SNO-STREAKERS, INC.
PO BOX 780
MEREDITH, NH 03253

December 9, 2011 meeting/Christmas Party:

We had a good turnout for the Christmas party this year.  We had about 30 members attend, and a great time was had by all.  It was really nice to see some new faces attending this year.  Welcome and we hope to see more of you!  A huge THANK YOU to Gus and Barb Jenkins for once again being our incredibly gracious hosts at Oak Hill Golf Course.  You two are the best!

Ben Quinn has stepped down as our Vice President, and Arthur Smith has agreed to take over the office.  Thanks, Arthur!  Ben will continue his great work on our website.  If you haven’t checked it out, you really should.  If you have any great snowmobiling pictures to put on the website, please send them to Ben and he will add them.  Also, if you come across any hazards on the trails, please e-mail Ben through the site and he will post them on the Trail Report section of our website. 

Trail Report:  Thanks to all who helped out on the trail work this year.  We have had small turnouts for the trail work, which has been a little disappointing.    We have had to do some re-routes on the Primary 300 trail, so look for signs along the trail to show the new trail.  Even with all of the rain we have had recently, the trails are in pretty good shape.  Now we just need to wait for some cold temps and good snow!  Todd, Phil and Lee have begun GPS’ing our trails, with the idea of working with GPS Trailmasters for electronic maps of our trails.  As soon as this is completed, we will let you know.

We are tentatively planning another club ride for February 18th beginning at 9:00 am leaving from Norm McGuigan and Sue McGarry’s home.  More info to follow as the time gets nearer.  Phil and Ernie are also planning on weekly group rides.  If anyone is interested, you can e-mail Phil at minutemannh@gmail.com or Ernie at ernieinman@yahoo.com.

IMPORTANT:  We will be putting the bridge decks on the railroad bed on Sunday, January 8th.  If you can help out for a couple hours, please meet at the Winona Trestle bridge at 8:00 am.  We can use all of the help we can get.  Remember, we all like to ride the trails.  Please help us make the trails the best they can be!   If you have any questions, please contact Todd at 1toddco@msn.com or 608-8236.

Fundraisers:  The fundraising calendars are ready for sale.  The money we raise from these calendars go towards maintaining our groomer.  We have included two along with your newsletter.  If you would like to purchase them, they are $5.00 each.   Drawings will be held during the month of February.  For anyone who is not familiar with this fundraiser, calendars are printed with a monetary amount on each date.  A winner is drawn for each date from all people who purchase a calendar.  All winners’ names go back into the drawing, so you are eligible to win multiple times.  Anyone who is interested more calendars to purchase or sell, please let me know at suemagnuson@metrocast.net, and I will get some to you.

We also have Super Raffle tickets available.  They are $5.00 each.  The prizes this year are a 2012 Arctic Cat F 1100 Sno Pro 50th Anniversary snowmobile, a 500.00 gas card, a $300.00 gas card, and a $200.00 gas card.  (Winner will select the prize of their choice in the order drawn from those remaining).  If you are interested in any raffle tickets, please send a check, include a note it is for raffle tickets, and I will send them to you.  All tickets need to be in to our club no later than Jan. 24th so that we can get the ticket stubs to the State by Jan. 27th.

The following information should be of interest to all of our members.  This may affect major work on our trails for next year.

  Bureau of Trails Forced to Cancel 2012 RTP Grant Round
(Concord, NH – December 19, 2011)        
              The New Hampshire Division of Parks and Recreation’s Bureau of Trails announces that it is forced to cancel the 2012 Recreational Trails Program (RTP) grant round due to the Federal Highway Administration(FHWA) making “technical corrections” to its funding formula.  The FHWA notified the Bureau last week that it had made recalculations to the federal funding formula for the years 2009-2012 and as a result $678 thousand dollars was taken back from the New Hampshire trail program.  All of the 2012 funds, $677 thousand dollars, have been rescinded.
            “This is a major disappointment to New Hampshire’s trail community and trail projects that were planned for 2012,” stated Bureau of Trails Chief Chris Gamache.  RTP funding is the only source available to non-motorized trails in New Hampshire and a major component of the motorized trail system also. There were 55 organizations that were awarded grants in 2011 and the 2012 grant round was underway with a grant deadline in mid-January.  “We are completely stunned at the sudden email from FHWA and this loss of funding,” said Gamache.
            The FHWA administration made the announcement to the Bureau of Trails via email last week.  “We are working with New Hampshire’s Congressional Delegation to determine how this formula change was made and the timing of the rescission of our trails funds,” commented Gamache.
            The Recreational Trails Program is a federal grant program which is funded by gas tax of off-highway vehicle use nationally.  The funds taken back from NH do not impact projects approved and funding in 2011, but all projects planned for 2012.

NEXT MEETING:  Wednesday, January 11, 2012 at 7:00 pm at the Meredith Center Fire Station. 

HAVE A GREAT NEW YEAR AND HOPE TO SEE ALL OF YOU SOON ON THE TRAILS!  THINK SNOW, SNOW, SNOW!