Snowmobilers in North Eastman will benefit from better and safer trails next year, after the Victoria Beach Snowdrifters Club received the final installment of a $16,200 federal cash injection for snowmobile trail maintenance.
The money was given out in a series of installments to the club, which maintains their snowmobile trail system of 225 kilometres from Victoria Beach to Hecla Island on Lake Winnipeg’s west side, and from Belair forest to Powerview-Pine Falls on the lake’s east side. The funding came from the National Trails Coalition, an organization made up of three other non-profit snowmobile and off-roading organizations.
According to Victoria Beach Snowdrifters’ president Chris Aldridge, the funding was used to make a number of improvements to the club’s trail system – flattening bumpy areas, smoothing out curves and cutting back some of the growth that tends to take over the trails after several years.
“We do some maintenance every year to some degree, but that’s usually just brush work, where we clear branches that fall, but this year we did a lot of levelling, and widening and grading and stuff like that,” said Aldridge.
He added that the work to improve the trails was something the club had been wanting to do but could never find the funding to make as much headway with the project as the grant has allowed them to.
“We got the money to do it all in one shot. It means safer trails, which is a big thing, and smoother trails – more enjoyable trails,” he said. “This is work that we wanted to do, but it would have taken us many more years to do it without the money from this grant.”
According to Aldridge, not only did the $16,200 allow for better trail maintenance, it also freed up funds for the club to undertake other projects. Ordinarily, the club is funded by the group Snoman – an umbrella group which funds all snowmobile clubs in the province – who funds clubs based on the number of kilometres of trails they groom, leaving little financial wiggle room.
“This money helps us free up money to build a groomer shelter, to store our trail groomer and other equipment,” he said. “Currently we have to lease a spot in another building, which isn’t the best way to do this.”
Aldridge, who is wrapping up his first year as club president, added that while the grant went a long way to helping the club do work on the trails, the club won’t be resting on its laurels for the next season, and is already at work making sure the trails will be in good shape when the snow falls again.
“Planning for this goes all year, because you’ve got to get ready for the next season,” he said. “Repairing your groomer, and doing maintenance and watching for trees coming down and getting out there to clean that up. It’s a lot of work to get this kind of stuff done.”
Follow Us