This is the first winter in 40 years that cross country trails in the U.P. aren't being groomed by the DNR.
MARQUETTE COUNTY -- A tough economy is affecting more than your wallets...it's also limiting outdoor activities in the U.P. this season.
This is the first winter in 40 years that cross country trails in the U.P. aren't being groomed by the DNR. The DNR just doesn't have the funding to do it.
"There was a $100,000 allocation to the DNR for forest recreation, recreational trail development, improvement and pathways, and that's the money that we used to groom the cross country ski trails each year," said Ron Yesney, Recreation Specialist with the DNR. "That money is no longer available to us; it has been reallocated."
Some counties will suffer as a result because cross country skiers will stay away, but Marquette County, where the trails are still groomed, may actually benefit.
"It is possible that these budget cuts are helping Marquette County because people are actually having to come here because we do have so many different choices," explained Nicole Dewald, Operations Coordinator for the Noquemanon Trail Network.
This season, 23 public cross country ski pathways that were groomed last year will not be groomed this year. But some of these trails were able to receive assistance through volunteer efforts and grant contracts with the DNR.
That's what happened in Marquette County. The Noquemanon Trail Network, which is a non-profit organization, has been contracted to groom Blueberry Ridge. The Noquemanon Trail Network also grooms their own trails that are supported by membership passes. The DNR is hoping other groups, volunteers or local governments will step forward to groom other trails in the U.P.
"We're going to continue to look at creative ways to work this situation through, and I think what we're looking at most prevalently now are potentially entering into agreements with other organizations to groom the trails," Yesney added.
Although the public trails aren't currently being groomed, the DNR is continuing to plow the parking lots for the trails this winter.
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