycles and other motor-driven recreational vehicles capable of
cross-country travel on natural terrain.
Funds generated through the OHV Usage Stamp are expected to total
between $700,000 and $800,000 annually. Those funds will be used to
develop public-access trails for OHV use in Illinois and to capture
more than $1 million in unused federal funds available for motorized
trail development and maintenance through matching dollars. Because
Illinois has not previously been able to match these federal funds
with state dollars, IDNR has been unable to provide single-purpose
OHV recreation trails.
The annual OHV Usage Stamp fee will be $15, plus a 50-cent
issuance fee to the point-of-sale vendor. The DNR plans to provide
discount fees for lower-powered OHVs for youth riders. The DNR also
intends to add several other exemptions to the OHV Usage Stamp,
including all standard golf carts, OHVs used by bona fide commercial
businesses and OHVs used by qualifying hunters with disabilities.
The expiration date on the annual OHV Usage Stamp will be March
31 each year.
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Exemptions to the OHV Usage Stamp requirement include:
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OHVs operated on lands where the owner permanently resides
(exemption does not apply to clubs, associations, OHVs operated on
lands leased for hunting or recreational purposes, or OHVs used by
outfitters).
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OHVs used for activities associated with farming or livestock
production.
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OHVs owned and used by units of government.
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OHVs used for sanctioned national and international competition.
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OHVs used on OHV-grant assisted sites on which an OHV Access
Decal is displayed.
For a list of DNR Direct point-of-sale vendor locations where OHV
Usage Stamps will be sold, check the DNR website at
http://www.dnr.illinois.gov/LPR/
Pages/LicensePermitVendors.aspx.
[Text from
Illinois Department of
Natural Resources
file received from
the
Illinois Office of
Communication and Information]
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