SAD NEWS FOR ALMAGUIN HIGHLANDS S.C.

[Blake G]

Thank you for clarifying the situation.

[02Sled]

43 minutes ago, Trail Groomer said:

I think it is important to realize that this is not really anyone's fault, Due to the many landowners who have graciously let there land be used for a snowmobile trail is not the issue here at this time the issue is that this trail has finally deteriorated to a point that there are areas that it is just not possible to get a groomer through anymore and due to the many landowners it would be impossible to get anymore than a short term agreement for the land use and never from all of them. One must realize that this is about a 30k piece of trail with at least 50 or more land owners and if even one sells or revokes the use Which has happened several times this year alone the trail will be closed as there are no more alternative routes. At this point everyone must understand that to spend 10s of thousands of dollars would be ludacris  even if we had the money and we don't. We are no better or worse off than 90% of the clubs in the province and we do what we can to keep the trails open people must also realize that we can not afford to run a quarter of a million dollar groomer through trails that look like and resemble stone quarries  with trees only inches away on either side and creeks running down the middle of the trail. We as a club have to be responsible to keep sledders and groomers and operators safe which we can no long do on this trail and that is why it is closed. Algonquin West ATV club  and Almaguin District Snowmobile club have been working as partners on numerous KM of trails for many years and we both value our relationship regarding trails

 

Sounds just like almost any other club in Ontario. Same challenges faced by countless clubs especially in a low or no snow season. Something tells me that if we had lots of early cold followed by lots of snow there wouldn't be any problems and this would never have even come up as a topic.

[Cuyuna]

Maybe give land owners a little monetary incentive for long-term use of their trails. Then it would be more feasible to invest in trail improvements which would ultimately benefit the end user - the rider. I would be more than willing to pay a $25. or so increase in next year's permit price if I knew the increase was funding a land owner incentive program. Deals can always be made and solutions can always be found. The secret lies in "people".

[sledjunk]

If we pay for land use, the OFSC liability insurance does not apply, from what I have been told.  If the landowners receive a fee, they are responsible for the liability.

[02Sled]

There could be a lobby effort to get the province to provide a tax credit to those who have a trail on their property. It wouldn't be a stretch based on the province already messing around with the sustainability of trails and their screwed up Bill 100

[Running Wild]

As far as a tax credit as suggested above I think it's a great idea and I may have suggested it in years past. My father would have done anything to reduce his taxes but today some people seem to have a lot more money  and may not need a break. A tax rebate should be for every separate parcel of land that a trail goes thru and not just one lump sum if a land owner happens to own more than one property under a different registration number. It doesn't matter if it's an 100 acre lot or a 1/4 acre lot because as well all know it only takes a small property to close to shut down a large piece of the remaining trail.  As we've been told many times , snowmobiling puts many thousands of dollars or more into local communities each year so a small rebate to those who make it happen is a small price to pay for the overall benefit gained.  Also, as suggested by Slomo, clubs should be able to use existing right of ways as needed to keep the trail system open and intact.  This fall the Dun Ahmic club with the help of McKellar township opened up an unopened road allowance and got a trail off a  two km section of road. Also with the help of the Township of Seguin they made about about  1.5 km of new trail to get snowmobiles off another roadin that township.   A number of years ago, the Carling Trailblazers in conjunction with the town of Parry Sound were able to get an easement for a trail from Canadian Pacific Railways no less to have a trail on the railroad property at the north end of Parry Sound and the railroad right of way itself is probably only 100 wide.  If the MTO was more easy to deal with ,part of their right of ways, some of which are 300 ft wide could be used for trails to get around problem areas . Currently north of Parry Sound as one example.

RW

[Classic]

15 hours ago, 02Sled said:

Does Snowtrax cost us money or give us money. The magazine needs to sell advertising and in order to do that you need circulation numbers. What better way to get circulation than to send copies to permit buyers. Perhaps they actually pay ofsc for access to the permit buyer information for those that tick the box on the permit form. Easy to sell advertising when you can quote numbers of readers a year ahead since those that tick the box this year don't see the magazine until next year.

They do pay the OFSC.

[bbakernbay]

See their Website at http://www.adsc-snow.org/

 

for more info on situation.