Lamoille Valley Rails to Trails

For several years, VAST has been working to secure the Lamoille Valley railbed for a recreation trail. The necessary paperwork and negotiating has now been completed.

The trail will be maintained and managed by VAST but will be used by many other recreationalists. However, ATVs will not be allowed on the old railbed.

Trail Changes

The Trail Club does not have any major trail relocations this year. There is the usual amount of maintenance, brush hogging, and replanking bridges that needs to be done to keep the trails open and in good shape. Logging operations or four wheeled vehicles using the trails have damaged some sections of trail; but on the whole the Trail Club is fortunate this year.

If anyone is interested in helping on the trails, please contact Trailmaster, Ray Heath, at 802-748-2100.

Caledonia County Dues Restructuring

Caledonia County is one of the most active snowmobiling counties in Vermont. Over the years, the $5 county dues, that every member pays has gone into the county treasury. At the end of the snowmobiling season, the county treasury is divided between the groomers. The Class I groomers get a percentage and the Class IV groomers doing the secondary trails get a different percentage.

It was approved at the September 2005 Caledonia County meeting to change the county dues structure. The clubs will continue to charge the $5.00 but only $.50 of that $5.00 will go to the county as dues. The remaining $4.50 will stay with each club. The change would mean that the local club dues increases by $4.50 without a monetary increase to the members.

The increased club dues of $4.50 will make the Trail Club dues $19.50 without increasing the cost to the members. The final total cost for resident memberships will be $85 and non-resident memberships will be $115, the same as for the 2004-2005 season. The $4.50 will be in the Trail Club treasury for Pisten Bully expenses rather than waiting until June for the final payment from the county club.