WI residents have to pay for WI trail pass now!!!

[yamahaguy]

I hope the trail stickers are orange this year so they match my LE colors better. I like paying $45 per sled to support the trail system. Our local economy depends on the snowmobilers in the winter months.

 

[boatload]

the part I dont get is why over complicate it just raise the reg cost by 10 bucks a year and call it a day now someone has to do all the work of trail passes and you name it when the state could have just charged a little more and sent that money to the clubs???

Exactly! The cost associated with this doesn't bother me. It's still a bargain for the great trail system we have in Wisconsin. What does bother me is now I have to put another sticker on my sled, on the windshield. I've got 2 different windshields I change out depending on the weather. Now if I go to the U.P., which trail pass sticker do I put in the middle of which windshield? DNR could have made it simpler for us residents. Don't know why but this new sticker thing just gets my goat. Maybe because I have all these boat landing permit stickers lined up on the windshield of my truck every year.

 

[yamahaguy]

I'm not sure about Wisconsin but in Michigan You are allowed to put the sticker directly below or above the headlight. Personally I don't like the windshield option because windshields break easy, below headlight on the hood never breaks.

 

[whitedust1]

IDK why this is news CapStep has been going on for years pushed thru by AWSC. Their reason was to raise more cash for grooming & try to get riders to join clubs via discounted trail pass of $10 per sled. DNR had nothing to do with this and legislation went thru & passed in Madison. This program has a setting sun if it does not work or show any benefit to all involved. So far many are joining clubs but who knows if they will be active members? I have my WI trail pass.... it is red & way too big ..imo... so waiting for MI permit to be released then will place both in best location on my windshield.

 

[cannondale27]

A replacement sticker is $3 so if windshield breaks put pieces of sticker n pocket and then replace when possible. The sticker is not numbered so it wouldn't be a bad idea to get passes for all sleds owned and don't put it on till needed. I wish we had a metal plate with small sticker on it. Just a wish. But guys this is helping get people joining clubs and even if only one out of ten new members help out even for a hr I and many smart Club Members will be very thankful.

 

[whitedust1]

http://johndee.com/
Lots of good WI trail pass info here if link works. Go to Misc. on discussion board WI Trail Pass topic there.

 

[STAIN]

The only thing that gets me is the trail in the area I live always suck, and this will not change that...................With that said I can now B I T C H about crappy trails and I won't have to hear someone say join a club and help make them better, well I don't have to join a club because I have to pay a fee that is supposed to help maintain these trails..................Like others have said just raise the reg. fee and pass some cash onto the clubs.

This one county Jefferson by me always has good trails and I don't have any problem put money in a jar to help them, but Racine, Kenosha, and Waukesha and kiss it, the trail suck and now I can complain about, which in the big picture is D U M B.................But this is Wisconsin!!!!!

Just paying for a trail pass, and NOT joining a club, doesn't give you the "right" to bitch about the trails!! In this state anyway all trail work is still done by volunteer, the money is spent on fuel and to maintain equipment. If you don't like the trails, JOIN the local club and change it.

 

[snobill]

In Wisconsin if you don't go off your land you don't have to register it so the people that don't ride on public grounds or trails don't have to pay more to register because they don't need to register

 

[kviper]

The whole point is to get people involved in a club and yes also to raise money. If you own more than one sled it's cheaper if you belong to a club! Many areas are starving for help putting the system together and taking it down. Many are short on grooming man power also. The cost of registration and trail passes is nothing in comparison to what you get. I do hate having another ugly sticker though!

 

[Muffin]

I'm very involved in my local club here in Marathon county (Rib Riders) and once you see how the finances of running a club work you would think twice about complaining about the trail pass.

Clubs maintain almost all wisconsin trails. They are 100% volunteer. All the work and late nights are done by very dedicated people.

It takes many many years to purchase equipment thru trail funding and fund raisers. The groomer fairy just doesn't leave a $75,000 to $100,000 groomer under your pillow. Then there's maintenance, repairs, signing, brushing ect. And don't forget the fuel.

A clubs gets a certain amount of money for hours groomed and maintains base upon the miles user their control on a certain area. Some trails are unfunded, like side trails to food and gas, but we groome them anyway.

