Keep the Stower Trail a Silent Sports Trail

The Friends of Stower Seven Lakes Trail Inc. (Friends of Stower) are raising money to pay legal fees incurred to preserve the 14 mile Stower Seven Lakes State Trail in Polk County, Wisconsin, as a non-motorized trail.

The Stower Seven Lakes State Trail was started from an old rail bed in Polk County, Wisconsin. The Wisconsin DNR purchased the abandoned Amery-Dresser railroad corridor in 2003 using grant money from Knowles-Nelson Stewardship Funds that specified uses of the trail to be for hiking, biking, cross country skiing, and snowshoeing.

Our Friends of Stower group has been dedicated to this beautiful trail and completed all of the trail maintenance for over a decade with no reimbursement from the county. We attend local county, town and city meetings to keep the trail visible in their decision making. We promote the trail through social media. And our volunteer organization serves the public by connecting communities and the environment in new ways by inviting people of all ages and abilities to recreate and explore, always trying to inspire and challenge new and existing members to excellence in pursuit of our vision. We try to collaborate with trail partners to make the Stower Trail the best it can be. When the trail was maintained by the Friends group, it was given recognition as being the best maintained trail in the state per former director of Wisconsin State Parks, Ben Bergey. The Stower trail was recently cited in an article by the Wisconsin DNR in an article titled "14 Trails to Fall For".

Since the inception of the trail, Friends of Stower has fought 3 legal battles in an effort to keep the trail non-motorized and now have to continue the legal fight since Polk County asked for reconsideration and an appeal after the Judge ruled for no snowmobiles or horses in July of 2023. The Friends of Stower has had to raise all our own money to pay for legal fees. We have paid over $80000 in legal fees so far for this 3rd court fight, and we are anticipating we will need to fund at least another $50000 more to pay for the appeal process. We were not anticipating more legal fees but have no choice but to answer an appeal from the county. We need your help in raising funds to pay for the latest battle we are facing. We are frustrated and tired of trying to keep a beautiful 14 mile trail from being overtaken by motors. We are fearful if the County is successful in getting snowmobiles on the trail that they will try to get ATV's on the trail next as they attempted with a trail just north of us.

The Friends of Stower Seven Lakes State Trail Inc. (Friends of Stower) would like to thank you in advance for your contribution to this cause that means so much to us and our community.