Eugene Ritchie, the trail master for the Blue Ridge Riders Snowmobile Club for the past six years, said the Riders of Rockwood depleted their state-appropriated Trail Fund money last month, but nothing will deter them from using their own money to groom their 35 miles of trails.

But Ritchie said the Riders’ work keeping up the widely popular Moosehead Trail often slows when the groomer they lease breaks down. At the Department of Conservation, money raised for the Trail Fund through the gas tax and snowmobile registration is disseminated to clubs based on the miles of trails groomed and the need, but now there is no state money to help clubs purchase trail-grooming equipment.

The Blue Ridge Riders are looking at buying a groomer, but with a used one costing $40,000, they haven’t found a way to fund the purchase. For now, Ritchie said, they’ll get by with what they have.

“A lot of people come up here. If they come up and the trails are not good, they might not come back,” he said.

Four bills will be heard Monday by the Joint Committee on Inland Fisheries and Wildlife concerning improvements to snowmobiling, with two nearly identical bills looking to increase funding for grooming equipment.

Rep. Joe Clark, D-Millinocket, who is on the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee, is confident of the chances of his bill, which would raise the snowmobile registration rates $5 to fund grooming equipment.

“What we need to do is make better snowmobile trails, so more people will come up to use them,” Clark said of LD 1294. Scott Ramsay, supervisor of the Off Road Vehicle Division of the Bureau of Parks and Lands, said that based on last year’s numbers, when 86,000 snowmobiles were registered, a $5 registration increase would raise $450,000, which would be “fairly good funding” for purchasing and maintaining equipment.

The Legislature last year made a one-time appropriation of $150,000 for equipment that was matched by the Department of Conservation with another $150,000. But Ramsay said clubs spent $1,970,000 for grooming equipment last year alone.

“I saw the receipts,” Ramsay said. “We paid them back 15 percent of what it cost to buy equipment. That demonstrates the need.”

Two of the proposed bills would raise the registration rates from $25 to $30 for residents and from $60 to $65 for nonresidents. The last time snowmobile registration rates went up was in 1995-96. In December, the Maine Snowmobile Association voted unanimously to support an increase in registration fees to fund equipment purchases.

MSA Executive Director Bob Meyers said maintaining the trails is all about keeping the sport, the industry and its resulting tourism strong. He said when the trails are rough, nobody wants to ride on them, which is why clubs work hard to keep their trails in good condition.

A bill MSA put in last year to exempt clubs from a tax on grooming equipment failed horribly. Meyers said it was the first attempt, but with the clubs’ shoestring budgets, solutions need to be found.

Clark said the main reason to help to fund snowmobile trail maintenance is the amount of business the activity brings to towns.

A study conducted by the department of resource economics and policy at the University of Maine found the overall economic impact of snowmobiling in Maine during the 1997-98 season was $261 million. The amount represented a $35 million increase from 1995-96. That increase came in spite of the ice storm that wiped out three weeks of sledding in 1998.Leo Hill started Gateway Recreation and Lodging in Bingham five years ago. He has seen it become a year-round business because of snowmobiling. With the snow this winter, his seven lodges have been full for the first time from January to March.

Having grown up in Bingham, Hill, 30, said he’s seen snowmobiling make the area a three-season tourist center in the past 10 years.

“Without snowmobiling, business would be hurting. Tourism has grown a lot since 1990. Every year it’s better,” Hill said.

The catch is that, while businesses benefit, they don’t always help.

Mike Lampron moved to Eustis from Standish six years ago to open a year-round bed-and-breakfast. A large reason he volunteers his time as the Arnold Trail Snowmobile Club’s trail master is that upkeep of the club’s 132 miles of trails is imperative to the success of his business. But volunteered time and trail work are not enough. Lampron’s club just ran out of money for grooming the trails, and he said if one more snowstorm hits, the riders in Eustis won’t be riding.

Lampron said the businesses benefit from the club’s work, but the clubs need the businesses’ help. And in Eustis, he said they don’t get that help.

There are 12,200 miles of trails in Maine; 180 are maintained by the state, while the rest are groomed and kept up by Maine’s 358 sled clubs or municipalities, funded in part from money out of the Trail Fund. Ramsay said the state funds are pretty well depleted by the end of the season most years.

Last year, clubs and towns statewide spent $2,663,000 for grooming and were reimbursed $1,786,000 from the Trail Fund, leaving a difference of $877,000 to be paid for gas, leasing equipment, and hours of work, Ramsay said. He noted local costs were underestimated as many club riders volunteered their time and donated equipment.

LD 940, the bill put in by Sen. Peter Mills, R-Skowhegan, mirrors Clark’s, but also goes beyond it by raising money from the gas tax from 5 cents to 8 cents to help replenish the Trail Fund.

Mills said he doesn’t expect his bill to pass; that Clark’s stands a better chance. But expect his idea to reappear. Mills wants to tag a funding proposal onto the highway bond in November to help replenish the Trail Fund.

“Historically, 65 or 70 percent support highway bonds,” Mills said. “Jackman, Bingham, Forks and Greenville, they’re strung out. They’re highly dependent economically on keeping the trails up in good condition. They are being kept up largely by private funds, people who volunteer their time. The gas tax would take the edge off their expenses.”

Two other bills on snowmobiles will be heard Monday.

One, to clarify the unlawful use of snowmobile trails, was put in by Sen. John Martin, D-Eagle Lake, but Martin said he has “no ownership of the issue.” The bill, which would prevent snowmobile trails from being used by other all terrain vehicles, would protect against environmental damage and allay landowners’ concerns, Martin said.

LD 1500, submitted by Sen. Jill Goldthwait, an independent of Bar Harbor, requires proof of health insurance for operators of ATVs and snowmobiles.

Deirdre Fleming covers outdoor sports and recreation for the NEWS. She can be reached at 990-8250 or at dfleming@bangordailynews.net.