7487-R1_MSA_Mar2021_MaineSnowmobiler

Without our landowners, Where Would Snowmobiling in Maine be? By Eileen Lafland

all show up for a supper! The club would need a lot of food and space to hold them all. Other clubs present landowners with certificates or coffee mugs or some other token of appreciation. Whatever it is, it comes from the heart of the club mem- bers to say how much they respect and appreciate what that person or company does for our sport. So, the next time you are out riding and see a landowner, stop and thank them for allowing us to do what we love, recreate on their land. Some residential trail sys- tems are multi use trails. Show respect to everyone you see. People walking dogs, skiing, or just plain walking may be the landowner. You never know. Without this great group of people, we wouldn’t be able to do what we love and enjoy the beauty of Maine in the winter from the seat of our snowmobiles. To answer the title question of this piece, “Without landowners where would snowmobiling in Maine be?” We might all be driving around and around our houses because that would be the only land we were allowed to ride on!

are done each year. Someone or more than one person from a club can spend many hours in late summer and early fall going over tax maps from town offices to see if land has changed hand, where new houses are being built and who the land- owner is. Then as fall approaches those contacts move from reading tax maps to phone calls and/or in person meetings. Questions like, “Can we continue to use this trail?” “Do we need to make changes to where this trail is? “or “What do you need from us?” are the common ones asked each year. Trailmasters are usu- ally the ones responsible for this portion, but some clubs have a person or persons that do the landowner relations. All this is done before the season even starts and many times it changes once the season does begin. When fall work days start up is usually when something like a logging operation or a new house foundation in the middle of a trail is discovered. Then it is back to the town office to find the name and phone number for the new owner and the process begins again. The number of landowners a club has

depends on the area they are in. A club may have a handful of landowners or they could have 100’s depending on how many miles of trails the club has, and if they travel through multiple towns. Large cooperate landowners such as timber companies, power companies, pipe lines and wind tower owners have large tracts of land that can reach in to multiple towns and affect multiple clubs. Smaller landowners can have 100’s of acres of land down to just a few feet of land that a trail crosses. To clubs, it makes no difference how large or small the landowner is, they all deserve and receive our respect and gratitude for let- ting us use their land for our trails. When a landowner has an issue, they need to know who to contact and that the issue will be addressed. That is what snowmobile clubs do and do very well in this state. Clubs also have many ways to thank their landowners. Some may be as sim- ple as a sign hanging in front of the club- house saying, “Thank you Landowners.” Others hold landowner suppers and invite all the landowners to attend. Just think if a club with 200 landowners had them

S nowmobile clubs across the state of Maine depend on great working rela- tionships with our landowners. With 95% of our trail system on private land, it is very important that clubs keep in close contact with the landowners. These con- tacts are done in a variety of ways and

Winter Use of the Downeast Sunrise Trail By Eileen Lafland

T he Downeast Sunrise Trail is a des- ignated multi-use trail that runs from Washington Junction in Ellsworth to Ayers Junction in Pembroke. It is a four season use trail with heavy use in the spring, summer and fall by four wheelers, bikers, and hikers. When the trail closes to four wheelers it is then open for snow- mobilers and cross-country skiers along with hikers and bikers if they choose to use it. This trail is groomed by four snow- mobile clubs in the winter when there is sufficient snow: Ellsworth SC, Narragua- gus SC, Downeast Trail Riders of East Machias and The Dennysville SC. This season there has not been enough snow cover for the usual heavy snowmo-

bile use, so cross country skiers are the main users. Recently I was contacted by Charlie Griffin from Narraguagus SC to let me know on a trip by snowmobile to check the trail for possible grooming he came across an interesting gentleman and he thought I should speak to him, so I did. The man’s name is Craig Roebuck and he lives in Otter Creek. He decided he would cross country ski the length of the trail. Nothing special you think, right? Well, the length of the trail is 90 miles!!! That’s right, 90 miles. He packed up a sled with his win- ter camping gear, had someone drop him off at Washington Junction and began his skiing adventure down the Sunrise Trail. I asked him how long it took him and he stated

he averaged about 15 miles a day. It took six days, with four nights camped beside the trail to complete the journey. He was grate- ful for the picnic tables that are placed along the trail as it gave him a place off the ground to sit organize his camping gear. I was curious if he met any snowmobil- ers in his six-day trip and he stated he kept notes and did encounter fifty-five snow- mobiles. Since I wanted to make sure the encounters were pleasant, I asked if they had been courteous and he said all but one was very respectful. A few stopped to chat with him and he even stopped and talked to a snowmobile groomer operator. This trail, in the Eastern Region, is a hid- den gem used by many all year long. I

want to thank Mr. Roebuck for allowing me to write about him and his trip. I also want to thank the snowmobile clubs and snow- mobile riders that he encountered along the way for showing him snowmobilers are a friendly group and we enjoy sharing the trails with everyone. If you haven’t been able to ride this trail, you should definitely put it on your bucket list. In places you are right on the breakwater with the Atlan- tic Ocean salt water beside you. Watch for the eagles near the causeway in East Machias or deer crossing the trail along the way. Just remember- it is a multi-use trail and we as snowmobilers are fortunate enough to be able to share with other user groups.

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