By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH.org
BRETTON WOODS – The state has 7,422 miles of snowmobile trails, more than 1,000 miles of ATV trails and 300 miles of rail trails and this summer and fall they are about to get some maintenance.
This week, the state’s Executive Council met with Gov. Kelly Ayotte at the Omni Mount Washington Hotel and approved grant-in-aid agreements with non-profit riding clubs totaling $3 million.
Brian Ruel, who is president of the Presidential Range Riders in Gorham, said his group will receive $7,800 from the grant in aid and has a $2,500 match that is raised through memberships and fundraisers that help with the maintenance.
The club grooms more than 80 miles in directions from Gilead, Maine to Jefferson and up toward Berlin but this summer the focus for funding will be on creating a reroute around a dangerous section of the U.S. Forest Service trail near the Maine border in Carlton Notch.
It is among 65 snowmobile clubs receiving funding which is immediately available for summer and fall maintenance and equipment purchases, with many needing to provide a 40 percent match.
Many of the trails are on private land while there are also a number on public lands.
Snow is Coos County’s gold and last winter was good, he said, with a solid cold winter “though we missed a few of the big storms,” in the Gorham area, but there was a bit less traffic and not as much storm damage as the previous years.
This summer has not been too bad, he said, in terms of trail damage from rain storms, so far, and they plan to begin the work on the trails come August.
Sarah Stewart, commissioner of the state Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, said this is the same allocation as last year and the grants were not part of the state’s budget process in which many departments, including hers, saw funding cuts.
She said the funding comes primarily from registration fees for Off Highway Road Vehicles and snowmobile registrations.
During 2023, many of these trails saw significant storm damage, mostly from rain events, and the state was able to spend almost a half million dollars additionally from the post COVID-19 American Rescue Plan Act to help some clubs do more repairs.
“That was a life saver for us,” Ruel said of the federal funds after a major bridge connecting Gorham was undermined.
The council approved $1.2 million for OHRV clubs and $1.8 million for snowmobile clubs which were transfers from the Fish and Game Department which sells such licenses.
Ruel said in some cases, the state requires a 40 percent match for some things, like equipment through this grant-in-aid program and he said the state “loves to supply us with endless amounts of paperwork.”
While motorized recreation has been an economic boom for the North Country not all are pleased with the impacts to the region, including a group of Gorham residents who sued both the state and the town for the development of an OHRV trail on an abandoned rail trail near Route 2.
While a Superior Court judge ruled that the surge of ATVs created an “unconstitutional taking” it was appealed to the Supreme Court which ruled last March that there was no damage due to the fact that property values had increased over the seven years since the suit was filed.
The high court rejected requests for attorneys fees for the group of owners on Crestwood and Lancaster Road who complained of dust, noise, threats and urination on their properties. The owners had sought $3.1 million in damages.
The advent of ATV recreation is much more recent than snowmobile recreation.
Ruel said while he is no longer a part of the ATV community and is focused on snowmobiles, there have been some “growing pains,” in the ATV world and some “bad apples.”
But it has been an important link for businesses and property values.
He said conflicts have seemed to die down a bit in recent years and he noted that there are many who come from away and want to buy a house with trail access, making those properties more valuable.
He said only about 14 miles of the trails the club maintains have dual use for ATVs.
Commissioner Stewart wrote that while many of the grant agreements are not above the $10,000 limit requiring approval by the Governor and Council, there is the potential for additional grants to be awarded to these clubs during the same Fiscal Year putting grantees over the limit and thus requiring such approval.
Getting ATV grants are 16 clubs including the Ammonoosuc Valley ATV Club, the Androscoggin Valley ATV Club, Contoocook Valley ATV Riders, Dirt Donkeys Riding Club, Great North Woods Riders ATV Club, Inc., Marlow NH Family ATV Club, Merrimack Valley Trail Riders Club, Metallak ATV Club, Milan Trail Huggers, Mount Moosilauke ATV Club. Mt. Pisgah ATV Club, New Hampshire A.T.V. Club, North Country ATV, Presidential OHRV Club, Sullivan County ATV Club. Inc., and Umbagog- Millsfield ATV Club.