That's what I thought 10 years ago.  Current volunteers that have relationships with land owners that keep permission in place. When Joe can't do it anymore and retires, new guy won't have same loyality to keeping permission in place. This isn't always case but helps for sure.  Thie sport will continue as long as people buy permits, volunteer, repect land owners and property and weather co-operates. Amen 

More doors closing than opening. ride while you can cause it’ll be gone within 10 years.

We have the same issue here as do all the clubs. We have discussed this at our last club meeting.    Not sure where this ultimatum came from. I assume there must be legal action against the OFSC/landowner from some quality individual who did nothing wrong on the trails and is suing the OFSC/landowner because the trail somehow injured them as it is never their fault!  My other assumption is that an incident may have happened on a trail that may have crossed a section of private/public property that the club didn't think it crossed and did not have a LUP. I honestly don't know.   It is very hard to get in contact with many landowners as many don't live in the area as "Topnotch" stated. Some are just numbered companies. They don't answer emails, phone messages, etc.. It is a lot to ask of the volunteers in a short amount of time as we do have other life obligations.   We used to have open ended contracts with many landowners(local and not local) as they don't want to be bothered with signing new contracts every year/few years. Not 100% sure if open ended contracts still applies tho. Regardless we all have to get in contact with all the landowners. It's a huge pain in the ass to get this all resolved by Nov 1st.   I do believe this will be an issue for this coming season for many clubs. As "Nunz" stated, there could be some trail closures due to this. Go easy on the clubs when there is copious amounts of snow in your area and you don't know why the trails aren't open.   Curious if this was discussed at the OFSC AGM this weekend. I'm sure it was. We/I will find out soon.      

My write-up on late October Snowmobiling in Northern Ontario.   The full report is here:  https://sled-x.ca/news/september-2024-report1.html    

The signed agreements can be in place for up to 10 years. Often the landowner sets the deadline to their preference.    Contacting all the individual landowners is very time consuming for club members of course, but part of the problem is just being able to track down and speak to the actual landowner, whether it is on the phone or through email. If a landowner doesn't live in the area it can take a long time just to be in a position to speak with the landowner and often they won't have a clue about the snowmobile trails. Personally, I've been trying to receive a signed agreement back via mail since June, and how often do you feel comfortable in asking the landowner for the agreement? Because if you upset them, you might never get the agreement. And a re route might not be possible.    So yes, some landowners don't like snowmobilers and won't let the club on their land no matter what. But if the club rep is able to have a conversation with a reasonable landowner and explain how the insurance works, an agreement can be put in place easily.    Nunz, good luck with your search, I feel for you. Sorry I can't be of more assistance.    The 2025 season is going to be drastically different even if it is a good winter.    Andrew,  VP of French River Snowmobile Association