“Let it snow” was the sentiment of the snowmobile club members spending their day checking the trails and putting up signs Saturday in the Gillett area.
Members of the Sno-Riders snowmobile and ATV club perform trail maintenance at least four times a year. The weekend work included attaching locator signs to trail posts. The signs incorporate a numbering system common for all trail users in Oconto County.
Signage was the first project completed by a countywide trails committee. The signs, which will be used year-round, also feature a GPS location and logos for permitted users, including horseback riders, ATV operators and snowmobilers.
Individuals with old ATV and snowmobile maps are asked to recycle them and pick up a new one with the current information. The 2015-2017 snowmobile maps are available from the Oconto County Economic Development office, 1113 Main St., Oconto, WI 54153. (Enclose $3 for postage and handling.) Maps also may be picked up at map sponsor locations across the county.
Jon Egge, president of the Sno-Riders club, said the signs will prove valuable in cases of emergencies. At a glance, people can read the three-digit code assigned to the trail and report their location to 911 operators.
According to a news release by the Oconto County Snowmobile Alliance, research has shown that a combination of location indicators and road crossing signs are the two biggest resources when an individual needs help. Snowmobile and ATV/UTV clubs are working to mark all road crossings across the county.
“When it’s below zero and someone is injured on the trail, time matters,” said Tracy Ondik, advanced emergency medical technician with Gillett Area Ambulance Service.
He said the number of trail calls the ambulance service responds to each winter depends on the weather, but it varies from one or two to a dozen each snowmobile season.
He expects more emergencies during a long season, but a shortened season can be hazardous, also, because the trails are more congested, he said.
Ondik said the locator signs will help individuals know where they are, especially those who live out of the area and are unfamiliar with the trails.
“A lot of times folks are traveling pretty great distances on the trail system,” he said.
He recommended riders travel with emergency kits equipped with safety flares and be familiar with the GPS app on their phones.
The ambulance service has an ATV equipped with tracks instead of wheels. It can pull a covered sled to transport an injured person from a trail to an ambulance. Theresa Johnson, advanced EMT with the GAAS, said the EMTs use the equipment year round.
“The tracks make it really nice to get through some really messy places,” she said.
The Oconto County Snowmobile alliance encourage riders to watch their speed and drink alcoholic beverages responsibly, if at all, while riding. There is a nighttime 55 mph speed limit for snowmobiles. Snowmobiles, ATVs and UTVs must slow to 10 mph when in the vicinity of pedestrians, dwellings or fishermen.
Anyone born on or after Jan. 1, 1985, must obtain a snowmobile safety certificate to ride legally. The course is available online at www.snowmobile-ed.com/wi. Individual clubs also hold classes. A list of classes can be found at the DNR website.
The Oconto County Snowmobile Alliance encourages individuals to join a club and get involved in keeping the trails in shape. Even people who don’t ride a sled, including local business owners, are invited to join. Individuals can visit www.ocontocounty.org/tourism/trails for a nearby club to join or ways to volunteer or donate.
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