Caledonia County Snowmobile Trails Face an Uncertain Future

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Created on Wednesday, 19 February 2025 16:11
Written by Asher Ballantine

Snowmobile trails in Caledonia County have been facing serious uphill battle, putting a major aspect of Vermont’s winter recreation at risk in Caledonia County. 

 

The Vermont Association of Snow Travelers (VAST), is an organization responsible for the maintenance and grooming of hundreds of miles of snowmobile trails across the entire state. In Caledonia County, the local VAST club operates with just seven members, making it increasingly difficult to maintain the trails.

 

However that is not the only major problem facing these snowmobile trails, an overlooked aspect of this business is the agreement between VAST and local landowners in the area that own a large portion of viable trails, for whatever reason 2 landowners in the caledonian region have decided to shut their property off to VAST and it’s trails causing one of the most popular trails in Caledonia County to be erased from their boundary map. 

 

Jeff Hayes, a member of the Caledonian Club, spoke about how the importance of these trails and their traffic is usually a net benefit to local businesses in the area like gas stations for example who could benefit from the increased number of sales during what is usually a slower season. 

 

Jeff also believes there is a generational divide in what move people find popular as a winter recreation activity. 

 

“I mean years ago when we started, there were no snowboards. You had skiers and you had snow machines, basically. From that standpoint, it's less expensive to go snowboarding than it is to register, insure, and maintain a snow machine for riding around.”

 

Another important aspect of the maintenance of these trails is the effect natural disasters such as floods and storms has on important infrastructure. For example, the floods from last year wiped out 2 major bridges in East Burke alone which cost thousands of dollars to repair. 

 

The Caledonia County club is always looking to recruit more workers and increase awareness about the importance of snowmobile trail tourism in the region. They hope that with more hands on deck, they can continue maintaining the trails and supporting the local economy through winter recreation.