Bayfield County Snowmobile Program
What is the Bayfield County Snowmobile Alliance?
There seems to be confusion on the difference between Namakagon Trail Groomers and the Bayfield County Snowmobile Alliance. Bayfield County has 10 snowmobile clubs. Barnestormers, Corny Sno-Goers, Drummond Sno-Jacks, Frosty’s Vintage Riders, Namakagon Trail Groomers, Northern Adventures SC, South Shore SC, Washburn Valhellers, White River Rambles SC. All the clubs have trails in their areas they maintain. Some of the clubs have grooming equipment that they use to groom the snow. Smaller clubs rely on other clubs with snow equipment to groom their trails.
How do all the clubs work together to maintain the trail system in the county? It costs money to purchase equipment, buy fuel and pay for maintenance. The state of Wisconsin has set up a program, fully funded by snowmobile enthusiasts. All registration, trail passes fees, and a percentage of fuel tax money go directly into the program. The State then distributes this money based on the number of funded miles of trails in each area. Some clubs get their money sent to them directly. Other counties or groups form an alliance, association or corporations as a single point for the state to send the money to manage their county. In our case the state money is sent to Bayfield County in Washburn, they write checks to the alliance at different times of the year.
The Bayfield County Snowmobile Alliance manages the money from the state, makes decisions on equipment placement. and works with Bayfield County Executive Board located in Washburn, WI. Bayfield County contracts with the Bayfield County Snowmobile Alliance to groom the trails. This contract is in effect until 2027. The Alliance also works with US Forestry, WI State Parks, and DNR as a single contact for development of the trail system. The individual snowmobile clubs work with private landowners, on trails that cross their land. Trail opening and closing is not up to the clubs. We must follow the guidelines of the US Forestry, State/DNR and Bayfield County.
Clubs follow their bylaws. Each club can have two delegates that have voting rights for matters at the alliance level. Dan Koch and Jeff Boehmke are our delegates, but only one can vote. The alliance has 4 executive board members, president, vice president, secretary and treasurer and 3 directors. There is also a finance committee and equipment committee. These committee’s make suggestions to the board and directors and then the board relates that information to the clubs for voting. Some cases the board does have to make decisions quickly that cannot wait until a monthly meeting.
All the clubs in the state also belong to the AWSC (Association of Wisconsin Snowmobile Clubs). When a member pays their dues to a club, the club then sends them $12.00 of your membership, so you belong to basically two clubs. The AWSC works for the clubs, as in helping set up clubs, they hold 2 meetings for general membership yearly. They pass a lot of information at these meetings to help clubs learn more about state legislation and changes in regulations. They assist clubs with a “how to do” as it relates to running a successful club. The AWSC also works with the DNR for trail passes. They report to them that you’re a current member of a club and they lets you get a discounted trail pass.
If you have questions regarding anything at the Alliance level, below is contact information of the board.
- Steve Bollig, President 651-276-1199
- Doug Summers, Vice President 715-292-3866
- Kerry Klein, Treasurer 715-209-1106
- Rod Buss, Director 715-556-4546
- Gene Dubiel, Director 608-343-6751
- John Mead, Director 715-208-0917