Another Successful Enlightenment Ride

The American Council of Snowmobile Associations just completed their 6th Annual Enlightenment Ride. This event treats public land managers to a couple of days of on the snowmobile trail experience.

This year's event had several senior members of the Forest Service from Washington, DC and 6 of the 9 Forest Service Regions.

Many of these decision makers had not had the opportunity to ride snowmobiles for many years - and in one case, the individual had never been on a snowmobile.

The Forest Service employees got to experience first hand the advances of technology, the economic importance of snowmobiles to communities in the rural United States, and extensive network of trails that depend on Forest Service lands.

ACSA FLY-IN

The Annual ACSA FLY-IN has been schedule for April 1 - 4, 2006 in Washington, DC.

Meetings will begin on Sunday morning for each of the ACSA Chapters and will conclude on Sunday afternoon with an ACSA meeting.

Monday will be a full day of speakers from the agencies and legislature.

Tuesday each attendee will visit their Senators and members of Congress. Over 200 hill visits will be scheduled.

For Registration Information, Click Here.

Bluewater Network Continues To Attack Motorized Recreation

The anti-access forces are at it again. The Bluewater Network, a division of Friends of the Earth, along with the National Parks Conservation Association and the Wildlands Center for Preventing Roads joined together to file a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia against the National Park Service and the Department of the Interior in an effort to stop OHV access to those NPS lands that permit such access.

Particularly hard hit, if successful, will be National Seashore areas along the coast. Such areas like the Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts and the Cape Lookout National Seashore in North Carolina, areas that traditionally permitted OHV access long before these areas received National Seashore designations, would be seriously impacted. Sportfishermen are especially concerned that their means of accessing some of the best coastal shore fishing areas could be cut off if OHV access were to be banned.

A number of pro-access groups have filed petitions as interveners.

FS Final Rule on OHV Route Designations

Now that the Travel Management Rule is final, work has begun in the designation process.

It is imperative that snowmobilers become involved in this designation process. Each National Forest is handling the designation process differently. The best way to find out how your favorite Forest is completing the designation process is to contact the Forest Supervisor.

Although snowmobiles have technically are "exempt" from this process, we need to be involved to be sure the trails and staging areas that will not be closed off to us as a result of "designation".

For additional information, click http://www.fs.fed.us/recreation/programs/ohv/

Fundraisers

It’s not too late to get your 2006 Cash Calendar. January winners have been drawn, but that leaves 334 chances to win for only a $20 contribution. Contact your State Association or the ACSA office.

For additional information on the calendars, click http://snowmobilers.org/calendar_raffle.asp

The raffle tickets for the GRAND RAFFLE are also available. Only 1,000 tickets printed. There will be 4 GRAND prize winners – each of them will be awarded a high performance or mountain snowmobile. Tickets are only $100 and are tax-deductible.

Contact your State Association or the ACSA office.

CRT Awards

The Coalition for Recreational Trails has announced its Achievement Award program for 2006. Click Here for the request for nominations and Click Here for the nomination form that have just been distributed to the state trail administrators. Please share the news of the award program with your members and encourage them to nominate outstanding projects and programs for consideration by the CRT Awards Committee. Deadline for submission is April 17, 2006. Award winners will be recognized during Great Outdoors Week, June 12-16, 2006.

This is a fabulous way to promote the hard work in your state, garner national attention, and get your members of Congress and Senators to also recognize the importance of snowmobiling.

Let your voice be heard! Your help is needed to increase alternatives for Yellowstone/Grand Teton.

For more information please visit: http://snowmobilers.org/press_release_article.asp?prid=46