Illinois Off-Highway Vehicle Usage Stamps to expand public-access trails in Illinois

SPRINGFIELD, IL - The Illinois Department of Natural Resources is taking an important step toward improving Off-Highway Vehicle (OHV) access by announcing today that 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 IDNR sustainability funding package passed last year and will be sold beginning in January.  The stamps will be valid from April 1, 2014 through March 31, 2015.  The stamps will be issued concurrent with fishing and hunting licenses beginning in the 2014-15 season.

Funds generated through the OHV Usage Stamp are expected to total between $700,000-$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 unutilized federal funds available for motorized trail development and maintenance through available matching dollars.  Because Illinois has not been able to match these federal funds with state dollars, IDNR has been unable to provide single-purpose OHV recreation trails. 

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 (ATVs), off-highway motorcycles, and other motor-driven recreational vehicles capable of cross-country travel on natural terrain. 

The annual OHV Usage Stamp fee will be $15.00, plus a $0.50 issuance fee to the point-of-sale vendor.  The IDNR plans to provide discount fees for lower-powered OHVs for youth riders. The IDNR 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.

Exemptions to the OHV Usage Stamp requirement include:

• 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);
• OHVs used for activities associated with farming or livestock production;
• OHVs owned and used by units of government;
• OHVs used for sanctioned national/international competition;
• and, OHVs used on OHV-grant assisted sites on which an Off-Highway Vehicle Access Decal is displayed. 

For a list of DNR Direct POS vendor locations where OHV Usage Stamps will be sold, check the IDNR website at http://www.dnr.illinois.gov/LPR/Pages/LicensePermitVendors.aspx

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