License to Ski?

summarized from TV 6 , Negaunee, MI, October 29, 2008, "A Fee to Ski?"

The Upper Peninsula's Blueberry Ridge cross-country ski trail Friends group is attempting to revive an idea that surfaces every so often. They would like to have a statewide ski pass for cross-country trails.

Such a pass system would provide revenue for continued grooming of trails operated by the Michigan DNR. The group has put this process in motion with state legislators, who would need to approve the idea before the DNR could implement it.

They say that the system would be similar to hunting and fishing licenses. Funds from these sales would be used to provide grooming and improvements for trails.

Minnesota currently has such a system and their pricing is set at $5 for a daily pass, $15 for one year, or $40 for a three-year pass. Passes in that state may be purchased on line, in person at various locations, and at self-pay tubes at many trails.

Many Michigan DNR ski trails are maintained by cooperation with volunteer groups. Locally, Big M, Pentwater Pathway, and Crystal Valley Ski Trails have such agreements. Silver Creek is maintained by the DNR, while the Blood Creek trail near Baldwin has been abandoned because no volunteer group maintained it, and the DNR decided it could not afford the maintenance costs.

Watch for a poll on this issue, beginning on November 1. (And while polls are on your mind, you have just two more days to take the current one... check the right hand column!)

See The Great Minnesota Ski Pass
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