Snow PASS

ski-doo.com

Have you heard about Ski-Doo’s Snow PASS grant program? PASS stands for Protect. Access. Sustain. Support. and can garner grant funds for national, provincial, state and local organizations throughout North America committed to building a stronger snowmobile community. BRP’s heritage in supporting snowmobiling dates back to the first groomed trail systems with the original SnoPlan. The Snow PASS Program continues in that spirit by supporting the grassroots organizations making it all happen. To date, BRP has funded over $580,000 in projects for more than 100 groups across North America. The Delano, Minnesota SnowStormers club, and their Deep Woods Operation project are one of the many Snow PASS success stories. We’ve outlined the SnowStormers trials and tribulations to keep a main snowmobile corridor open as motivation for your organization to apply next season.

DELANO, MINNESOTA SNOWSTORMERS - OPERATION DEEP WOODS delanosnowstormers.com

2021 marked the 50th Anniversary of the Delano SnowStormers club which brought with it news from a local landowner who had revoked permission to use their land for the upcoming riding season. Hunting was their main priority and with extended seasons, snowmobile travel would cause a conflict. These types of situations are fairly common, so the SnowStormers removed a bridge and signage from the parcel but were unable to acquire permission from enough connecting parcels to reconnect the corridor trail. The SnowStormers are a member of the Wright County Snowmobile Association who designs new trail maps every two years, and November 2021 marked the date for a new updated trail map. Thus, it was imperative a new reroute be on the map to avoid any trespassing and user confusion issues which arise from a trail reroute or closure. The club works hand-inhand with the DNR to create, maintain and make safe, the trail system for all snowmobilers. The initial hope with the closure, was to keep corridor 32 connected by accessing a small area of the Wildlife Management Area (WMA) of which the DNR manages.

AUGUST 2021

SnowStormers club members met at the beginning of August to map a proposed trail reroute which club President, Duane Matter presented to their DNR contact. The club felt confident, but ultimately, the WMA Manager rejected any trail to be installed in that location. Disappointment and the possibility of a corridor closure were expressed, but the SnowStormers were told to use road right of way which the club felt would be unsafe and not feasible for large stretches of trail. During the middle of August, SnowStormers members (Mathias Jordan and Mark Lyrek) reported a new path was configured to hook up the Corridor 32 Trail with the approval and signed permission of eight new landowners. Club members quickly met for a walk through to look at the route and plan for two required bridges – and that’s when Operation Deep Woods began.

SEPTEMBER 2021

By the middle of September, members (Jered Brenny and Mathias Jordan) began blazing a new trail using a skidloader with a Diamond Brush Mower while an immediate call for help was sent to club members given the extreme amount of work ahead of them. A week later, a very thick 1.5 mile section of heavily wooded trail was roughed in. A lot of help was requested to clean up rubbish and clearing. Many hands pitched in and several hundred tree stumps were ground flush with the new trail bed. The new trail reroute required explicit guidance signage as it is new to the area corridor route. This work was to get done well ahead of hunting season, even though archery season had already started, but the new trail reroute landowners gave SnowStormers the go-ahead to continue work for the next couple weeks. Two new creek crossing bridges were spanned, including a large 30 foot bridge to be moved from a holding area. The other, was built on-site over a 20 foot creek crossing. By the last week of September, club members arrived with ATVs and UTVs to begin final stump, brush and tree trimming clean-up and trail signage which would last several weekends into October.

OCTOBER 2021

Nearing the end of October, the 30’ bridge was moved safely to its new site via tractor and 30’ trailer in the early morning hours. It was straightened, and slid into position.

THE FINALE

On Saturday, October 30, members met at the work site to finish a few remaining tasks on the large 4-mile reroute of Corridor 32. All signage was completed through the woodland areas and the trail is officially wide open and smooth! The SnowStormers would like to thank everyone involved helping make this monumental task possible, including their hardworking club members, the landowners and especially SkiDoo for providing the Snow PASS grant.