Volunteers working hard to prepare a good season
Joyce Beauchamp
Special to the Tribune
Snowmobilers in West Nipissing and beyond have been eagerly watching for the West Nipissing Snowmobile Club’s trails to open. They have noticed on their trail app that there continues to be segments of trails missing. Those sections are not even red- or yellow-lined. Reg Boutin, President of the West Nipissing Snowmobile Club, explains that the Club’s volunteers are currently going door to door to the landowners asking them to sign the Land Use Permission forms they were given earlier this fall. Without the signed forms, the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs (OFSC) is unable to access the land and has no insurance coverage for the trail. That means a trail closure. As the season progresses, the volunteers continue working on securing the permission forms in order to open the trails – but it is proving a challenge.
“Getting permission is a bit more difficult every year,” Boutin says, “because of the actions of a few trespassers who don’t want to play by the rules. They ruin it for everyone.” One persistent problem is riders straying off the trails and damaging farmers’ fields and scaring livestock. Farmers like to leave their fields plowed and ready to seed in the spring. Some fields are already seeded with winter wheat growing under the snow. “It’s hard to persuade one of these affected farmers to grant permission again” once they’ve been burned, acknowledges Boutin. “Many farmers enjoy their own sleds, so it isn’t a matter of them not appreciating the sport. It’s about damaging their property.”
The other problem, says Boutin, is snowmobile “brapping.” A few sledders have modified their exhaust systems to make high-pitched and loud ‘brap, brap, brap’ sounds, which travel long distances across the snow. “Residents really don’t like that sound,” says Boutin, pointing to a recent post on the Club’s Facebook page about a negative interaction between a landowner and trespassers brapping. He adds, “It’s hard to believe it, but these ‘cans’ or ‘pipes’ are advertised on TV while they’re actually illegal.” He cites that contravention of section 18 of the Motorized Snow Vehicles Act comes with a fine of up to $1,000.
“We’ve asked the OPP to monitor our trails more frequently,” Boutin says, “and they agreed to make themselves more of a presence this year.” But the club president would rather see riders respecting the law than having to beef up enforcement. “The thing is, if we don’t all play by the rules, we won’t have any trails left. That would be devastating for many local residents and for our neighbours from the south who drive up here to enjoy the snow.” It would also hurt local businesses who depend on the sport for winter income.
Many volunteers are currently working hard to prepare the trails for opening. They are out multiple days a week and on weekends installing signs, packing and brushing to get all trails ready. Boutin was out on Saturday and Sunday, December 14 and 15 working from an excavator, replacing a few culverts in the trails. He doesn’t mind the work because it will keep trails open. In a shout-out to his fellow sledders, he says, “Hey, I’m out here on my personal weekends getting the trails ready, so please do your part to keep them open!”
