Oneida County snowmobile trails to open today

A public service announcement (PSA) was issued by the Oneida County forestry department on Tuesday advising the public that the county’s snowmobile trail system will open at 8 a.m.

“All lakes and river trails in Oneida County are considered unsafe and should not be utilized until they have been clearly marked by a local snowmobile club,” the PSA reads. “As always, the Oneida County Forestry, Land, & Recreation Department reminds riders to stay on the marked trails. Off trail riding is trespassing and could result in closure or loss of trails and citations and fines for those who participate.”

There was mounting pressure for Oneida County to open its trails in the last few weeks, given that Vilas and Iron counties opened their trail systems earlier in the season. 

Additionally, while the pressure was mounting, there was a flurry of events involving the forestry department, the county board’s forestry, land and recreation committee and the Oneida County Snowmobile Council over the last two weeks of January regarding whether to open the trails or not.

An initial PSA was issued on Jan. 24 after the snowmobile council voted 6-4 to open the trails, though the trail system remained closed due to a seven-vote majority being needed.

Then, on Jan. 27, the forestry committee voted 3-1 to override the snowmobile council’s decision to open the trails. 

There were questions over who has the authority to open the trails, and in response to the committee’s vote to override, the council issued a notice to uphold its original vote to keep the trails closed. 

Ultimately, the reason snowmobile council president Jim Wendt said trails should remain closed was a desire to not jeopardize easement agreements with private landowners whose land could be put at risk by opening trails too soon and riders veering off trails to find snow.

“Always exercise caution when riding a snowmobile,” the Feb. 4 PSA states. “The trails are in rough, early season condition.”

Last week, too, emails obtained by The Lakeland Times showed that the state Department of Natural Resources gave permission to the Bo-Boen Snowmobile Club in St. Germain to open a three-mile stretch of trail in Oneida County, despite that club’s vote the week before against opening the trails in Oneida County. 

Clubs with parts of trails in Oneida County are included in the snowmobile council’s vote.

Wendt is a member of the Bo-Boen Snowmobile Club.

A change in way trails open coming?

Before the vote by the forestry committee on Jan. 27, committee chairman Bob Almekinder indicated to the Times he felt the process for opening the snowmobile trails in Oneida County needs to change. 

On Monday, the Let’s Minocqua Visitors Bureau board of directors agreed to support the opening of the trails in Oneida County. 

Krystal Westfahl, president and CEO of the Let’s Minocqua Visitors Bureau, told the Times on Tuesday she personally feels if trails in Vilas are open, then trails in northern Oneida should be open too. 

Because the Let’s Minocqua Visitors Bureau is the chamber entity for the four towns of Minocqua, Hazelhurst, Woodruff and Arbor Vitae, Westfahl said her staff encountered difficulty in advertising snowmobiling for one of the four towns it represents and not the other three. She said it was tough for her staff to field questions about snowmobiling along county lines, having to advise people where they legally could and couldn’t ride.

Westfahl said her office was getting “a lot of feedback” from businesses primarily on snowmobile trails expressing a need for the trails to open.

“It was more confusion, ‘Like we don’t understand why we can’t be open,’ more than anything,” she said of what she was hearing from businesses. “It wasn’t like a demand … ‘Right there, we can see snowmobiles driving and we can’t have them come to our business.’ So it was more confusion and not (an) understanding (of) the dynamics of this county-line.”

Westfahl said she feels Let’s Minocqua and business owners will need to be more involved with area snowmobile clubs moving forward.

“I think geographically speaking, we have to look at … how we’re getting snow,” she said. “We’re part of like this … southern snowbelt that comes off of Lake Superior and when it hits Vilas, it’s going to hit the northern half of Oneida County as well. We see it time and again. … So it’s weird to have Arbor Vitae available to be open, but then like just a stone's throw away, Woodruff can’t be. And … when we have everybody staying here and also either renting here or buying from here, it’s all in this region that can’t be open and we can see the snowmobiles running just north of us. So it’s strange as a zone for us to not be able to market the entire area because (of) this county-line situation.”

What changed?

Wendt told the Times on Tuesday the most recent vote among the snowmobile council happened early Monday morning. 

There were two dissenters,  but those who voted again to keep the trails closed said their trails could be fully ready if the area gets the 2 to 4 inches that was forecasted by today. 

Wendt said he thinks the reason the snowmobile council ended up voting to open the trails this week was to avoid more “disruption” to businesses.

He said the fact that there is more snow forecasted for the area this week prompted the snowmobile council to hold another vote as well.

“Usually, when we do a PSA it’s for 48 hours (before the trails actually open),” Wendt said. “We stretched this all the way to Friday to give the clubs a chance to kind of get caught up and hopefully we get a few more inches of snow.”

This winter, he said, has been difficult.

“But again, like I’ve told everybody that listens, it’s safety and landowner issues,” Wendt said. “Those are the two things that we’re made of.”

Trevor Greene may be reached via email at [email protected].