SNOWMOBILER Online New York January 2017 The Official Publication of the New York State Snowmobile Association Great Stuff Inside! Help save the Hemlocks ~ p. 3 Where do your registration dollars go? ~ p.4 News from around the trails SPECIAL SECTION ~ p.11 - 15 NYSSA Scholarship Info, ~ p. 14 A note from Deputy Sheriff Mike Leviker ~ p. 16 SLEDNY Forum Registration is open! ~ p. 18
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SNOWMOBILER Online
New York January 2017
The Official Publication of the New York State Snowmobile Association
Great Stuff Inside!
Help save the Hemlocks ~ p. 3
Where do your registration dollars go? ~ p.4
News from around the trails SPECIAL SECTION ~ p.11 - 15
Contact NYSSA: PO Box 1040, Pine Bush, NY 12566-1040 * EMAIL - [email protected] January 2017 - Page 3 TOLL FREE: (888) 624-3849 * FAX: (888) 317-2441 * www.nysnowmobiler.com
President’s Message by Rosanne Warner, NYSSA President 315-697-8130 [email protected]
Happy New Year!!
As we all know, the start of the season for many parts of the state has been a slow one again this year, but I am still holding out hope that we will get some sizable winter storms soon that will fill the trails with snow and snowmobilers.
Since the start of the season, I have been up to ride trails in the northern parts of Oneida County and into Lewis County, and my hats go off to those clubs up on the hill for their dili-gent work in marginal conditions. The trails are hard and flat and people are riding, now we just need some new snow on top of that base.
My trail report for the month is this; although there are trails open, there are many areas with considerable icing. Please be mindful of the corners and the possible icy conditions that exist under the snow and SLOW DOWN.
Due to the lack of widespread snow throughout the state, traffic within the Adirondack Park and on Tug Hill has increased. Please make an effort to stay on the trails, respect landowners and other riders by staying on your own side of those trails. Please remember: Safety First - Always.
For the rest of the state outside of Tug Hill, my house included, there is little to no snow coverage and that has really put a damper on riding for those without time or trailer to head north. Even my own club only opened their trails for a measly 24 hours before the warm rains came and washed away all of our snow forc-ing the trails to close again. This season has been better than last year’s so far, but not by much. Let’s just hope that February brings us some snow and cold.
In the meantime, clubs have been busy hosting events and fundraisers to help offset some of their costs. Please take time to check out your club’s website or Facebook page to see if they are having any events that you can help support. The clubs need the assistance of their members now more than ever.
Speaking of clubs hosting; there are still opportunities available for those who need to take a Snowmobile Safety Class.
For a full list, please visit: https://parks.ny.gov/recreation/snowmobiles/safety-courses.aspx
Please keep up the snow dancing, it sure can’t hurt. Stay safe and see you on the trails.
Hemlock Woolly Adelgid – Invasive Species Alert S N O W M O B I L E R S H E L P N E E D E D ! !
The Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (HWA) is an invasive insect species native to East Asia. They feed by sucking the sap from hemlock
and spruce trees which has resulting in the death of trees all over the east coast. In New York, these bugs have become a destructive
pest that threatens the lives of the trees that line our snowmobile trails. Unlike most pests, the Woolly Algid is most active notice-
able in the winter.
Members of the snowmobile community can help by being environmentally conscious and assist in identifying the areas where these
invaders can be found.
When you are out riding this winter and see hemlock or spruce trees that look like they have snow on them, please take a closer look.
If they are in fact the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid, please make an effort to report it.
Contact NYSSA: PO Box 1040, Pine Bush, NY 12566-1040 * EMAIL - [email protected] January 2017 - Page 6 TOLL FREE: (888) 624-3849 * FAX: (888) 317-2441 * www.nysnowmobiler.com
From the Desk of the Executive Director By Dominic Jacangelo, Executive Director [email protected] 888-624-3849 x104
Trail Funding: How does it happen!
