RUMFORD — Despite dwindling numbers, an aging but hard-working core of volunteers with the Rumford Polar Bears Snowmobile Club is preparing 90 miles of trail for the upcoming season.
For that effort this club, like other clubs, must contact the landowners on whose property the trails are constructed.
The Polar Bears have extended invitations to more than 210 landowners for their annual landowner appreciation dinner, to be held this Thursday at the Eagles Hall, 13 Rumford Ave. The social hour will be 4:30-5:30 p.m., followed by the dinner at 5:30.
“Without the generosity of area landowners, who open their land for us to recreate on, there would be no trails,” Polar Bears secretary Louise Stickney said. “This is our opportunity to give thanks to and show our appreciation of our landowners. It also gives them important information on who they can contact if they have questions or concerns relative to snowmobile trails.”
The event usually attracts 60 to 70 landowners.
“We work hard to be good stewards. We definitely look at it as a privilege, not a right,” Bob Stickney, treasurer of the Polar Bears, said.
He said they have trails encompassing Rumford, Rumford Center and Rumford Point, as well as Milton Plantation and Hanover Village.
They also have connector trails to heavily used municipal trails to Bethel and Buckfield.
They also have a club trail that comes onto the island, so snowmobilers can have access to businesses. From the High Bridge, the trail goes into the parking lot of the former Agway building.
The club also receives a municipal grant from the state through the town each year.
Bob Stickney said the club received $26,500 from the state each of the past three years, along with another $3,800 to assist with other trails.
He said the bulk of that money is used for materials for bridges, equipment for hire in case of events like a washout on a portion of trail and fuel.
“It’s pretty much a volunteer system and money comes in from the state that covers probably two-thirds of your operating costs,” he said. “Then we try to set aside $6,000 a year into our capital account so that, every 10 or 15 years, we can upgrade our equipment.”
He said club volunteers put in more than 2,000 hours of work.
“We have a core group of 10 people, with others pitching in,” he said.
Louise Stickney said the Polar Bear volunteers, and all the area surrounding clubs, in addition to making sure all the grooming equipment is set to go, have much more work to do before the snow hits the ground. Trail signs must be prepared, stakes made, bridges inspected and repaired, trails must be brushed out, contact with landowners must be made, signs and stakes must be erected and, if there is enough money in the budget, excavation on trails may be done.
Bob Stickney said, “We are getting an excavator in from Route 2 north, in back of the town garage. Our trail goes between the town garage and the shopping center. On that stretch of trail, for about a couple of miles, we’re going to do some excavator work to get rid of a lot of erosion.”
“Erosion is pretty much our biggest issue,” he said. “When we get some of these deluges, they’ll dislodge some the bridges, which we have to put back. And if you’ve got water going down a hill, and if it’s all on one side trying to get to the other side, what you do is put in a water bar, which is really like a ditch diagonally across, so you can channel water to where it wants to get to instead of washing out the whole trail. There’s a lot of mountainous terrain.”
The snowmobile trails are groomed with a Tucker 2000 groomer pulling a 9-foot-wide Mogul Master drag. Volunteers also use four utility sleds with 54-inch wide drags. Volunteers work year-round to smooth and widen existing trails, build bridges and brush out new trails.
Their trail system connects with trails maintained by other area snowmobile clubs. ITS 82 and Trail 17 are major trails that pass through Rumford. These interconnecting trails make it possible to access the rest of Maine as well as New Hampshire and Canada, opening up thousands of miles for sledding adventures.
“There never seems to be enough time, volunteers (or) money to get it all done, but all clubs do their best to get as much done each year as they possibly can,” Louise Stickney said. “For instance, on the Polar Bears’ trail system, there are over 60 bridges which must be maintained. They are all of varying ages, so each year there are at least five or six bridges will need repair.”
Trail Masters Tom Reed and Gene Knox make a list prioritizing which bridges will be worked on each year.
“All of this work is done by a hard-working corps of volunteers, most of whom are 45-80 years old,” Louise Stickney said. “A common problem for all snowmobile clubs in the state is getting younger people involved with this volunteer effort. Perhaps it is because people are not aware of just how this amazing system of interconnected trails has come to be in existence. Snowmobile clubs were started by snowmobile enthusiasts who got landowner permission to develop the trails.”
Bob Stickney said club membership is generally around 80 to 90 people. “It’s only about 20 to 25 percent of the riding public.”
“It would be a real boost for all area snowmobile clubs, financially and in moral support, if all people who used the snowmobile trails for winter recreation would join their area snowmobile club,” said Louise Stickney.
She said the Rumford Polar Bears’ fee for family or individual membership is only $25 a year. A portion of this money goes to the Maine Snowmobile Association. The MSA represents snowmobiling interests to the state Legislature, Maine’s congressional delegation and the media.
The MSA works for legislation to enhance and promote snowmobiling in Maine. When joining a club, one becomes an MSA member. MSA members receive a seasonal newspaper which provides news and useful information on snowmobile activities around the state.
Businesses can also support area clubs by joining as business members for $35. The business will then have its name published in the MSA newspaper each month and on a statewide snowmobile map the following year.
The Polar Bears have a website, www.snowmobilerumford.com, and a Facebook page. The website lists trail reports, which are updated by Louise Stickney.
For more information, contact the club at info@snowmobilerumford.com.
bfarrin@sunmediagroup.net
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