Niagara District Director’s Desk

 I’ve been the Niagara County District Director since May of 2004. I felt that as a funded county in the NYS Snowmobile Trail Fund that we needed representation at the NYSSA Board level. I attend the Board of Directors meeting held the first Saturday of each month in Syracuse.  At these meetings, the directors formulate the plan of what the Association is doing and where we are headed in the future.

 One of the longtime goals of NYSSA is to convince the state to implement into law the Snowmobilers Rights Act (SRA).  The SRA is designed to try to get more people into the clubs in New York State.  Currently, there are approximately 20,000 people/ families in snowmobile clubs across the state. Last year, there were over 176,000 snowmobiles registered in New York State. These are people that (for the most part) ride the trails in New York State. What the SRA does is moves registration up to $100 per sled.  Members of clubs affiliated with NYSSA would receive an automatic discount of $55 per sled. This is designed to encourage people to join clubs.  Even if you get members that don’t participate in club activities and work days, the club at least receives their membership money. You’ve heard of the saying that 10% of a volunteer organization does all the work. Well, if you increase membership by 100%, then your ‘active’ volunteer pool will increase accordingly.  For those that refuse to join a club, then $90 of their registration goes into the Trail Fund. $10 per registration goes to the DMV to cover their administrative costs.

 Speaking of the trail fund, Niagara County has been approved for trail funding this year. We still are resolving some problems at the local level with NiMo, NY Power Authority and dealing with some landowner issues.  But, I anticipate having a full trail connecting to N.E.S.S. trails in the eastern part of the county this winter. The corridor trail into Western Niagara County has been designated ‘C4B’ by the state.  We should have more information on actual receipt of funds soon.  I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the members of Shawnee, Pendleton and N.E.S.S. who have made this possible.

 If you have any ideas on how to improve/add to the trail system, please contact me at NiagaraDirector@aol.com.  One area we would like to start concentrating on is Northern Niagara County and building trail connections to Orleans County.  There is an old railroad bed running from the Youngstown area to Orleans County. We may be able to use the ‘Rails-to-Trails’ program to get this property turned over to us for a ‘multi-use’ trail. Based on discussions with several members, I’d like to try to formalize some of the existing trails to the Wilson area and beyond into the trails system. 

 By the way, the new Safety Slogan adopted by NYSSA is ‘Know Your Limit, Ride Within It’-you’ll be seeing it around. Please heed it, for your own sake and for the sake of the sport in New York State!

     Gary Broderick

 

NEW YORK STATE SNOWMOBILE ASSOCIATION

Niagara County District Director

Gary J. Broderick

5785 West Street

Sanborn, NY 14132-9206

Home: (716) 731-1719

Cell: (716) 807-7002

E-mail: NiagaraDirector@aol.com

 To:

Shawnee Sno-Chiefs Snowmobile Club, Inc.

Pendleton Snowmobile Club

Northern Erie Sno-Seekers Snowmobile Club, Inc.

Niagara County Snowmobile Federation