MORE INFO AS IT BECOMES AVAILABLE;

November 8, 2007

To All Snowmobile Grant Sponsors;

Dear Grant Sponsors,

This morning a meeting was held in Lansing, MI with the following people. Keith Charters, Chair Natural Resource Commission, Frank Wheatlake Commissioner, Mindy Koch, Deputy Director DNR, Lynn Boyd, Chief FMFM, Jim Radabaugh, State trails Coordinator. Other attendees were myself, Ken Scott, Lake Gogebic, Don Reed, Seney, Martin Cottle, Sault Ste. Marie, and Bruce Wood, Charlevoix.

The meeting was held to discuss the last item of the 2008 Snowmobile Grant Handbook. These sections were (b) Equipment Purchased 2002-2005 and (c) Equipment Purchased 2001 and older. Many of you expressed concerns for many different reasons on these two topics. The meeting was civil between all parties and each party gave their reasons and views on these issues. When all was said and done, all parties have agreed on course of action that may affect all sponsors differently. The participants at the meeting felt that this agreement will be workable for all.

I do not have the exact words in a document yet, the department is working on it now, this is my view.

On equipment purchased in 2002 -2005 the statement “MUST be traded in” will change to “MAY”.

If equipment is sold or traded the sponsor will get 100% of their original 40% or 25% investment returned to them. If the Sponsor has a note on that equipment for more that the % returned the program will cover that amount over the % returned.

On equipment purchased 2001 or earlier, the statement “MUST be traded in” will change to “MAY”. again when the equipment is sold the sponsor will get their original % back from the program. Any additional money received over the original % may only be spent on grant supported items.

At the conclusion of the meeting the department informed us that they had taken a poll of the sponsors to ask if they were going to sign the 2008 Grant Agreement. They told me that they were concerned that I and MSA were intimidating many sponsors into saying that they would not sign. I know that there is still a lot of confusion about this issue but let me state this.

I as Chair of the SAC committee committed the rest of the SAC committee to be the fact finder and eventually the negotiators of all of the issues related to the handbook. The SAC committee members put lots of their time and effort to doing what the majority of the sponsors wanted to see remedied in the handbook. When we heard of discontent in the sponsors and the threat of not grooming we all felt it was our duty to get the issues taken care of. Our goal is twofold, to make the Michigan Trails the best there is, and to do this make the Grant Sponsors feel good about what they do for us! We don’t intimidate, we respond.

Bill Manson
Executive Director
Michigan Snowmobile Association

Cathy Clementz, TASA – cclementz@lighthouse.net
Newberry
November 08, 2007
I JUST RECIEVED THE FOLLOWING INFO FROM BILL MANSON, MSA;Snowmobile Industry Avoids
Trail Shutdown for ’07-’08 Season
DNR & Trail Volunteers Poised to Sign Agreements to Open Trails Dec. 1
Grand Rapids, Mich. – Today the Michigan Snowmobile Association (MSA) announced that trail grooming clubs, known as grant sponsors, reached an agreement with the Department of Natural Resources to avoid a shutdown of Michigan’s snowmobile trails this winter. A prior disagreement regarding ownership rights of grooming equipment threatened to cripple the industry.

“The grant sponsors had very serious equipment ownership concerns that were addressed under the handbook agreement. We were at a critical stage where it could have gone either way, so I am relieved that the industry and the businesses that rely upon it will thrive this winter,” said Bill Manson, Executive Director.

The handbook agreement means that sixty-seven grant sponsors will sign this year’s “Grant Sponsor Handbook” with the DNR. The handbook establishes a binding financial agreement to administer the trail grooming snowmobile program. Trail grooming is absolutely essential to the snowmobiling industry. Trails must be groomed, have visible signage, and be free of debris for safe riding. Moreover, it is mandatory for access to many remote trail networks throughout the state.

The grooming program is funded entirely by snowmobile trail users, and not from tax dollars. User fees are administered by the DNR so the grooming clubs must get reimbursed for purchasing tractors and other equipment. The equipment is very expensive requiring many of the non-profit groups to obtain personal bank loans for purchase and maintenance.

The trail grooming program still would not be possible without the volunteer services of the grant sponsor clubs, which are very passionate about making Michigan’s trails the best in the country. The clubs keep 6,400 miles of trail network operational; last year the grant sponsors groomed over 352,048 trail miles, during a season with poor snowfall.

The trail grooming agreement was facilitated by members of the Natural Resources Commission. Chairman Keith Charters and Commissioner Frank Wheatlake played a key role in resolving the dispute.

“The MSA is thankful for their leadership on this very important issue, and we applaud their service to the public. We would also like to acknowledge the commitment on the part of the DNR to reach this agreement,” said Manson.

Acting on behalf of the DNR was Mindy Koch, Lynn Boyd, and Jim Radabaugh.
Snowmobiling is a crucial segment of Michigan’s tourism economy. It generates over $1 billion annually for the state’s economy through purchase of related goods and services like snowmobiles, equipment, food, lodging, and gasoline. Over 7,000 direct jobs are supported by the state’s snowmobile industry.

“Snowmobiling is absolutely essential to our winter tourism season. We look forward to a
successful snowmobiling season that will benefit the entire tourism industry,” said Manson.

The trail grooming sponsors are comprised of snowmobile clubs, business groups, or a combination of both. Snowmobile trails in Michigan are open from December 1st through March 31st.

hallalujah!

The word is out that there is a meeting of the DNR today (Thursday) that will discuss the trail grooming contracts between the DNR and the Michigan Snowmobile Clubs. We have posted below some information from the message boards regarding the issue. If you have any updated information on this issue please post it here. Thanks.

From the MSA website – (from an article by Jim Duke)

When the first draft of the “revised Handbook” was presented to SAC members, not one deletion that was requested could be found. In fact, not only did the revision look identical to the earlier model, now there were additional objectionable issues to be worked on. After two more trips to Lansing to meet with the DNR players and multiple revisions to the “revised” copy submitted, there still have been very few changes to benefit the sponsors. We seem to be getting nowhere. All in all, it appears that we are very close to seeing groomed trails become a thing of the past.

As this goes to print, the majority of grant sponsors are very dissatisfied with the program in providing adequate compensation in return of labors and sacrifices. Approximately half of the 64 sponsors have expressed intent to refuse signing of the grant contracts. Should this happen, we may be riding on ungroomed trails this season. This will be disastrous to the winter economy for those who so desperately depend on it.For More, Click Here