All funded trails within NYS start with snowmobile owners registering their sled. Every dollar of the registration except $5, goes into the Snowmobile Trail Development and Maintenance Fund. The Fund is used to support snowmobile trail development and maintenance through a system of local assistance grants which are provided by municipal local government to the local club. The State intended to provide the clubs with 70% of their funding after November 1, but many clubs do not see any of their money until they are well into their snowmobile season in January and some clubs don’t see their first money until after many of the trails are already closed in the spring.
The maximum amount each club can receive is mostly up to the local sponsoring municipality, but for the most part it is based on a formula that multiplies the number of miles of designated snowmobile trail within the municipality by a fixed dollar amount per mile. In the past that cap has been a maximum of $315 and this year is at $285 for the largest trails. In addition those trails in high snow areas are eligible for almost twice the standard amount.
The state has set up for the clubs an online system to record their eligible trail development and maintenance expenses during the season. While a club on some trails may be eligible for about $530 per mile, they still have to demonstrate to the state that they actually spent that. Eligible expenses include the actual cost of materials, various hourly rates for those times they run the groomer and an allowance for volunteer labor as well as other expenses. During the 2014-15 season, Jim Rolf and I did a comparison of what was submitted on the online system compared to what the state makes available and found that club expenses exceeded state assistance by more than $3.2 million.
Registration fees are the backbone of the sport supplying solid funding for the clubs to do their work. But as the previous number demonstrates that without your membership fees and fundraising, the clubs could not do what they do.
NYSSA’s role in trail funding is to advocate for the Clubs to ensure that they get all the state funding that they are eligible for and to ensure that the Trail Fund is properly funded and used. Last spring we were able to convince the Legislature and the Executive that the program needed additional assistance and through our efforts the amount the state kept from every registration was lowered from $10 to $5. In a good year that will raise what is available in the fund by a half million dollars. Unfortunately for this year, we are still paying the price of last year’s very mild winter and the loss of 30,000 registrations.
Our legislative priority for 2017 will be to increase the fine for riding without a registration and provide more money for local law enforcement to do its job of keeping scofflaws off the trail.
As stated above, our entire sport is dependent on snowmobile registrations and club support. Please register and please do not tolerate others riding without a valid registration. They are stealing from all of us!
Contact NYSSA: PO Box 1040, Pine Bush, NY 12566-1040 * EMAIL - [email protected] January 2017 - Page 8 TOLL FREE: (888) 624-3849 * FAX: (888) 317-2441 * www.nysnowmobiler.com
Trail Coordinator Report by Jim Rolf, NYSSA Trail Coordinator 888-624-3849 x 102 [email protected]
CONTINUING THE SEASON, DESPITE THE WEATHER
REMINDER:
Club TRAIL OPEN/CLOSED Notifications
Clubs are updating their websites and other
social media locations like Facebook much more this
year, so that riders can go be property notified of the trail opening information. Conversely, if during the
season clubs are forced to close a trail or trails down for any reason, those same sites should be updated
with accurate info right away so riders can have a con-sistent and reliable place to look up such information.
MVGIS (www.nysnowmobilewebmap.com) offers to clubs the opportunity to self-report their trail
status. Those people that use that Phone App as well
as the website can then see for themselves if trails are closed or not, as well as other new features that this
site offers. Check it out!
The NYS Groomer Show in Salisbury
On January 14th, I stopped over to the Salis-bury Ridgerunners clubhouse in Salisbury Center to
answer any questions that their Groomer Operator Safety Course attendees may have had, and to see
some of the latest grooming machines and drags that equipment manufacturers from around the NorthEast
brought. I have to say, this class is always VERY
LARGE! And once again, the longtime instructors Fred Carpenter and Frank Boepple did a great job of
enlightening a bunch of club volunteers on the safest methods of grooming and other important safety as-
pects that operators should know before their respec-
tive clubs put them behind the steering wheel to train then allow to groom their trails.
