Outdoor notes

LODGE GETS NEW NAME

The Board of Utah State Parks and Recreation met in Midway to, among other things, rename the Soldier Hollow Lodge.

From this day forward, the lodge will be called the Courtland C. Nelson Lodge at Soldier Hollow. It is named after the former director of the Utah Division Parks and Recreation, who left in the spring to take a similar position in his home state of Minnesota.

Nelson was director of the DPR for 11 years, and spearheaded development of the nordic Olympic venue and the new Soldier Hollow Golf Course, which opened last week.

Other topics included a new non-resident off-highway vehicle permit, state land transfer to Salt Lake City, and fee changes for Palisade and Utah Field House of Natural History state parks.

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NONRESIDENT OHVs PERMITS

Out-of-state residents who operate or give another person permission to operate their off-highway vehicle on any public land, trail, street or highway in Utah must pay an annual OHV user fee. Nonresident permit fees go toward OHV programs to further enhance riding opportunities in Utah.

This law took effect July 1. State officials will not begin issuing application materials and decals until after Sept. 1. The law requires nonresidents owning an off-highway vehicle—including all-terrain vehicles, off-highway motorcycles, and snowmobiles—to pay a $30 annual OHV user fee.

OHVs currently registered in a state that offers reciprocal operating privileges to Utah residents are exempt from this requirement and include:

All-terrain vehicles/off-road motorcycles —Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas and Vermont.

Snowmobile — California, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.

For information call 1-800-648-7433.

SKATING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

The Utah Olympic Oval was recently awarded the Single distance Speed Skating World Championships for 2007. The Oval hosted this same event in March 2001 as a test event of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games.