BORA is involved with maintain multiple trails in the tri-communities. (Boreal Outdoor Recreation Association/Facebook)

By Derek Cornet

town council

BORA requests $6,500 for winter trail grooming

Dec 16, 2021 | 5:00 PM

La Ronge council has decided to defer a $6,500 winter trail grooming proposal until the 2022 budget.

A letter from Boreal Outdoor Recreation Association (BORA) board member Matt Preston requested the funds to assist in grooming 20 kilometres of trails within municipal boundaries. The work consists of packing down the surface and removing fallen trees, all of which was done by volunteers during previous years.

“These groomed trails are extremely popular with hikers, dog walkers, families and fat bikers,” Preston wrote. “We even have people driving up from Saskatoon to fat bike on them and our winter trails are considered the best in Saskatchewan for fat biking. As the trail network has expanded so has the work required to maintain them and in order to make it a sustainable situation it would be ideal if the Town of La Ronge could provide compensation for this work.”

Preston explained the trails are usually groomed within 24 hours of snowfall ending and fallen trees are removed within 48 hours once reported by a member of the public. A reliable utility snowmobile is required for the work as pulling the tires or groomer is challenging and cannot be done on a recreational snowmobile.

“It takes an experienced operator a minimum of three hours to groom the entire network depending on the amount of snowfall and the number of fallen trees that require clearing,” Preston stated. “The narrow, twisting nature of the trails makes them the most unique groomed winter trails in Saskatchewan, but it also makes them some of most technically difficult trails to groom.”

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Preston noted the recent expansion of the network has also created two new trails that are designed to be wide enough to allow walking side by side, and BORA would like to see winter maintenance on these trails that maintains the width to continue providing a wide walking surface for families and groups.

Preston estimates that trail grooming costs about $65 per hour for the operator, snowmobile, equipment, fuel and insurance.

“Moving to a paid grooming contract would also be preferred in my opinion as there would then be liability insurance and Worker Compensation Board in place,” he wrote.

“It would also ensure that the trails are kept in pristine condition and will help to further grow winter tourism in La Ronge by ensuring visitors are always treated to first-class groomed trails. BORA would also like to host some events on the trails this winter and having the trails maintained professionally would allow the group to focus its energies on event planning rather than trail maintenance.”

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @saskjourno