‘A Common Misconception’ Trail Permit Reciprocity would work Better
Reciprocity means that if you purchased a NBFSC Trail Permit in New Brunswick it would give you free access to snowmobile trails in another State (i.e., Maine) or in another Province (i.e., Quebec) without having to pay any additional trail user pay registrations or permits. (Maine and Quebec would have to agree to reciprocity also). This is how it was, albeit 30-40 plus years ago.
Reciprocity means free access for the snowmobilers but no money for the clubs and volunteers to actually groom and maintain the trails.That is why reciprocity no longer exists, because it does not provide enough money to maintain trails.
Decades ago we could travel to our neighbors with just our New Brunswick snowmobile license plate, but we also did not have a trail system here. Many snowmobilers travelled to Maine and Quebec because they had better trails. Why, because New Brunswick’s snowmobile clubs, the volunteers had no money. The N.B. snowmobile license plate was general government revenue and Government had no intention of taking on the costs and responsibility to maintain a trail.
This is what led to the very creation of snowmobile Trail Permits, although much more prevalent in Canada than in the USA. Trail Permits in 2018 are close to 80% of our revenue and most clubs could require even more dollars. The USA developed differently; not necessarily better or worse but differently. In most States there is a Government Agency, a Trails Bureau, generally at Natural Resources or Transportation, that has full time, publically funded employees who perform a lot of the work that the NBFSC volunteer clubs perform here. There are also clubs in USA and they raise money and their volunteers work diligently but these clubs are much more social clubs in reality as the trail groomer grants and costs come from their State’s respective Trails Bureau. This money comes from their license plates (registrations), so like us a user-pay system.
The other argument commonly proposed is …”well I can travel with my car anywhere I want so why not my snowmobile?” The New Brunswick cost to register most vehicles is from below $100.00 to maybe a high of $300.00 per vehicle. Do we honestly believe that this annual registration cost for our license plates pays for all the construction, maintenance and repairs on our thousands of kilometers of highways? I would suggest to these proponents of reciprocity that either do not drive very much in New Brunswick or do not look closely at their pay stubs or income tax returns. Our vehicle’s license plates do not cover the costs of providing highways and neither do our snowmobile’s license plates or trail permits.
Still, there continues to be some snowmobilers, some business owners and some tourism officials who ask… or feel …or promote that the snowmobile trail permit is the hindrance to them. They will tell you that the reason they do not snowmobile on our trails, or do not receive enough business from the trails or do not have as many visitors ride on their region’s trails is because it is a requirement to pay to use the trails.
What a selfish and ignorant conclusion by these few; snowmobile trails exist because of volunteers in every community in New Brunswick, or Maine or Quebec. Reciprocity and free access to trails is a dinosaur in concept. We know better, and have better trails because we know that user-pay is the reason for our success, a valuable part of our Province’s economic development and the true reason for winter tourism. And we already provide the labor to make this all occur… for free, thank you to the club’s volunteers.
