AMM gives support for snopass lobby

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This article was published 16/12/2019 (2340 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Many people will soon enjoy the thrill of riding their snowmobile through a snowy Manitoba landscape, but some are essentially getting a free ride on groomed trails.

Association of Manitoba Municipalities delegates recently voted to support Snowmobilers of Manitoba (Snoman’s) push to make buying a snopass mandatory instead of optional when registering a snowmobile in the province.

Snoman executive director Yvonne Rideout said of the approximately 35,000 machines registered with Manitoba Public Insurance in 2018-19, the owners of about 19,000 opted to add the $150 snopass charge to their bill. Of the $150, $132.86 goes to Snoman.

The snopass consists of an orange plate that is fastened to a snow machine.

While Rideout said gaining the AMM’s support is a good step, it’s up to the provincial conservation ministry to implement legislation to make snopass purchase mandatory. Snoman staff and board members are waiting to meet with conservation minister Sarah Guillemard.

Rideout said money raised through snopasses is passed on to the 53 clubs within Manitoba to reimburse volunteers for grooming and maintaining the more than 12,000 kilometres of trails.

“Our volunteers are getting tired,” she said. “We need more money to pay for the clubs to groom the trails.”

The current rate of reimbursement to clubs is $15 per kilometre, Rideout said. Last year, more kilometres were groomed as the snow conditions were good compared to a lack of snow that reduced activity in the two previous years.

According to Snoman, the exceptions to the mandatory snopass would be landowners operating a snowmobile on their own properties, commercially licensed fishermen and licensed trappers using snowmobiles for business, isolated communities in northern Manitoba that have no trails, and those who use snowmobiles to travel from home to work on a designated trail.

Rideout said the percentage of snowmobile owners who have purchased snopasses when registering their machines has remained stable over the past few years, but the costs of grooming and maintaining trails are increasing. She said more than half of the trail grooming machines used by clubs are over 20 years old and will need replacing.

Snoman estimates that over $300,000 in economic activity is generated through Manitoba’s snowmobile clubs and the trails are an important part of tourism. It is working with Travel Manitoba to promote the trail network, Rideout said.

“Some businesses have told us how important snowmobilers are to them,” Rideout said.

An annual Sled Without Borders weekend allows out-of-province snowmobilers and those from neighbouring U.S. states to use the Manitoba trails without having to buy a seven-day pass. This season’s event is set for Feb. 15 to 17, 2020.

Club Snow maintains a 500-kilometre trail system linking the communities of Portage La Prairie, Rosendale, St Ambroise, St. Claude, Rathwell , St. Laurent and Gladstone.

“There are only about 50 per cent of the people you see on the trail who have Snopasses,”said club director Allen Cuthbert, of Portage la Prairie. “Without buying a Snopass, it’s like they are stealing from others who do.”

“I think the Snopasses should be mandatory,” he said.

He said the orange plate is easier to see than the previous yellow-coloured plate, but the club members can’t stop snowmobilers without Snopass plates from riding on the trail.

Cuthbert said the club’s 35 members spend many volunteer hours grooming the trail between six and seven times a winter. “There’s a tremendous amount of volunteer work.”

He said a new grooming machine can cost $350,000 so most clubs buy a used machine and try to keep it running. The money that they get from Snoman through the purchase of Snopasses doesn’t come close to covering the full cost of annual trail grooming.

The Cross Country Snowdrifters maintains 300 kilometres of groomed trails along the Assiniboine River, and through Springstein, Starbuck, Fannystelle, Elie, Elm Creek, Brunkild, Domain, St. Agathe, La Salle, Oak Bluff and Headingley. Warm-up huts are located along the trail system.

Rob Nowosad, of Headingley, is a Snowdrifters member. He said he’s 100 per cent in favour of the snopass becoming mandatory for all riders who are using the trails. However, he acknowledged the issue is complex because some snowmobiles aren’t used on the trails. If that’s the case, he said, he doesn’t see the need for a snopass.

Another issue is the fact that some people own a few machines so would have to buy a snopass for each one as they aren’t transferrable, Nowosad said.

He believes that if the pass is made mandatory, some people who rarely or never use the groomed trail system won’t bother insuring their machine especially if the machine is older or not used often.

While he agrees that Manitoba clubs need money to cover trail grooming and maintenance costs, the only way to make sure that trail riders have a snopass is to have RCMP or Manitoba Conservation officers take an active role in enforcement, Nowosad said.

For more information on Snoman, see https://snoman.mb.ca