Some new equipment was showcased by a number of different vendors. I was able to drive a
New Holland tractor with drag and discussed with some of the club attendees of their personal equipment
choices going forward, who wish to step up to newer and even bigger machines to maintain their trails. The
Salisbury club volunteers all should be thanked for their
efforts, as snowmobiles rolled in and out the entire time I was there to enjoy the clubhouse food. If you
have never been to this Central NY/Adirondacks event, look for it again next January and make plans to check
it out.
Trail Safety
There have been a number of fatal snowmobile accidents so far this season. Only 2 were on actual trails, while 3 were on lakes in the Adirondacks, 1 was in their own family yard, and 2 were in fields not even near trails. ONE fatal accident is one too many … but as these numbers and locations point out, the safest place to ride snowmobiles is on the marked trails. No doubt! But in any case, we snowmobilers need to take the responsibility for our own actions and SLOW DOWN! Please let’s not hear about any more unfortunate serious accidents! Slow down, enjoy the ride, and get back from each trip SAFELY!
Jim Rolf with Lenny Scofield (Mountain Grooming, VT)
test-driving a New Holland T5 tractor with the Soucy
Contact NYSSA: PO Box 1040, Pine Bush, NY 12566-1040 * EMAIL - [email protected] January 2017 - Page 9 TOLL FREE: (888) 624-3849 * FAX: (888) 317-2441 * www.nysnowmobiler.com
RIDER INFORMATION
ANOTHER REMINDER: Riding on Roads and Across Vehicle Bridges
Whenever the situation arises that you must legally ride on the roadway for a short distance, NYS law
mandates that snowmobile traffic MUST ride with the
flow of vehicle traffic in single file and as far right on the roadway as possible. Also, when riding alongside road-
ways on the road surface or on the outside banks of roadways, riders are urged to dim your headlights to
oncoming vehicle traffic. Not only is that respectful of the car drivers, it’s safer for them as well. Issues of
riding down roadways against traffic or NOT in single file end up as complaints coming back to the clubs to deal with.
Where the situation arises and clubs are using the “outside banks” of roadways, riders MUST be sure to stay off
the roads and on the outside of the peak of the snowbanks. NYS Law allows this on most roadways, so please don’t
press the issue where signage in the area warns riders to adhere to the law. Clubs mostly work very well with their local municipalities, and only use road shoulders or outer banks when every other possibility for a trail is not available or
when a re-route is being worked on…having riders comply with signage helps in the interim to keep that working rela-tionship positive and also prevents the Law Enforcement Officers from having to ticket those that can’t follow the signs
and ride on these un-opened roads.
AGAIN…not only alongside the roads, but on the trails at night too snowmobilers are urged to DIM YOUR HEAD-
LIGHTS TO ONCOMING VEHICLES AND SNOWMOBILE TRAFFIC! And to groomers as well! In the many years that I have ridden, it seems to be a more common problem recently while riding at night to see the oncoming sleds not dim
their lights so others passing by can see safely. Please, think about this and become familiar with your sled’s dimmer
switch. It’s about respect and safety!
Take A Friend Snowmobiling THIS YEAR
NOTE: Mother Nature and Jack Frost have not been
cooperating (outside of the lake-effect areas) these past couple
of weeks, resulting in the first three TAFS events getting post-poned or cancelled (see back page).
President’s Week and the two weekends surrounding it (Feb. 11 to 20, 2017), is “National Take a Friend Snowmobiling
Week”. This link is to the brochure about the national event: http://www.snowmobile.org/docs/2017-take-a-friend-
snowmobiling.pdf .
NYSSA has dates for NYS events hosted by clubs and the
association to cross-promote, here:
http://nysnowmobiler.com/ride-ny-trails/takeafriend/ . NYSSA hopes to have our local clubs’ members participate in this pro-
motional campaign by bringing in potential new snowmobilers into this sport (or maybe back into the sport) to show-off the
newest machines from the manufacturers and the great trails
our State offers. Get new people involved in snowmobiling!
(Continued from page 8)
(Continued on page 10)
You Ride. Do you Volunteer?
