If sno'clubs fail, so will this sport if....
...the Gov't and Greenies don't beat us first.
It has been a rough past 10 years for snow, but IMO, the past 2-3 winters have been looking slightly better. The club I belong to, north of Brainerd,totaled up quite a few hours, and diesel fuel costs on our Tucker last season. (I don't remember exact hours/costs.)
[Side note: the DNR expects clubs receiving Grant-In-Aid funds to be out there maintaining trails when there is rideable snow, and also clearing wind-fall trees, and over grown brush, washouts, etc, in the off season.]
I go to Togwotee for 1-week every January, and will continue to do so, but there is riding to be had around MN, but admittedly things are not as good as we would like.
I am also secretary of the Crow Wing County Snowmobile Trail Association,a ALL VOLUNTEER non-profit corp, which involves 11 separate/individual sno'bile clubs, the Chamber of Commerce, and a rep. from the DNR.
9 of the clubs do grooming and trail maintenance on the over 850 miles of sno'trail in CW county.
I hear complaints often from people who join a local club, attend one, maybe 2 club meetings, and never to be seen again, and never help with any trail work.
They whine about nobody called them about a "ride", night out, pot luck, fund raisers, etc.
Maybe some clubs do a better job of communication with their members than others, but too many people expect to be catered to, IMO.
Sno' clubs are also all volunteer org's, and people have jobs, families, and other responsibilities too. Nothing preventing people from calling another member on their own, and asking if something is going on.
A lot of members are retired (Including me!) and we do a lot of work , and enjoy doing it.
But it would be nice to see some participation from others too. We schedule trail work or events on the weekends, and guess what?.........the same 3-6 retiree's are the only ones who show up. We got one 80 year old guy who runs a Stihl Power Pruning Pole-Saw all day. And I don't see how the he!! he does it.
Who will take these duties over when us old timers get too old? We need younger people participating now, to avoid loss of continuity later, as old timers drop out.
People to be a little more personally aggressive about participating in club work and activities.
Even though conditions have not been the best, we can't afford to not keep up the trails, otherwise they will cease to exist. There is constant pressure from anti-motorized recreation people who show up at every county board meeting to complain.
Not to mention constant trail re-routes caused by land sales and development.
Trail maps?? We have a very nice GPS accurate map in CW county. We print 40,000 copies every year. We have to sell map ads and raffle prizes to cover the printing costs.
So if somebody is unhappy with the leadership in their club they should either run for office to improve things, ask how they can be more involved, or seek out and join a different club.
Or don't complain if things don't meet their expectations.
OK, flame me now, but it won't change the way things actually are.
Oh yeah, how many belong to MNUSA? They are the only state organization that has a watch-dog at the state legislature making sure our rights are not trashed by such groups as MRR. Never heard of it? Better find out.
