New Ice Age Trail license plate now available from Wisconsin DMV

Chelsey Lewis, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
·2 min read
New specialty license plates for the Ice Age Trail are now available from the DMV. A $25 annual donation for the plate goes to the Ice Age Trail Alliance, which helps build, maintain and promote the national scenic trail.
New specialty license plates for the Ice Age Trail are now available from the DMV. A $25 annual donation for the plate goes to the Ice Age Trail Alliance, which helps build, maintain and promote the national scenic trail.

A new Ice Age Trail Alliance specialty license plate is now available for ordering from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation's Division of Motor Vehicles.

The plate is inspired by the IATA's logo, with a light blue background, a strip of yellow and the nonprofit's website (iceagetrail.org) at the bottom, and a woolly mammoth along the left site. The design was created by Celtic Inc., a Milwaukee marketing agency.

In addition to regular registration fees, the plate costs $40, which includes a one-time fee of $15 for the issuance of the plate and an annual tax-deductible donation of $25 that goes to the IATA.

The new specialty license plate for the Ice Age Trail features a blue and yellow color scheme with a large woolly mammoth, inspired by the Ice Age Trail Alliance's logo.
The new specialty license plate for the Ice Age Trail features a blue and yellow color scheme with a large woolly mammoth, inspired by the Ice Age Trail Alliance's logo.

The $25 donation supports the IATA's efforts to help build, maintain and promote the 1,200-mile Ice Age Trail, one of two national scenic trails in Wisconsin. Only 685 miles of the trail are official, blazed routes; the rest is made up of connecting routes, typically low-traffic roads.

More: 40 years after the Ice Age Trail became a national scenic trail, it still isn't complete. Will it ever be?

The IATA considered developing a specialty license plate as early as 2014, but the group didn't seriously pursue it until a state law change a few years ago made it possible to get a plate without legislative approval. They submitted an application with the DMV for a specialty plate last August. After a 30-day public comment period, the plate entered the development process.

The plate joins a roster of more than 50 specialty plates available to Wisconsinites. Five-hundred people must purchase the Ice Age Trail plate within the next three years in order for it to remain available. If the number of active registrations ever drops below 500 after that point, the IATA has 12 months to reach that threshold again or the plate will be discontinued.

To order the specialty plate, drivers must mail an application and a check or money order to the DOT. Plates can be changed at any time, but the DMV recommends waiting to order the new specialty plates until you’re within three months of your current ones expiring in order to get the most for your money. Specialty plates take 10 to 12 weeks to be delivered, according to the DOT. For more information and a link to the application, see bit.ly/iatplate.

Contact Chelsey Lewis at clewis@journalsentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter at @chelseylew and @TravelMJS and Facebook at Journal Sentinel Travel.

More: New Ice Age Trail segment coming to Waukesha County after DNR land purchase

More: 5 unusual things to see along the Ice Age Trail, from an airplane wreck to a Stone Elephant

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: New Ice Age Trail license plate now available from Wisconsin DMV