Reports from clubs have been coming in since last
month of rain impacting many trails as well as trees and large
limbs down from the very windy storms that we have been experiencing recently. If you are reading this and like the
trails you get to ride on in your area or any other area, the club that maintains those trails would LOVE to have some
additional volunteer help clearing the trails, maintenance them during the season, and grooming. They also would like
help from riders who pass by when the trails are open with
enough snow to remove the limbs that are down and to notify them of trees down that need removing.
Contact NYSSA: PO Box 1040, Pine Bush, NY 12566-1040 * EMAIL - [email protected] January 2017 - Page 10 TOLL FREE: (888) 624-3849 * FAX: (888) 317-2441 * www.nysnowmobiler.com
TRAIL SIGNAGE and GROOMER TRAINING CLASSES
Groomer Operator Safety Classes
As discussed above, these groomer operator safety classes teach potential new operators the very basics of
what is entailed in grooming operations. Many State agencies require that any operator who grooms on their managed lands need to attend this course. NYS Law advises clubs to have their operators take this course annually, to strive to
keep operators updated on their own machinery. The class does NOT certify an attendee that they are a groomer, as
that is each individual clubs’ own decision after internal training. But having new volunteers offering to get involved is very important to clubs. Thank you for attending a class! A class will be held at the 2017 SLEDNY Educational Forum in
Lake Placid, on Friday, April 28. Register here!
Safety Signs on Snowmobile Trails
NYSSA is continuing to promote an education initiative on snowmobile trail signage going for-
ward. This year the point being presented is that ALL yellow signs with black lettering and/or illustra-
tions mean that an impending change in the trail characteristic should be expected…and that you should recognize them as a cautionary warning to slow down, fully prepared to travel safety past
such a trail situation. Signs such as “Culvert Ahead”, “Stay On Trail”, “Divided Trail”, and “DANGER: Barbed Wire Fence” are examples of these yellow cautionary signs that one will see while snowmobiling on the marked
trails where riders need to read the signs and recognize that it is their responsibility to comprehend them.
To go along with this safety education initiative on signage, NYSSA will again be promoting safety on the trails
which showcases the placement of one’s own responsibility while snowmobiling onto the owner/operator, where NYS
Law places it. Look for these messages/brochures and educational initiatives throughout the winter. And as always … STAY RIGHT and BETWEEN THE STAKES!
STATE-LAND NEWS
NYS DEC UMPs
There were quite a few DEC Unit Management Plans (UMPs) that we submitted comments on over the past
few months and sent out notices to the clubs, asking them to forward on to their memberships. We also posted most of them on our Facebook page and website. Some UMP’s don’t change anything to do with snowmobile trails, and we
don’t get any negative feedback from the local clubs, so NYSSA just simply submits a “letter of support” to DEC for
their plan and does not always send those out. Having public comments submitted on these land management plans is a must for our user-group if we want the State to hear us and keep “our” State-owned or maintained lands open for
snowmobile access and recreational use. We hear from quite a few members who send in their comments as well … and to them, we certainly appreciate the efforts. Remember, “It’s YOUR sport … Promote it positively!” as something
that is a fact we all should continue to promote within. It is important to get those public comments submitted to the
appropriate State officials to ensure that our collective voices are heard LOUD AND CLEAR in Albany! We will keep all updated as to the outcomes of these submitted opinions.
PROTECT the Adirondacks Lawsuit vs. NY State DEC News/Update
Nothing new to report at this time. As we hear, we will pass any new info on.The final court outcome will shape what will happen with future Community Connector Trail development projects by the NYS DEC, as other trail
projects have come to a halt as the Court decision is awaited.
