the funding is supposed to re-establish the closed trails.  I agree with the above that at this point in the season - the majority of them that were de-commissioned, closed, signs down, see ya - aren't coming back this season. It's not reasonable to believe they will.   so.......with that in mind, where is this money going to go? Can it be held in a trust and set aside to assist for next season when all the work can be done to bring these trails back?   I have a very sneaky suspicion we are going to see few of the de-commissioned trails resume - and we'll be sitting here reading again next year about no money left.    

Early permit sales #'s up is good for injecting cash today/now, but is not necessarily a good thing in the end. The only # that matters is the TOTAL # of permits sold - at what price(s) - confirming total collected revenue. If the early season pushed many who buy at full price to buy early, it will be taking money off the snow. time will tell   I did see a great Facebook post by a politician who helped champion the cash flow injection from the Government. One thing mentioned in that post is that it's time for the OFSC to take a good hard look at their model, and figure out a way to modernize it because it is not sustainable.    That we know, but to see a politician spell it out and post that is a "hey, figure this out".        

Lets look at it like this. Those trails that can easily be put back in, ca, those that cannot can be shelved until the following year if funding is there. In the meantime, we recieved 4 mil that can help the boost the bottom line and ensure we can groom what we have. I get the frustration, but in the end would anyone prefer this funding not be in place. From another perspective, this also shows that government has heard the voices of communities that rely on tourism and actually reacted. Lets look at the positive instead of the negative side of this.

Permit sales are way up in District 5. It amounts to a lot of money. If all the districts are up by a similar % then there will be a substancial offset for additional costs.  Also remember that if the OFSC hadn't sent additional $ to the Districts last spring the shortfall would have been much smaller. If there are no unexpectedly large expenditures required this season, I think they will be in decent shape by season end. JMHO

On paper there might not be - but in reality, too late to reverse things at this point.....look ahead to next year for some I guess. But does that 5 or so mil just a shortfall for this year, I think so, which means technically it is needed year after year, so permit increase has to happen or more grants, etc.....