MinnesotaTrail sticker...and common sence legislation

[DitchPickle13]

Like a few people have mentioned, these laws/regulations/funding declarations are all costly to determine and you'll always have a certain element of "unfairness," if you will. That's part of why the CO's have a lot of discretion(written or unwritten).

If any icefisherman on a snowmobile actually got a ticket for being on a lake that happens to have a grant-in-aid, I would certainly understand the frustration. However, I would be surprised to see a CO ticket someone sitting on his sled over an ice hole wearing a bomber hat and Carhart's. : ) Interesting discussion.

[JustinG]

Well, I hate to beat a dead horse, but I have to get my two cents in.

The Ely Igloo snowmobile club and all other snowmobile clubs get a PERCENTAGE reimbursement for grooming trails. I know this because I was a member of that club and I used to groom for the Igloos. Anyways, grooming is not funded totally by the DNR...Snowmobile clubs work very hard raising money by having radar runs, fun runs, pull tabs, bake sales, raffles, and other events to help with grooming. I know the Igloos have been grooming every year since we are one of the only areas in MN with snow.

The problem is most people who ride snowmobile trails do not belong to a snowmobile club!! In fact, alot of people riding snowmobile trails are down right rude. When I was grooming, you would not believe the number of people who would give me the finger or other gestures of that nature. I was only out there providing them with a smooth ride and alot of the time spent out there was as a volunteer. 80% of riders wouldn't even stop if they saw you were broke down on the trail...its sad.

Grooming is expensive. Every 10 hour shift burns up 90 gallons of diesel fuel for each tractor. That is $207.00. Breakdowns are numerous and EXPENSIVE. Of the 3 Bombardier tractors we had, 1 of them was always broke down. You have to pay operators of the equipment...so you can have a dependable schedule. And the machinery and drags are expensive and are purchased by the CLUB!! Not the DNR.

So-The bottom line...JOIN A CLUB IF YOU RIDE TRAILS. Nothing is free. The trail sticker helps bring in sorely needed money to clubs to groom the trails you ride on. And more often than not, clubs that have enough snow to groom are usually operating in the red.

I do, however, feel that it is absolutely absurd that people using their sled for ice fishing need to pay for this sticker. That is why I have not used my sled for fishing...because I do not want to pay for something I am not using. I have no plans to even take my sled out of the garage this year with this amount of snow. Its just too expensive to use it for fishing only by the time you purchase your registration, trail sticker, and insurance.

I know the Igloos have miles and miles of lake trails to maintain and it takes money to maintain it. It is a stupid law that people who have snowmobiles need a trail sticker to go out on Burntside or Shagawa to ice fish. Enforcement of the trail sticker should happen on trails...not on the lake. I don't care if there are stakes on the lake or not...it's rediculous.

Justin

[PierBridge]

Great Post thanks!

[DEADhead]

I finally rode in to work this morning. At least I got use of my $31 trail sticker to ride on less than a mile of grant-in-aid trail, aka a paved ungroomable bike path.

whoopee

[beeonkey]

OK you don't like the trail sticker. I am a vice president of the Hermantown club and the sticker was suposed to be an add on to the funding we were getting. The state gets the sticker through, and then has changed the funding procedures and system. We have lost money. lots of it!! we were at about $850 per mile of trail and will now get $525. We do not get paid for any of our time, that includes grooming, trail signing, re-roughting and clearing....nothing.I have only herd of one or two clubs that pay their groomer drivers, the rest of the state club members get nothing for the long hours and hard work they put in. The money that is coming in from trail stickers is now what is funding the trail system.

I have many sleds and it sucks to have to buy that stickers. And NO I didn't vote for the sticker. Use the trails or not, that money is needed!!! I fish all the time too, and have spoken with several Officers and I have not herd of one person fishing get a ticket yet that did not have a sticker. If you cross or ride a trail to get to the lake you will need the sticker.It's one of those things that DNR and Mnusa pushed to get more money and then politics got a hold of it, and the money is gone.

Please join a club even if you don't help do anything. It's suport.

[Surface Tension]

beeonkey, I know a member of a local club. Hes also was against the sticker. Why because the DNR had already raised the registration fees twice in a short period, tripeling the cost of registration to cover the cost of trails. As of now it costs me more to register my sled + trail sticker and it cost to keep tabs on my truck.

Reduce the registration fees that where raised for the purpose of trail maintenance and I'll happily buy the trail sticker.

As far as needing a trail sticker to travel on ice, its just one more way for the DNR to get money out of you.

Email you Reps and let them know your against this type money grabbing garbage.

If you own a boat you'll notice that registration fee has just doubled.

[FlyingV]

Jiganator,

I agree that some laws lack common sense. Laws are changed at the legislative level. You can call your legislators and set up a meeting with them to voice your complaint. They were voted in to serve you. If you have a group of friends that share your concern, and you can get them all together and really make noise and get the laws changed. I have been involved in getting DNR regulation language changed. It's not easy but not hard either. It takes time and effort. It comes down to how much time, effort and your own money you want to spend on your issue.

[PierBridge]

They did change it and it's pretty simple now any trail that is groomed you need the Stud sticker, the old rule you neeeded it just about anywhere even on the Canadian border of Lake of the Woods with no trail within 10 miles......

[cweinkauf]

I was angry about the trail sticker too. It seemed like a hokey talk extra thing. I thought it had something to do with the Pawlenty's no taxes but many fees pov. I was also happy to pay whatever to have trails groomed with higher gas prices and what not. I'm pretty sure groomers get crappy gas milage running tracks at 5-10 mph. Anyway I got the put in my place (rightfully) by John Schneider from the DNR Fisheries Operations Subcommittee and the MN Sportfishing Congress. He indicated that sled revenue, unlike fishing license revenue, doesn't go straight back into sled use funding. In order for MN to have, maintain and develop trails we needed dedicated funding. So if this affected you negatively I'm sorry, but for people who use the trails and for sled tourism it was the fastest way to remedy the problem and get all the revenue back. I would love to see trail funding go the way of fishing funding. I mean look at all the great DNR projects to support fishing and fisheries in the last 20 years. Imagine what we could do with multiuse trails.