Welcome Spring?

As the 2020 snow season has ended, I would wish to thank all 68 Grant Sponsor Volunteers who have year after year have given of themselves to make the State of Michigan the snowmobile mica that it is. Our State has some of the premier trails in the country. It has been stated numerous times but needs to be stated again and again. The trails do not just happen. As, in any organization there are always the handful of club members who do all the work. It isn’t the DNR! It isn’t MISORVA! We are present to give guidance and support to the many Grant Sponsors and/or Snowmobile Clubs. The people who attend meetings, work brushing, signing trails and performing trail maintenance as needed. The person or persons who identify the need and submit for a grant from the State Program to cover the cost of such repairs. The persons who executes the Grant request and complete the documentation. There is also the required maintenance and breakdown on Groomer Equipment. Every Grant Sponsor gets the 2 am phone call from a groomer operator who is broke down on the trail or is stuck in the middle of nowhere. Hopefully The groomer is still running to provide heat for the operator. No matter if it is something simple or major there still needs a response to fix the issue or retrieve the operator and then hopefully resolve the issue the next day. Trails do not just happen! It takes some serious teamwork! I understand it, when a motorized enthusiast pays for a Trail Permit and complains when trail conditions are not in pristine condition. I too pay for trail permits and am less then happy when trails are substandard. Normally when trails are rough there is a reason. Some trails get overloaded with traffic in popular riding areas. Maybe the Groomer broke down. Could be the operator became ill. For those of us who have been around a few years, I would venture to say even with the lack of snow the last 10 years we are experiencing better trail conditions then in the two previous decades. As I’m sitting in the house on a snowy middle of April wondering when things will get back to normal after Covid-19, I am thinking about what of interest I can write about of interest. MISORVA’s Staff has been working from home other than going to the office a couple times a week to pick up and process mail, pay bills, filing and are reorganizing the office or should we say purging files of information that no longer if ever had much meaning. The Michigan Snowmobile & ORV Association has had to cancel a few meetings following the guidelines. We had set a date of May 16, 2020 to have an ORV Legislative ride to talk to Legislative Representatives and possible Senators for a day of riding and conversation. MISORVA has been doing this the last decade or so involving snowmobiling and have found to be very beneficial for all participants. We will try to reschedule for the fall time frame. There are many issues that were being worked on and unfortunately have been put on hold. It will be interesting how quickly we can pick up again and get going at some point in time. Be Safe and see you on the trail eventually, Jim Kelts