An Important Message for Ontario Snowmobilers
(Barrie, ON. September 19, 2024): On September 13 and 14, more than 350 grassroots volunteers – representing 179 community-based OFSC member snowmobile clubs from across Ontario – gathered in Muskoka to officially kick off the 2024/2025 season! The annual meeting and convention provide an opportunity for volunteers to reconnect with peers, collaborate, and discuss shared challenges and successes. Importantly, it is also an opportunity to celebrate their incredible contributions to a sport that can generate up to $6B annually in Ontario.
No Increase on 2025 Permit Fees
OFSC AGM is also when Member Clubs vote on Ontario Snowmobile Trail Permit fees for the upcoming season. Our members, alongside our program partners at the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO), are pleased to announce that there will be no increase in 2025 Ontario Snowmobile Trail Permit fees. Revenue from permit sales allows the OFSC to continue to make investments into the provincial snowmobile trail network through groomer acquisitions and refurbishment, major infrastructure replacement and maintenance, and trail preparation and grooming operations.
Trail Realignments and OFSC Interactive Trail Guide (ITG)
In advance of permit sales kicking off on October 1, we wanted to take a moment to share details of a work effort underway this spring and summer, which will continue throughout the fall and early winter. Since the close of the 2023/2024 season, OFSC Club volunteers have been engaged in the largest trail data project in the history of our Federation. This effort focuses on using precise GPS data generated by our grooming activity to realign our digital trail footprint; with a network the size of ours, you can be sure that volunteers have had a much busier summer than normal. This is still very much a work in progress, and Clubs will spend the fall and early winter finalizing their network alongside the countless gracious landowners in our communities.
As a result, our trail network will look different than it has in past years, particularly at the beginning of the season. It will positively evolve in real-time as trails and updated land use permissions are confirmed as we move closer to the finish line of this project. To ensure volunteers have as much time as possible to firm up their network, we will be launching the Interactive Trail Guide (ITG) and Go Snowmobiling Ontario App on December 1, 2024, which will still provide permit buyers ample time to book trips and plan routes.
We ask that you bear with us as we complete a critically important project that will sustain snowmobiling in this province for decades to come. Importantly, please contact your local snowmobile club to see what you can do to help, even if just temporarily. Many hands make light work, and there is plenty of work to go around.
The Comeback
There is no doubt that snowmobiling in Ontario has faced challenging weather conditions over the past few seasons. Despite these setbacks, our volunteers have risen to the challenge and are gearing up for what will (hopefully!) be the return of winter. As they say, the comeback is always stronger than the setback.
See you on the trails this year!
The Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs (OFSC) is a volunteer led, not for profit association that provides the voice for organized snowmobiling in Ontario. OFSC recreational snowmobile trails managed by community based, member clubs and their volunteers generate up to $6 billion in economic activity annually.
For questions or to schedule a media interview with the OFSC, please contact: marketing@ofsc.on.ca
