Reminders about safe snowmobile riding and etiquette are always a good thing. Below are press releases you can edit for use in a newsletter to club members or send to local media and social media groups.
Based in Bozeman, Montana, the GNFAC covers an area of approximately 1,720 square-miles, including the Bridger, Gallatin, and Madison Ranges, the Lionhead area near West Yellowstone, and the mountains around Cooke City. Running the avalanche center involves many individuals, community partnerships, and volunteer efforts. Almost 50% of its funding comes from outside the Forest Service. The Friends of the Avalanche Center along with a grant from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks helps fill in the shortfall.
The Coalition of Recreational Trail Users (CRTU) is a nonprofit organization formed by a partnership of Minnesota’s motorized recreational trail user communities composed of the All-Terrain Vehicle Association of Minnesota, the Amateur Riders Motorcycle Association, the Minnesota 4 Wheel Drive Association, and the Minnesota United Snowmobilers Association. This coalition recognized the need to educate the motorized trails communities, as well as the general public, regarding safe and responsible motorized recreation. CRTU developed a plan for an education and outreach trailer to be stocked with information on rules, regulations, safety and the state associations, as well as maps and youth safety training CDs. This RTP project has been instrumental in providing education to summer and winter motorized trail users.
This particular project by the Wyoming State Trails Off Road Recreational Vehicle program, which mirrors previous efforts for snowmobile trail maps, developed ORV maps that are provided free of charge to Wyoming trail users. The maps were designed in Arc Map format with assistance and input from U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management offices, OHV groups and Wyoming Game and Fish among others – similar to what had been done for snowmobile trails several years earlier. The maps not only highlight trail systems, but also include information about ethics, tread lightly, permit-selling agencies, rules, regulations, and safety. Flat copies of area maps are placed at trailhead kiosks and trail junctions.
This RTP project provides a first-of-its-kind outdoor ethics and safety education "onsite" where the activities happen, as the trailer is used as a contact point, display, and mini-classroom. The trailer is also used at schools, dealer events, workshops, land manager sessions, outdoor expositions, parades, trailheads and shows to reach hard-to-contact users and all other concerned public.
The first three phases of this RTP project expanded the existing daily forecast produced by the Bridger-Teton NF Avalanche Center for the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort ski area to also include data from sites heavily used by snowmobilers and other backcountry recreationists away from the ski area. The project added data collection sites in the Togwotee, Brooks Lake and Lava Mountain areas of the Continental Divide region, as well as in the Grey's River area of the Wyoming Range. Also of importance, the sites in the Continental Divide region focused on obtaining data from both the east and west sides of the Continental Divide, since wind and weather patterns can vary substantially on each side of it.