Province set to make snowmobile trail permits mandatory

The province is poised to implement mandatory trail permits for snowmobilers in Northwestern Ontario and across the rest of the province, MPP Joe Spina revealed here Friday afternoon.
Spina, the parliamentary assistant to Tourism minister Cam Jackson, was in town primarily to promote Ontario Tourism Week (May 19-28) in conjunction with an open house and barbecue at the Ontario Tourist Information Centre.
Spina, who also chairs an inter-ministerial task force for the sustainability of snowmobiling in the province, was at the open house for about 45 minutes before heading to a briefing at the Civic Centre with town officials and NWOSTA regional manager Lori Malbranck of Kenora.
“We wanted to know where we are with the issues of sustainability and [Spina] was very, very informative–things are moving along quite quickly,” Malbranck said yesterday.
“They are drafting legislation that makes permits mandatory for snowmobile club trails [and] if it is introduced before the end of June, then hopefully by the fall it will be in place,” she added.
“For years [the government] gave us money to market a product but never have given dollars to sustain it,” Malbranck argued. “They said ‘build it and they will come.’
“Well, they’re coming but we have nothing to sustain it with,” she stressed.
Malbranck said the Tourism ministry finally has recognized that need. “The user pay system would be phenomenal [for sustainability],” she reasoned.
“[Spina] reiterated the Ministry of Tourism’s commitment to this area and to all of Ontario covering all aspects of tourism,” Mayor Glenn Witherspoon said Monday morning, giving the nod to enforcement on the trails that is fair and equitable to everybody.
“We need to beef up some of the sustainability in Ontario for trail systems,” Spina had said earlier Friday. “By far, snowmobiling is the largest winter recreational sport in the province–it is a very large and important industry for this province.”
Right now, trail permits are issued through the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs (OFSC) and administered by local snowmobile clubs across the province.
But not all snowmobilers who use club trails buy permits.
NWOSTA covers some 13 clubs and a 5,000-km trail system. Of the estimated 7,000 sleds registered in the region, only half of their owners buy club trail permits, said Malbranck.
“We have some of the most beautiful trails in the province but our vast geography and low population makes them hard to maintain,” she noted.
“A lot of people think the trails drop out of the sky when the snow falls but their [maintenance] is driven by volunteers,” she stressed. “We just want people to recognize that there is a cost to maintain the trails.”
If the legislation is passed, snowmobilers who use club trails without a valid permit could be charged with a criminal offence by law enforcement officers under the Motorized Snowmobile Act.
Meanwhile, the turnout for the open house was more than expected by organizer Jane Johnstone, Northwest Region team leader for the Ontario Travel Information Centre.
Besides the flow of American tourists fresh off the bridge who stopped in, area residents showed up in numbers, too.
“We had the best turnout from locals and I think it was the most successful [open house] yet,” Johnstone said Monday.
“And the Americans really appreciated [the barbecue and cake]. It helped them forget about their long wait on the bridge,” she chuckled.