Tough sledding Is the volunteer ‘backbone’ of Maine’s snowmobiling industry breaking?

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It was approaching 11 o’clock on a blustery February night as Rick LeVasseur carefully maneuvered a massive machine on tank treads down an old logging trail not far from Mount Katahdin.

Outside the snow trail groomer’s heated cab, trees swayed in gusting winds that lowered the mercury to 12 below. The nearest town – or spot with cell phone service – was miles away. And the only traffic at this hour on the snowmobile trails outside Millinocket were the four-legged sort.

Grooming 70 miles of trails takes a long time when your top speed is 8 mph. Do it alone, in the dark several times a week – as LeVasseur and other groomers from the Jo Mary Riders Snowmobile Club do – and it quickly becomes a long, monotonous and lonely trip.

The snowmobilers who would roar down LeVasseur’s freshly compacted trails soon after sunrise are part of a $350 million industry that keeps the northern Maine economy humming through winter.

What many snowmobilers do not realize – and what some business owners may fail to appreciate – is that Maine’s world-class riding trails are kept in top shape by volunteers willing to spend five, 10, even 14 hours inside a groomer, often when most folks are sound asleep.

The vast majority of Maine’s groomer operators are unpaid – a fact that undoubtedly helps explain why their numbers are shrinking.

LeVasseur, a former merchant mariner turned bed-and-breakfast owner, would spend more than eight hours at the controls of his groomer this night before arriving home at 5 Lakes Lodge somewhere around 1:30 a.m. Four or five hours later he’d rise to resume his day job.

“I would dare say there’s probably 150 people like me doing this tonight” throughout Maine, LeVasseur said, his voice bouncing as he halted the 13,500-pound groomer.

“This is the backbone of a very important segment of the Maine economy, and the state of Maine is allowing it to take place on the shoulders of volunteers. And it’s not right.”

Although perhaps more vocal than most snowmobile club presidents, LeVasseur is by no means the only voice in the wilderness.

Snowmobile club leaders have been saying for years that their volunteer base is tired, overworked and increasingly gray-haired. Clubs are struggling to recruit new volunteers, and trail maintenance subsidies paid by the state do not go nearly as far as they used to.

They are warning of a financial and manpower crisis around a fast-approaching bend in the trail. If left unchecked, the situation could harm arguably Maine’s most important winter industry, they caution.

“As we all know, snowmobilers only go where the trails are good,” said Tom McCormick, whose Moosehead Riders Snowmobile Club has been crippled by equipment problems recently.

Thirty years ago, snowmobiling was largely a family activity involving simple, relatively inexpensive machines and ungroomed backwoods trails.

Today’s riders, who flock to snowy Maine from throughout the Northeast and beyond, have much higher standards. They want smooth, fast and wide trails that venture into the “wilderness” but are close to food, drinks and comfortable lodging.

Maine’s network of 13,000 miles of state, club and local trails require constant attention.

In the 2004-05 season, state government paid out more than $2.4 million – much of it from registration fees – to reimburse clubs and groups for maintenance. The state pays between $12 and $37 an hour for trail grooming and about minimum wage for other work.

While that may appear high at first blush, club leaders point out it has to cover fuel for machines that may only get 1 mile per gallon plus maintenance and the mortgage on the groomer. LeVasseur’s used Bombardier groomer, for instance, would cost about $150,000 new.

“We get money from the Department of Conservation, but it doesn’t begin to cover what we actually spend,” said Richard Peck, president of the Sebasticook Valley Snowmobile Club.

While money is always tight, finding volunteers to run the groomers is often a bigger challenge.

Scott Ramsay, who heads the DOC’s Off-Road Vehicle Division, estimated that 90 to 95 percent of the work hours reported by the clubs are performed by volunteers. Ramsay said there is a “very serious” conversation happening among state officials and club leaders about finances.

Many of the volunteers “have had it,” especially those in busier areas, Ramsay said.

“We’re at one of those points where we have to either find another shot of money … to pay for semiprofessional groomer operators in the busy areas, or [the trails] are not going to be there,” Ramsay said.

