Oneida County forestry committee hears RASTA update, approves contract

Laura MacFarland spoke to the Oneida County forestry committee on Dec. 10 regarding the Rhinelander Area Silent Sports Association’s (RASTA’s) accomplishments during the 2024 work season.

RASTA contracts with the county to build and maintain silent sports trails throughout the county, mostly on county-owned lands. The club is responsible for the Washburn, Nose Lake, Mud Lake, Enterprise and Cassian Two-Way trail systems. The Mud Lake Trail is on school forest property. These trails are used for skiing, hiking, biking, snowshoeing and fat biking. 

With very little snow last winter, the club did not spend a large amount of time or money on grooming ski trails, McFarland explained. With little snow, the club used that opportunity to improve their ski decks and maintain their equipment, she told the committee.

The club undertook three earth-moving projects on county lands last field season. These projects were undertaken to improve safety, improve grooming operations and make trails more enjoyable for users as well as to make them more sustainable. 

Herringbone Hill is the steepest, most challenging hill for skiers in all of the RASTA trail system. The trail there was too narrow and at a cantor that made it unsafe for the club’s groomers and mowers. The club contracted with Musson Brothers for that work, McFarland said. With a chuckle, she described the project as making the hill a little “less painful” for skiers.

A similar project was completed with the McNaughton crew, with Guy Hansen as the lead on that project. The project involved both the Cassian and Nose Lake trails. A turn was widened and trails were improved for the purposes of mowing and grooming, but also to improve the user experience on those trails. 

The trail deck was also maintained in all of these systems through mowing, weed control and clearing debris after summer storm events. These trails are also incredibly popular in the summer months, as the trails are accessible and available to bikers and hikers of all skill levels. 

Once fall arrives, MacFarland said, she has even heard from hunters that they are thankful for the efforts to keep these trails maintained year-round, which points to the vast number of user groups that utilize these trails during all seasons. 

Another effort MacFarland discussed was in the area of equipment repair and maintenance. The club managed to repair their snowmobiles and get their state-of-the-art groomer operational. The groomer was purchased largely through individual donations.

A new storage shed was also built at the Washburn Trails, she said. That was a project that was approved by the committee last year. That shed has been used to house some of their vast fleet of equipment needed to keep their trails in shape.

MacFarland said there has been a keen increase in interest in fat biking in recent years. Fat bikes, as the name implies, are bicycles with oversized tires. Originally these bikes were created for riding on large, sandy beaches, but they also do very well in snow. These bikes give winter outdoor enthusiasts another opportunity to recreate in the snow. Fat biking takes place on the club’s snowshoeing, or single track trails. McFarland said the club has increased the number of miles groomed for fat bikers, due to the increase in interest, while still staying within their existing trail system. Four more miles of these trails have been added to the Washburn Trails, she said. She called these trails “wildly popular,” saying that, even with the lack of snow — or perhaps due to the lack of snow — many outdoor enthusiasts took advantage of that trail system last year. 

The club has also taken over an abandoned snowmobile trail in Enterprise. This trail utilized three quarters of a mile of abandoned logging road and one mile of ATV/UTV trail. The snowmobile club used that section of trail prior to 2023, but has since rerouted their trails on Zimmer Road. With minimal investment, RASTA found they could increase their footprint on those trails and offer additional opportunity to silent sport enthusiasts. 

MacFarland also spoke about other efforts, such as improving signage, updating kiosks and other work that has been done and is ongoing. 

In the last year, RASTA has been working more with the chamber of commerce, recognizing the economic impact silent sports have in the Northwoods, and how that impact is expanding as more people find joy in getting out on the trails, even in the winter months, she noted.

RASTA was also a recent recipient of a room tax grant to promote one of their events as well. As more people come to the area for RASTA events and patronize local businesses, the businesses are starting to recognize this and have also started to help to sponsor RASTA events, creating a symbiotic relationship, she explained.

There were two new events  that went beyond competition more into the realm of getting more people involved in silent sports. The first was Global Fat Bike Day, which targeted a more diverse audience, with 60 participants in 2023 and 45 participants in 2024. 

The club also hosted an International Women’s Mountain Biking Day, McFarland said. The hope, obviously, is to get more women out onto the trails as well.

Over the last few years, she said, there has been an effort to get more youth involved, not only in using the trails, but in the maintenance and stewardship of those trails. In that vein, RASTA helped to sponsor a local high school mountain bike race for the Rhinelander High School Northwoods Composite Team. 

The club also supports Little Bellas, a program that looks to get more girls on bikes and to foster the love of mountain biking and even fat biking, that they can hopefully make into a lifelong pursuit.

MacFarland finished her remarks by thanking the committee and the department for their dedication to the outdoors in Oneida County. She said RASTA is thankful for the continued partnership and working with the county.

Contract

The next agenda item for the committee was the 2025 silent sports contract with RASTA. With very few changes, mostly to clean up some language, the contract was presented to the supervisors. 

The panel approved the contract, with some funding and resources from the county.

For more information about RASTA, their trails and events, visit rastatrails.org.

Beckie Gaskill may be reached via email at [email protected].