AUGUSTA – A bill allowing out-of-state snowmobilers to ride on local trails without registering their sleds in Maine during festivals and special events will be signed into law today by Gov. John Baldacci.

LD 89, passed quickly as emergency legislation by both houses of the Legislature last week, will allow the commissioner of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to allow out-of-staters to ride in Maine for special events such as the International Snowmobile Festival that is being held in Madawaska and Edmundston, New Brunswick, Feb. 4-6.

The commissioner of DIF&W used to have the power to permit certain riders to participate in specific events without registering their sleds, but that ended when “reciprocity between Maine and New Hampshire expired three or four years ago,” Commissioner Roland D. Martin said Monday.

“Last year, when I approved reciprocity for the Madawaska festival, I had to use a law that allowed me to let people ride free in the entire state of Maine for the weekend.

“I lost the authority to allow free riding when New Hampshire and Maine repealed reciprocity,” he said. “This now allows me to allow free riding on a case-by-case basis.”

The bill, sponsored by Sen. John L. Martin, D-Eagle Lake, came at the behest of organizers of the International Snowmobile Festival. The bill received the Legislature’s initial approval last Tuesday and final approval on Thursday.

The bill allows the DIF&W commissioner to approve the free riding period as long as there is a reciprocity agreement between jurisdictions involved. In the case of Maine and New Brunswick, that reciprocity exists.

The across-the-border festival in Madawaska and Edmundston allows participants to ride trails on both sides of the border without having to register snowmobiles in those jurisdictions.

Participants must purchase a pass for the weekend, but the cost is minimal when compared to registration fees.

The annual festival – this year marks the ninth – has drawn up to 1,200 snowmobilers to the St. John Valley from throughout the northeastern United States and several Canadian provinces.

The Madawaska-Edmundston, New Brunswick project has always received special authority for the festival.

Glenn Daigle, president of the International Snowmobile Festival, believes legislative approval was granted quickly because of the special relationship the two border communities enjoy.

Madawaska and Edmundston were the first communities to start an across-the-border snowmobile festival, and people have been returning to the event for years.

Daigle said organizers are expecting a boom for the festival this year, with the St. John Valley experiencing the best snow conditions in the state right now. The snowmobile trails are considered at near optimum conditions.

Daigle expects that more people may come to the ninth International Snowmobile Festival because of snow and trail conditions.

The nearly 500 miles of trails used during the festival are located throughout northern Maine, from Washburn and Portage Lake north through the entire St. John Valley, and from the Quebec border to Saint Quentin, New Brunswick.

At night, social activities are held at snowmobile clubs in Canada and at several locations in the St. John Valley in Maine. Prizes are awarded for several contests held during the Friday-through-Sunday festival.

More details about this year’s festival will be announced at a press conference on Monday.