Oneida County forestry committee stays course on snowmobile trail openings

The Oneida County board’s forestry, land and recreation committee discussed the county’s snowmobile trail opening policy during its Nov. 11 meeting. Committee chair Bob Almekinder said he had been asked to put the matter on the agenda and said there was also some questions as to who should be the representative for the county on the committee.

Scott Hetland of the snowmobile alliance said when it came to the opening of the trails, the alliance was always in favor of opening the county as a whole first. If that were not possible, he said, the alliance would look at opening either just the southern trails or just the northern trails, with the diving line being Trail #12, which runs east to west through the entire county.

In the past few years, the late arrival of winter and lack of snow caused the county to reconsider their policy that allowed only for the opening of trails countywide in an “all-or-nothing” sort of arrangement. With snowmobiling being one of the biggest economic drivers in the winter months, many were concerned that trails in other places were open when Oneida County’s trails were not. There was also a concern to help protect the lands of private land owners in areas where trails could not open, but to balance that with the positive economic impact of having trails open in portions of the county where it was warranted. That brought along the North-South split for the trail system.

In the public comment portion of the meeting, county supervisor Billy Fried expressed concerns of his constituents in that portion of the county. He said he would like to see the ability to open a portion of the county, such as the trails in Minocqua that lead to the Bearskin Trail. If those trails were allowed to be opened in a stand alone fashion, riders would then be able to access trails to the north, and go to Vilas County where trails may be open sooner. This would give riders access to those trails.

Oneida County snowmobile coordinator Eric Rady said the issue with the Bearskin Trail is that it was a state-owned and state-maintained trail. The state had always worked with the county, opening that trail when county snowmobile trails were open, and closing the Bearskin Trail when county trails were closed. He said there was very close communication and cooperation with the county and the state, and he felt this partial opening arrangement was not a good idea. Further, he said, it would be very difficult to enforce riding only on that section of trail. Riders, he said, would likely ride where they were not supposed to, trespassing on private property, which would upset the delicate balance that already existed between the private land owners and the snowmobile trails that passed through those properties. 

Almekinder also brought up another issue that was brought to him. The county, he said, gets one vote on snowmobile trail openings and closings. He said the issue was whether or not that person should be the county snowmobile coordinator, who is now Rady, or if, instead, it should be one of the county supervisors who sites on the forestry, land and recreation committee. All committee members agreed that it should be the snowmobile coordinator, as it had always been. The person in that position, many said, would have a much better idea of what was going on out on the landscape, and it was their part of their job to know the trail conditions as much as possible. For that reason, it the county position on the snowmobile alliance was left with the county snowmobile coordinator position. 

The board also moved to make no changes to the snowmobile trail opening and closing policy as it sat. This would still leave the option open for trails in either the southern or northern part of the county to open independently from one another. 

Other business

In other business, the county awarded timber sale bids. There were 16 tracts available for bids, of which 9 sold. There were a total of 32 bids. The estimated revenue of the timber sales was $975,360.25. Estimated bid revenue was $556,141.00

The Icemark Pine (Tract 4-25) was awarded to TNT Timber Improvement with a bid of $72,541.95. Village Hardwood (Tract 5-25) was awarded to Central Wisconsin Lumber, who was the only bidder. Their bid was $111,315.00. Roberts Logging won the Split Aspen (Tracts 10-25, 7-10) bid with $136,500.00. The E-Z Aspen (Tract 12-25) bid went to TNT Timber Improvement. Their bid was $22,943.10. The Bear Bait Aspen (Tract 12-25) timber sale was awarded to Futurewood, with a bid of $96,250.65. Stella-Jones’s $230,403.00 bid won the Outhouse Pine (Tract 15-25) timber sale. The Skeeter (Tract 16-25) went to Central Wisconsin Lumber with a bid of $97,968.55. The Muddy Aspen timber sale went to Roberts Logging, with a bid of $93,340.00. Futurewood also won the Matriarch Aspen (Tract 20-25) timber sale with a bid of $114,098.00

There were no bids received on Silly Spruce (Tract 6-25), Stone Cold Hardwood (Tract 9-25), Pawned Off Hardwood (Tract 14-25), Way Back Aspen (Tract 16-25) and Montrose Aspen (Tract 19-25).

Another agenda item before the committee was the approval of the Non-Metallic Mining and Road Contract between the county and the Town of Lynne. This contract allows the town to access the Wilson Pit gravel pit and removal of gravel there for a price of $0.75 per cubic yard of materials. The contract laid out the arrangement details, which had not changed from the previous year. Town chair Jeff Viegut was present at the meeting and said the town’s board meeting was the following night, and the matter would be on their agenda to discuss. He said he would not sign the agreement himself without talking to the other town supervisors, but he would have them sign the agreement, assuming they had no issues with it, and return the agreement to the county.

The next meeting of the Oneida County forestry, land and recreation committee with be at 8 a.m. on Dec. 8 

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