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I think this is actually quite common unfortunately. I’ve seen it right in our club.    I stepped down from the board at our AGM. This wasn’t the main reason for stepping down but it was definitely a contributing factor. Life is getting busy, especially with two little girls at home now. My hobbies have changed and now I seem to have more seat time on the ATV than a sled.  It first started with the groomer reductions. Each club/district has different geographic issues to deal with but being in South Muskoka with some of the region’s roughest terrain, I was hoping that would be a decent consideration when taking a groomer from us - Especially when comparing to some of the geography south of us. Unfortunately after only 2 or 3 meetings it was decided that we would loose a groomer from our club.  The OFSC proposed that a groomer needs to cover 100+ km of trail. Grooming 100+ km in Muskoka is already a struggle with a single groomer. I think the OFSC should have looked into this a bit more before coming up with that number.   Last season our club worked with neighbouring clubs (cross grooming) to cover other trails and we felt that it was working well and we would implement it even more this coming season. That is likely not going to be the case as we will have to make up for the lost groomer even though that cross grooming what the OFSC is wanting. They were taking about having operators swap out at other club boundaries or leaving a groomer at different starting point. It’s not really as easy as it sounds. You would have to find person to pick you up. That could be 3 am in the morning. Another thing - it’s already hard enough to find operators in the first place.  Our old BR was probably paid for over and over over again. It was a decently reliable machine and was relatively easy to fix if something went wrong. When things did break, it was generally cheap stuff like blown hoses etc…. Most of our operators preferred running it compared to the newer trooper.   The next thing was the Trail Reductions. Our club put thousands of hours in the OFSC Landowner / MOU project last season. To see some of our trails cut with little discussion was a bit of a kick to the nuts.  I feel for some of the northern clubs / towns that need the sled traffic/ tourism to survive. Taking some of these trails away may deter people from visiting certain towns therefore taking business away.  I think costs could have been cut well before all of this came to light. I’ve always been a strong believer in grooming for quality not quantity. Our club has always been below our budgeted grooming hours. There is no point in grooming a trail that only has one set of tracks on it from the day before. This was always prevalent near the end of the season when we were “pushing” for groomer hours to get money. Why risk breaking a groomer, burn fuel and pay wages just to groom a trail that doesn’t need to be done - but that’s what we were told to do and it was definitely a flawed dynamic.

We the permit buyers got screwed in the Kirkfield, Brechin, Lake Dalrymple area last winter when the OFSC decided the Carden Sno Drifters were not in good standing.     If OFSC wants or cares to keep trails on the east side of Lake Simcoe they should get their heads out of their asses and help find a solution!  Because 2 years in a row will be devastating to the area and permit buyers.   There is a group who have been working hard jumping through hoops to make it happen but not sure on status.   And almost all of Carden trails were on township road accesses and there was signed letters of permission in place from townships.   Also note I hear Beaverton trails might be reduced or gone!          

I buy second one at full price. That help cause and spread out my expenses. Polaris is getting early permit. 

If your club is a member club in good standing then someone on the club exec. needs to get that corrected.

I was considering buying a second permit for the cause.   If everyone who thinks permits are cheap buys an extra permit that would help put more $$$ on the snow and might also show a greater number of permits for lobbying for increased government funding.     Although that would have to be a widespread belief across the province by many riders to have the desired impact.   Right now my local trails or club do not even make the club drop down list.