Funding Snowmobile Clubs is Good!

Dear True,

Thank you for bring the issue of funding snowmobile trails in Minnesota to the attention of your readers. This is an important issue that goes to the heart of how we fund outdoor recreation, how we should all work to get along, and even what Minnesota is all about. It was good to read a balanced presentation of the facts.

Snowmobiling is a wonderful sport that brings families together to enjoy our north woods and as a bonus boosts the economy of out state Minnesota. It deserves the full support of all politicians and citizens in the state. The taxpayer supported program is unique, but well deserved, in that it allocates a portion of the state gas taxes we snowmobilers pay to support our sport. Those dollars, in turn, are spent on equipment to maintain the trails snowmobilers ride on in the winter and hikers and horseback riders enjoy in the summer. It is a very fair balance. The public needs to remember that snowmobilers are not necessarily atv riders and that atvs are generally prohibited from riding snowmobile trails, as many snowmobilers prefer.

There are those who complain about the special treatment and misuse of tax dollars by snowmobile clubs, but outright misuse has been rare, and the special treatment is no different that the DNR using fishing license fees to support fishing. The only thing unique about this situation is that the clubs use volunteer time to maintain the trails and equipment they use to keep them packed and open. The state highways, on the other hand, get state gas tax dollars, but you don’t see volunteers out patching pot holes.

It is well worth the investment of gas tax dollars to help volunteers keep these trails open and welcoming to sledders.

Thanks again!

Now, if we only had some snow.

R. S. Nelson
Minneapolis