The Rural Voice, 2004-12, Page 30Midewstern Ontario's widespread
snowmobile trail system couldn't
work without the co-operation of
farmers and landowners.
HAPPY TRAILS TO YOU
The partnership between farmers and snowmobile clubs operating trails
over farmland has worked remarkably well for two decades.
By Bonnie Gropp
There are two things
snowmobilers count on in this
area in order to enjoy their
favourite winter sport — snow and
landowners.
In the pioneer days of
snowmobiling, enthusiasts roamed
the backroads and country fields with
little thought to whose land they were
traversing. Blazing a trail through
drifts or smoothly, but treacherously,
cruising a rural straight -a -way, was
anti a day's or night's outing.
"Back in those first days every
farmer had a snowmobile, so people
could pretty well go anywhere with
their machine," remembers Bruce
Howson, a Blyth Sno-Traveller since
1971 and the club's' trail co-
ordinator.
It was great fun, but not without its
hazards. Barbed-wire fences, parked
26 THE RURAL VOICE
or approaching vehicles, ditches and
covered obstacles could quickly take
the fun out of a run.
Then in the early.1980s the Ontario
Federation of Snowmobile Clubs
began the push for an organized trail
system, a sort of super highway
through the snow. The idea would be
that a network of trails would be
established through the province.
Agreements would be put into place
with property owners who would
allow trails to cross their land.
Snowmobilers running off these trails
could be charged with trespassing.
In turn, the trails would be properly
groomed. Speed limits would be put
in place and each club's volunteers
would be responsible for doing what
was necessary to make their trails
safer.
The new system of designated
trails, plus improved safety, was big
news for the industry and the sport.
"The grooming has been a drastic
change for snowmobiling and a big
aspect of that is signage. The focus is
on Safety," said Howson.
With agreements in place it also
protects the farmer on whose
property the trail crosses from any
liability. "He is fully insured through
OFSC."
While the old system could have
seen the farmer at fault if an injury
occurred while someone was
travelling by snowmobile across his
property, Howson laughs at the
notion. "Nobody back in those days
would have blamed the farmer.
Unfortunately, that's not the way it is
today and they need to be protected."
When clubs first began
approaching farmers about a winter