Throughout the state, hundreds of volunteers give thousands of hours to make snowmobiling what it is today. Where do the 12,000-plus miles of snowmobile trails come from? The little trail fairies didn’t just make our snowmobile trails appear out of thin air. Snowmobile club members are the people who do the work; they talk to landowners, clear the trails of brush, raise money to maintain the trails, and put up signs to help snowmobilers find their way on the trails.

However, on Feb. 12 a snowmobile operator tore apart one of the Presque Isle Snowmobile Club’s billboard directories and a map from a trail intersection. I said a snowmobile operator because a true snowmobiler would never think of doing such a thing. Perhaps the people who did this would rather ride their snowmobiles the way we did 20 years ago — no trails, no grooming, no signs.

I would just as soon the people who did this not be on the snowmobile trails. They’re the ones you have to watch out for in more ways than one. It’s too bad money that may have been spent on maintaining trails will have to be spent on replacing our vandalized billboard and maps. They will be replaced, because snowmobilers don’t give up easily. Dave Steeves Presque Isle Snowmobile Club