• SAM Club Grants receive "Green Light"
• Education session held by Government Affairs
• If you’re doing Trail projects on DCR Land
• "DUI" - On SAM’s Legislative agenda – Bill #H673

Recently, in June, 2005, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) announced the list of approved Recreational Trail Grants for 2005. These were grant applications that were written and submitted to the DCR in the spring of 2004. There were approx. 58 projects approved for funding, most of which were for towns, cities, town agencies, and local Land Trusts. It is great news that nine (9) SAM snowmobile clubs also received the approval for their respective trail projects.

Funding for these grants is from Federal monies. It is part of the National Recreational Trails Act or NRTA. This act is funded with a small percentage of the Federal gasoline tax that is returned to each State for non-automobile trial projects. . The Massachusetts program is managed through the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation. General guidelines for approval of these projects are that each project must: 1) “create” and/or “maintain” trails that are open to the public; 2) Trails must be open to the public; 3) Applicants should provide written support from local community officials.

This is a very popular program as funding is on an 80/20 percentage basis. In other words, the agency or club would provide 20% of cost of project and grant monies would provide 80% cost of each project.

SAM clubs receiving the “green light” were: Adams Sno-Drifters – SkiDoo Skandic groomer - $9,370. Berkshire Snowseekers – Tucker Sno Cat groomer - $38,000. Bernardston-Gill-Leyden – SkiDoo Skandic groomer - $7,000. Coldbrook – Groomer purchase - $31,000. Colrain Sno-Drifters – SkiDoo Skandic groomer - $10,980. Florida Mountianeers – SkiDoo groomer - $16,000. Leicester – SkiDoo Skandic groomer - $9,255. Sandisfield – Groomer Drag - $4,160. Snowmobile Association of Mass. (SAM) – Statewide GPS’d trail map - $12,575.

I hope your club was included. All of these projects sound exciting. The good news is there will probably be another round of this grant process during this year. If your club is interested in further information please contact the SAM office at 1-413-337-8092.

On May 12th, 2005, the SAM Government Affairs committee held an informal education session on legislative strategy and issues. Attending the meeting were the SAM Officers, SAM lobbyist Henry Gillet and many SAM members interested in helping to work with our elected officials. This meeting was important because it marked the next step in the process to formulate a team to help achieve success with our legislative issues.

Our lobbyist helped guide the team through the issues and what to expect with upcoming public hearings and meetings with legislators. Educational packets were handed out. The meeting was very productive and helped set the tone for future legislative work.

If you or someone you know is willing to help with the Legislative Contact effort, please feel free to call Tom at 413-337-4061 or Larry at 413-533-4092. We look forward to hearing to from you.

Fall is fast approaching and it is that time of year to get going on our clubs’ trail projects. Some clubs will be performing projects on State lands such as Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) State Parks. SAM wishes to remind all snowmobilers and clubs that permission is necessary for this work whether it is on private property or State Lands.

If you or your club is located in Region V or Berkshire County, please call Becky Barnes at DCR headquarters at 413-499-7003 and just let her know what your project is and when you will be working. You may also e-mail Becky at [email protected]. Getting permission and making landowners aware of what we are doing is one of the things that have made us so many friends over the years. Let’s keep up the good work.

We are currently in the first year of the two-year, 2005-2006 Massachusetts Legislative session. SAM has filed bills to address (3) issues to help improve the sport of snowmobiling in the State of Massachusetts. The three issues SAM is fighting to improve are: 1) Improved representation on State agencies; 2) Improved Trail Permitting process; and 3) Tougher laws for snowmobiling while DUI. In this issue of “On the Trails with SAM” we will discuss bill number H673, which seeks to toughen penalties for Driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) on a snowmobile.

Why did SAM file bill # H673? When the Snowmobile Association of Massachusetts (SAM) developed its’ legislative agenda for this, or any session for that matter, one issue that is consistently mentioned is that of improving the safety of our trails. There are many ways to do this, but for this legislative session, SAM is addressing the issue of DUI.

When looking at the issue of DUI and snowmobiling we found that the penalties are relatively light and are not in line with the operation of other vehicles. If a person is caught DUI on a boat, the penalties are stiffer in that they are directly tied to the person’s automobile operator’s license. It is only appropriate to adopt the same language for snowmobiles as for boats. These laws should be consistent.

Also, when a state association such as SAM supports improved safety legislation, such as our current bill H673, it helps to improve respect from the general non-snowmobiling public towards our sport. This is known as “good PR”. I should also note that there is good chances that this bill will be having a public hearing in the early fall, so please stay tuned.

SAM wishes to especially thank State Representative Anne Gobi (Spencer) for her support in filing this legislation. SAM and the SAM Government Affairs committee asks that you call Rep. Gobi at 617-722-2575 and thank her and to contact your legislator and ask him/her to support H673 on this issue. Thanks and hope to see everyone soon.