News

Possible trail to close

By Scott Wagar

11/04/2014

With winter just around the corner snowmobilers from in and around the state are getting ready to hit the trails and a have a fun wintertime. However, the Peace Garden Trail is going to need some help if the trail is going to stay open.

In the Bottineau area, local residents have been grooming the trail for snowmobilers since the early part of the 1970s.

Today, that continues with what Snowmobile North Dakota (SND) calls the Peace Garden Trail, which consists of 177 miles through the Turtle Mountains.

However, the local Roaring 20’s snowmobile club, which has been grooming the trail has become a group of older men who have cared for the trail for decades, but are now getting to the age where they cannot give the trail the attention it needs.

“I’m the youngest guy in the club and I’m in my late 40s,” said David Vad. “The rest of the club members are in retirement age and most of them now winter down south. We have cared for the trail for over 20 years and we feel it is time to turn it over to some other people.”

For the past few years, the Roaring 20’s club has been trying to find a group of people who would take over the grooming, but the club has not been able to find any individuals to take it over.

Vad stated that with the small number of individuals the club has to groom trail, if the group cannot find some individuals soon grooming the trail might have to stop completely.

“There are just not enough of us left to do the work that needs to be done,” Vad said. “We need other people to take over and help out.”  

With no groomed trail, this means there will be no organized trail for snowmobilers to sled on in the Turtle Mountains, which also means an economic downfall in the area which snowmobilers bring to the area.

According to Snowmobile North Dakota, economic impact of snowmobile recreation assists communities that have trails.
Some of the financial numbers given by SND are as follows:

● The average snowmobiler spends $4,000 each year on snowmobile related recreation
● Snowmobilers raise over $3 million for charity annually
● North Dakota snowmobilers spend seven nights a year in a lodge to enjoy the recreation
● Snowmobilers in North Dakota spend over $800 annually on parts, apparel and gear
● North Dakota snowmobilers travel cost exceed over $1,200 annually

To resolve the problem of finding groomers to care for the snowmobile trail in the Turtle Mountains, a public meeting was held last month to see if the Roaring 20’s club could find individuals to take their place.

However, the meeting was not well attended and the club was unable to get anyone to commit to assisting with the trail.
The Peace Garden Trail Association, along with Snowmobile North Dakota, will have another public meeting on Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. in the east room at the Bottineau Armory.

“We need people at this meeting because if we do not find people to take over I don’t know what is going to happen with the trail system,” Vad said.

Vad added that he still plans to assist with the trail system, but only if other individuals are willing to take over the annual project.

The history of snowmobile clubs in the Bottineau area started around 1969 with the Metigoshe Family Snowmobile Club and had a pinnacle of 80 families in the club.

For the first couple of years as a club, the members marked the trail, but after that time the members started sharing grooming duties for the trail.

In 1974, the Metigoshe Family Snowmobile Club started state affiliation with the SND. However, the club dissolved in the late 1990s.

At that time, the Roaring 20’s club organized and its members have been sharing the grooming duties since that time to the present, along with grooming the trail and placing signs.

Vad is encouraging individuals to attend the Nov. 12 public meeting, even if individuals only have the smallest interest in taking over the grooming project.

“We want as many people as we can get there,” Vad said. “We want the trail system to stay open, but we need people to help out, too.”