Logic would dictate that if you want more money, just groom more, but you'd be wrong. We found out two seasons ago that there is cap on money based upon your miles. So when there is tons of snow it's actually harder on the clubs because we do a lot more booming and after we meat our maximum cap ALL the expenses come out of the club checkbook. Two years ago we were still grooming 3 nights a week for the last 4 weeks of the season with all the Spenser coming out of the club funds.

I urge everyone to join a club, be active, take a ride in a groomer

 

[SSX600]

Join a CLUB that belongs to the AWSC and get your trail pass for $10. Great way to support the local people that do all the work to put trails in and maintain them.

 

[Mills]

I now better understand what the new pass is for and why after doing some online searching and reading the posts here. I am now in total favor of the pass but I still don't like the sticker. I am all for keeping money out of the hands of the complete idiot politicians that think they can spend our money more responsibly than the rest of us so that the money can be used for what it is meant for.

 

[Andyfreeze]

It's simple. All motor vehicles get registered with the motor vehicle division in most states. You don't have to buy a trail permit in most states if you use your sled on your own private property, but you still have to register it. Buying a trail permit allows you to ride on public trails. Those trails have to be maintained, and that costs money. If they charged everyone who registers a sled the fee, it wouldn't be fair to the farmer that buys a sled to use on his farm in the winter and never rides it on public lands.

It's a small price to pay when you consider the cost of this sport overall. In MI, we have been buying separate trail permits since before I bought my first sleds in 1998. Sled registration here is $30 for three years. Trail permits are $45 every year.

I'm surprised that WI didn't jump on the band wagon long ago.

HUH!? You have to register your sled to ride it on your property? I find that hard to believe. MA sucks with fees and costs associated to most everything. They squeeze money out wherever they can but one thing they cant do is make you register anything that is only used on your own land.
As far as fees go far sledding MA isnt the worst but we do have the worst trails(though its not the clubs fault since most trails are on private land so they tend to be goat paths because land owners wont let them widen) in the new england and the shortest season. MA reg is two years-$44 plus $30 club dues each year plus $35 trail pass each year.

 

[SnoNinja]

HUH!? You have to register your sled to ride it on your property? I find that hard to believe. MA sucks with fees and costs associated to most everything. They squeeze money out wherever they can but one thing they cant do is make you register anything that is only used on your own land.
As far as fees go far sledding MA isnt the worst but we do have the worst trails(though its not the clubs fault since most trails are on private land so they tend to be goat paths because land owners wont let them widen) in the new england and the shortest season. MA reg is two years-$44 plus $30 club dues each year plus $35 trail pass each year.

In MI thats how ORVs and sleds are titled as to ownership. You are correct in that if used exclusively on private land, a sled would not be required to be registered, however, that would mean that you couldn't jump on the sled and check the mailbox, or cross a road to get to your property on the other side because road right of ways are public land. I edited my prior post to clarify.

In the registration process here, the state gets to collect their 6% sales tax every time a sled that is registered changes hands. Registration is the cheap part at a mere $10 a year. That's fair for keeping track of ownership in the states database. But since this thread is about trail permits, we should focus on that. $45 a year is a good deal considering the network of maintained trails on both public and private land that we have. How much private land could you buy for the cost of registration and trail permits, and how much fun would you really have on your tiny tiny piece of heaven? Face it, 1,000 plus miles a year would be hard to do without a good trail network, and those cost money.

 

[thor452]

I am 100% in favor of suporting the local trails and state wide and when I go to a new state I go to the first spot I can get to and purchase a pass to suport them as well. as for the poloticians they can suck it. from what i see with my local responses that the clubs get 5 bucks from a $20 membership and the other 15 is what it costs for the awsc membership now I have no clue who they are or what they do good or bad for the sport but seems like this is all for their favor. prior to this trail pass business I barely even heard of them. are they just a bunch of politicians too or do they help do good for the sport? seems like they collect a whole lot of money all over that could be kept in the clubs but like i say I dont know much about them. as far as registration if you own a farm you get farm registration at a very low rate as you need to reg a lot of equipment and such and if you plan on only useing on private land my parents paid $25 one time fee for there atv for life. I dont like the extra sticker and if it is for the clubs then they had better be getting the lions share of it.I think we have had it cheap for years here in WI.I just dont want it to be a way for some political group to grow larger and our trails dont get better.