Adirondack Rail Trail News/Update
NYSSA was alerted to a potential issue for the winter season along the NYS-owned Remsen-Lake Placid Travel Corridor segment between Big Moose Station and Tupper Lake, where the NYS DOT has let a bid contract out for tree
removal and brush spraying. It is our belief that this project during the winter months would be severely detrimental to
the snow-base on the Corridor, a designated snowmobile trail under NYSSA’s use-permit, for the Adirondack communi-ties and businesses. A good base was being built-up due to the early amount of snow prior to this recent warm-up,
and when winter starts back up more snowmobile traffic and business will be a welcomed sight in the North Country. We will continue to monitor and work with DOT to push this project back to after the snow is gone off the Travel Corri-
dor. Nothing new to report regarding the RR vendor’s lawsuit vs. NYS DEC & DOT since last month’s update. The next
Court date on this lawsuit is actually January 30th. We will give updates after that.
Contact NYSSA: PO Box 1040, Pine Bush, NY 12566-1040 * EMAIL - [email protected] January 2017 - Page 14 TOLL FREE: (888) 624-3849 * FAX: (888) 317-2441 * www.nysnowmobiler.com
Downstate Helping Upstate
Greenwood Lake Snowballers, a club located in “downstate” Orange County, has made several donations to upstate clubs. Preferring to stay out of the spotlight, and not present the checks at the NYSSA Forum Awards Banquet, they simply sent checks to the following clubs last fall.
DRAG of Speculator $500
Turin Ridge Riders $500
Indian Lake Snowarriors $500
TC Riders Snowmobile Club $500
They also make donations to the local senior center, police department, fire department, and EMS.
WHY? Some ignorant riders actually cut through this
landowner’s fence, riding through a young
orchard that clearly was fenced off for a reason.
We ask all of our members to ride responsibly, be
respectful of the landowners who have (and who
have NOT) given permission to ride on their land,
and to report behavior like this to the local
authorities if you encounter it.
Attention students and parents! Application Deadline
Contact NYSSA: PO Box 1040, Pine Bush, NY 12566-1040 * EMAIL - [email protected] January 2017 - Page 16 TOLL FREE: (888) 624-3849 * FAX: (888) 317-2441 * www.nysnowmobiler.com
A note from Deputy Sheriff Michael K. Leviker, Lewis County Sheriff's Department .
This article appeared in “Cats Pride Magazine”
many years ago.
...It still holds true today.
My friends and I are just like many of you. We have jobs. We hunt, fish, watch football, and go to field days. We could probably switch places with any of you and fit right into your group.
We watch the weather forecasts waiting for snow and read all the snowmobile magazines to drool over the new sleds. We have all entered corners too fast, and have blown corners one time or another. We laughed at slow riders putting along at 20 mph.
Our youth ended February 14, 2003.
At 11 am in a small town about 10 miles south of Crandon, Wisconsin, my friend Jim Smolen died. He was only 28. He died within a half mile of home. Accident reconstruction showed that he hit a stump and was thrown into a tree. At least he didn’t suffer.
It is believed that excessive speed contributed to the accident, although the sled wasn’t wrecked. It looked like he just stepped off of it.
Jim had been riding snowmobiles many years. We have all seen the articles in the newspapers that give little detail; letting us assume it was an inexperienced rider, totally drunk, on a brand new, big-displacement sled.
What the newspaper articles don't’ tell is how it affects everyone else. They don’t describe the horror of seeing a close friend lying in the snow bleeding from the eyes, ears, nose and mouth. They don’t show the blank stare in his unblinking eyes as you try remembering the CPR learned in high school. They don’t convey the helplessness of waiting for an ambulance.
The stories don’t mention the men who hadn’t prayed in years, but who dropped to their knees and prayed. Or the SICK feeling you got while waiting for the doctors to say the news you already knew but still can’t bring yourself to hear.
The stories don’t describe the flood of emotions as you call your friend’s wife and parents in the middle of the night to tell them their spouse and son has died. They don’t mention that none of his friends slept for days.
I’m not asking for speed limits or other redactions, just that you please be careful. SLOW DOWN just a little. SKIP THAT BEER and have a soda instead. Ask yourself if it is worth the consequences of racing through the woods. Your friends will wait for you. DEATH IS FOREVER. I know you think this only happens to “the other guy”. So did WE.