The much talked about "Socio-Economic Impact" of the loss of the Northern Ontario Forest Industry now has a stat.
Headline of page A5 of the Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal, Friday October 12, 2012 reads:
"Snowmobile Clubs Lose Trails, Gear"
Carl Clutchey is with the North Shore Bureau of this paper, he interviewed the North of Superior Snowmobile Association president in Nakina.
She said, "We've really been pinched by the high level of unemployment in our region, which is something we have no control over."
HOW BIG A PINCH?
In order to drive your snowmobile over the groomed trails of the district, NOSA charges a fee of $250 for a yearly permit.
District 16
Trail permits sold in the year 2000: = 3,500
At $250 a pop that's $875,000.00
Trail permits sold in the year 2011: = 311
At $250 a pop that's $77,750
District 16 Woes
District 16 trails that covered 2,200 km in past years are now down to 800 km of groomed trails.
District 16 now only has operating clubs in Longlac, Geraldton and Marathon.
Thunder Bay transferred to District 17 - west of the city.
The Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs only provides groomers to Clubs that sell at least 50 trail permits a year.
50 x $250 = $ 12,500
This year the OFSC is removing 10 groomers from District 16
10 groomers x $12,500 = $125,000 missing from some organizations just in District 16.
GAS DOLLARS
If at today's price of gas ( a little over $6 per gallon) a snowmobile used only 10 gallons those 3500 permits would equal $210,000.00 in gas sales; the 311 permits would equal $18,660.00 in gas sales.
OUR WOES ARE YOUR WOES
With the destruction of our Forest Industry, Tourism was proposed as a prop for our economy in our one-industry towns that lost their Industry.
The Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs was great for winter tourism with all their connected communities. All those groomed trails connecting one Snowmobile District with another. These Clubs and their groomers were mainly operated by VOLUNTEERS. Volunteers are people and if their jobs are gone, they have to leave to find work. So when a Club closes, the trails un-connect, the tourist that may have come to that community, passes on and on.
Some Clubs may have been in trouble before the Mills closed: paying for trail permits and then having no snow to sled on half the time -some winters- cheesed a few members off . That is another "Beyond Our Control" deal. Except they were hoping for half their money back.
Some Clubs had trouble with local By-laws restricting operation of their snowmobile within their communities.
Some Clubs had trouble connecting their trails if land owners objected, but for the most part cooperation was there.
THE BEST THING TO DO
If you want to snowmobile north of Superior check out the local web pages or Chamber of Commerce to see if the trails are open - that's if there is SNOW.
Snow has not been a consistent problem as much as warm temperatures and open rivers and streams. That having been said, most of the TOP trails could have been groomed if the volunteers and equipment was consistently available. Our problem is that the OFSC priced itself out of the local market and alienated most of the sledders. You don't need trails here due to the logging and forest access roads. The trails are nice but when they went up almost 200% in price over 10 years, when the punitive sanctions and regulations imposed by the OFSC drove off the club executives and when the economic situation nose dived, it was only a matter of time. If we want trails in the North, we wil have to form our own alliance and pressure MTO to give us the registration money the OFSC is currently lobbying for.
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