Manitoba Trail Funding

[Swiss Sledder]

Can one of you guys comment on this? What is going on?

www.hardcoresledder.com/forums/index.ph ... pic=154025

 

[Sled Dog]

Does not sound good. The trails were not that good when we were on the Manitoba side of the ducks when we went riding but yet on the Sask side they were great. In fact the trail running from Madge to Childs lake was so rough lots of people were avoiding it and Childs Lake was missing out on lots of traffic. I dont know how Sask is doing it but as long as your sled is registered it is ok to use their trails. Why isnt the gambling funds each province collects not being used to help our sport? I bet the cross country skiers get funding from the province for free.

 

[srxtwins]

This is a serious issue that comes up from time to time. In Manitoba the trail use is not equal....the eastern region sees the greater amount of traffic by far. However because of our governments lack of interest in supporting this viable aspect of the tourism industry the club which are private organizations are forced to compete with each other for what little scarps of funding there is. The end result of this is a very fragile system to distribute the money raised for trail funding and many clubs not getting enough to run and maintain equipment. This year has been particularly bad for eastern clubs due to groomer losses and now the rest of the clubs in the province have chosen to make an issue of funding distribution. As I see it if the eastern clubs cease operations the entire system will fall apart due to that area being the reason for a large percentage of the funds being raised. If this did indeed happen we would see one maybe two years of hard times as the Manitoba trail system as we know it dies. From this death the dedicated snowmobilers of this province will once again unite and likely build a system that is stronger and fairer for all.

It is too early in the battle to determine what the end result is going to be but we have a system that is need of repair so however tragic the immediate results are, the end results could very well lead to a better system for all.

 

[Swiss Sledder]

OK Brian, I will keep an eye on this as we approach the next season. I hope to get back to Manitoba and riding on groomed trails.