One option Ramsay and snowmobile industry leaders are examining is replicating New Hampshire’s registration system, which has boosted funding and club membership significantly in recent years.

New Hampshire tacks $30 onto the normal registration fee if a snowmobile owner is not a member of a local club. The program has helped steer more riders into clubs, thereby expanding their coffers and potential volunteer bases. Meanwhile, all of the $30 fees for nonclub members also go into a state fund that reimburses clubs for trail maintenance.

“It’s worked. It’s been very successful,” said Maj. Timothy Acerno, who oversees snowmobile issues with New Hampshire Fish and Game Law Enforcement.

Snowmobile industry leaders believe the same system would work in Maine, which registers more sleds during a bad season than New Hampshire does in a snowy winter. But a two-tiered system is not the only option under consideration.

Bob Meyers, executive director of the Maine Snowmobile Association, said he and others are looking at everything from the New Hampshire model to merely raising registration fees. They are currently finalizing legislation.

Meyers said he believes the market can bear a fee hike because all of Maine’s neighbors, including the Canadian provinces, charge considerably more to register a sled. The key, according to Meyers, is making sure the money goes back to Maine’s cash-strapped clubs.

“I’m amazed every year when our clubs pull it off,” Meyers said.

Club leaders give credit to their core of volunteers. But sometimes, even the most dedicated crew finds itself struggling to get the grooming done.

In a span of several days last week, the Moosehead Riders Snowmobile Club in Greenville lost all four of its groomers to serious mechanical problems. By last Sunday, not a single machine was operational to groom some of the state’s most popular trails, said McCormick, the club’s president.

Asking a person to spend eight hours of his night in a groomer – without pay – is hard enough. But convincing him to come back after being stranded by a broken-down groomer in the middle of the night, in winter, deep in the north woods is even more difficult, McCormick said.

Concerned about the future of the industry in the Moosehead region, McCormick and other club members called a meeting this past week with Greenville town officials, Ramsay and business leaders.

“We’ve come to the conclusion, at the end of all of this, that we have to join with other clubs in the area and pay our operators,” McCormick said.

Small clubs are struggling, too.

Earlier this winter, the Pushaw Lake Snowmobile Club found itself practically broke even before the real sledding season began. Facing the music, club leaders gathered the faithful and asked them to get to work fundraising.

Thanks to a successful ice derby, growing membership and several other events, the club is back in the black, according to trail master Harold Hopkins.

“The commitment was to work together as friends to make this thing come together,” Hopkins said.

That doesn’t mean the club couldn’t use more help from the state or riders, however.

Pushaw Lake Snowmobile Club does its trail grooming the old-fashioned way, with riders on snowmobiles pulling a drag behind. But several of the heavy-duty snowmobiles used for grooming are so old that they lack the maneuverability of modern machines. As a result, a support crew has to follow behind to help the machines navigate the club’s woods trails with the drag, Hopkins said.

Some areas already pay someone to sit behind the groomer controls.

Trails in the Rangeley Lakes region – another of Maine’s top snowmobile destinations – as well as the Millinocket area are groomed by paid operators. LeVasseur’s club, Jo Mary Riders, pays its groomers whenever it can.

Business owners like LeVasseur and the New England Outdoor Center’s Matthew Polstein are willing to dip into their own wallets because they realize their customer base hinges on quality trails. But LeVasseur said other businesses dependent on snowmobilers need to chip in more.

Back in the woods near Millinocket, LeVasseur said he believes the writing is on the wall about paid grooming.

Still, despite the occasional headache and long, payless hours, LeVasseur is usually out on the trails at least once a week. When asked why, he jokingly chalked it up to “a sickness” before adding that it’s also about community pride.

“I want people to come up here and enjoy themselves. It’s a great deal of satisfaction for me to be able to come out here and make something that people enjoy,” he said.

Moments later, he waxed more philosophic about his time-consuming hobby.

“I love being out here where it’s all white and pure, too. To lay down that magic carpet of white, to me, there’s something special about it,” he said.