Tug Hill Oct 20 2007Snowmobile Trail Report
From Mr Wood Pellets in North Syracuse NY

Subject: Cutback in Grooming

-----Original Message-----
From: Sno-Pals [mailto:webmaster@sno-pals.com]
Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2007 11:58 AM
To: fwilmer@twcny.rr.com

To: All our members
From : Gary Stinson and the Board of Directors
Subject: Cutback in Grooming

For more than 2 years now Jason Kowalczyk, (who serves as the Lewis County Director at NYSSA) and I have been trying to get the funding rates raised in the Tug Hill area due to the heavy traffic and extended season. Our total average cost per mile for maintenance, brushing, signing and grooming was $1,013 per mile as reported by the Lewis County Planning Office. Our reimbursement was only an average of $432 per mile or slightly more than 40%. To date we have been unsuccessful in getting any increase.

The Clubs in the Tug Hill Region simply can not continue to provide such services and grooming without an increase in our trail rates. Since OPRHP (NYS Parks) and NYSSA are unwilling to adjust our rates the Lewis County Area Snowmobile Association voted to reduce our grooming activities to once every 3 days. Trails normally groomed 10 times per week will now only be groomed less then 3 times a week. The effects on how smooth the trails are will be very noticeable very quickly. Our Board of Directors met prior to the County meeting and after much discussion agreed to reduce our grooming to the level that the County voted to establish. All of us snowmobile as well and it was a very difficult decision and one that was note taken lightly.

If you are a regular visitor to the Tug Hill Region you need to take a few minutes and compose an e-mail to Parks and NYSSA and ask them to provide more funding to the Clubs in the Tug Hill Region. We are able to groom each and every year where others have grooming in many. Tell them of what you think the impact will be.

Send your messages to:

Carol Ash - Commissioner OPRHP - carol.ash@oprhp.state.ny.us

Daniel Kane - Deputy Commissioner OPRHP - daniel.kane@oprhp.state.ny.us

Stephen Lewis - Director OPRHP Snowmobile Unit -
stephen.lewis@oprhp.state.ny.us

And, please copy the following:

Senator Joseph Griffo griffo@senate.state.ny.us

Assemblywoman Dierdre Scozzafava scozzad@assembly.state.ny.us

Tug Hill NY TRAIL UPDATE:

Work on the trail under the power lines C5A has finally started. Army Corp
of Engineer approval and NYS DEC approval have finally been received and
work has begun. One more good day we will finish the project. For those of
you who may not remember the Club got a grant to repair the wetlands, which
had been damaged by large trucks and ATV's. Since this is a federal wetlands
the project was held up until all agencies signed off and issued permits.

The scope of work was to cut a new trail through the nearby woods in order
to avoid the wetlands as much as possible. By going through the woods the
direct impact on the wetland was reduced from nearly 1,000 feet to just 300
feet. This will surely improve your snowmobiling in this area as you will
not need to be concerned with the water and mud as in the past.

The "other" trail I keep updating you on. The one through the Worth road to
Johnny Allen is still making progress. We now have a route but lack the time
and necessary funds to do the project this year. Hopefully next year we
will be able to do this project.

 

 

 

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