RUMFORD — Snowmobile clubs seeking state grants this winter to maintain 14,000 miles of trails may have to jump through more hoops if Maine approves a list of updated rules this fall.

One such rule would make it mandatory that operators of capital grant-supported equipment successfully complete the Off-Road Vehicle Division’s Maine Trail Groomer Operator Awareness Training program prior to operating the equipment.

Currently, about 50 of Maine’s roughly 300 snowmobile clubs have taken the DVD training course that’s been offered the past four years, Scott Ramsay, director of the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands‘ Off-Road Vehicle Division Snowmobile Program, said Tuesday afternoon in Augusta.

“The vast majority still are not taking advantage of that program,” he said.

“It’s not something you’ve got to go to college to understand. It’s a pretty straightforward thing.”

He said the training covers safety, preparedness for accidents or breakdowns, the mechanics of grooming, and other topics.

“So, it is a good program to just make them aware of some of the issues that have happened, and we have seen some issues,” Ramsay said, referring to sled-groomer collisions.

Sledders have struck groomers in the past, but the first fatality came in February.

In that incident, Richard Pepin II, 29, of Madison, was snowmobiling on ITS 87 trail when he topped a ridge, traveled a ways and struck with a broken-down groomer left on the trail.

The operator of the Abnaki Sno-Riders Inc. club groomer had placed three orange caution signs and attached orange tape on poles in front and in back of the machine to warn approaching sledders, according to the Maine Warden Service.

Speed, however, was a factor in the incident, the service said in February.

“First time in the history of our trails where we actually had a snowmobiler run into a groomer that was broken-down overnight in the trail, so that kind of inspired us to say, ‘First fatality, maybe we should ratchet this up,’” Ramsay said.

Members of Maine snowmobile clubs have until Sept. 2 to comment on the new rules.

The Off-Road Vehicle Division will also hold two public hearings on the proposed changes to the two different grant programs. The first is at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 27, at the Caribou Recreation Department in Caribou; the other is much closer at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 3, at Viles Auditorium (Arboretum) in Augusta.

Another change requires grant recipients to buy and maintain insurance to cover the value of the equipment from loss by fire.

He said that was included after a club lost new equipment to a fire and didn’t have fire insurance.

Ramsay said the division, user groups and advisory councils have been working on rule changes in the past few years.

“It’s not a surprise. It’s nothing new,” he said of the general premise of the new rules.

“It’s just sort of updating and trying to be user friendly, and/or to address some issues that have come up.”

There are 115 capital equipment and municipal/county grants available this winter, Ramsay said.

Bob Meyers, executive director of the Maine Snowmobile Association, said Tuesday that at the hearings, the association will lobby for a phasing-in of the new rules instead of all at once.

“Our concern, if you look through those changes, is there are a number of things that could be construed as mandates,” Meyers said.

“And where you have these clubs that do a wonderful job with volunteers to create this huge industry, you want to be real careful with them all the time and make things as easy as possible.”

Meyers said he doesn’t yet know if the association has a problem with the changes.

“But at the very least, I think what we’d like to see is a phase-in of them, because just to say over night that these are the changes and the plan is to have them in place for these grant programs for this upcoming season, it does place a burden on the clubs,” he said.

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The full copy of proposed Snowmobile Division rules for capital equipment and municipal/county grants may be found at http://www.maine.gov/doc/parks/programs/snowmobile/news.html.

Written comments may be submitted to: Shannon Morin, Snowmobile Division, Bureau of Parks and Lands, 22 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333 or [email protected].

Proposed rule changes by the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands’ Off-Road Vehicle Division’s Snowmobile Program to the capital equipment grant program are:

* Operators of capital grant-supported equipment must successfully complete the Off-Road Vehicle Division’s Maine Trail Groomer Operator Awareness Training program prior to operating that equipment.

* To get the maximum allowable grant or reimbursement, the application must be received by the bureau or postmarked on or before April 1 of the fiscal year in which a purchase was made or the applicant entered into a purchase order with a vendor.

* Equipment bought under the program or equipment described in an approved purchase order must cost a minimum of $1,500 for a drag unit or $3,000 for a power unit. Purchases based on approved purchase orders must be completed by July 15 of the calendar year in which the purchase was approved.

* The applicant must ensure that the equipment purchased is maintained in a safe condition, in good repair, and stored at a protected site.

* Grants will be tracked for six years for equipment valued at $100,000 or more and four years for equipment valued under $100,000 from the date on the purchase receipt.

* And all grant recipients will purchase and maintain insurance to cover the value of the equipment from loss by fire.

Proposed changes to the municipal/county grants program are:

* If the request for financial assistance is strictly for winter grooming, routine maintenance, brush cutting or sign maintenance, the applicant must submit a list of landowners along with a letter/statement certifying that all landowners over whose land the trail passes have been contacted and have granted permission.

* Sign plans must comply with the Snowmobile Trail Signing Guidelines Brochure published by the Department of Conservation, Off-Road Vehicle Division.

* Reimbursement requests postmarked after May 15 of the year in which the project was undertaken will be reduced by 10 percent per day beginning on May 16 of the approved grant or eligible reimbursement, whichever is less.

* All projects shall comply with the Bureau’s Best Management Practice Guidelines for the maintenance or construction of trails, Snowmobile Trail Signing Guidelines for sign placement and the Maine Trail Groomer Operator Awareness Training program.

* Trail grooming must be done at least twice weekly or more often if necessary, depending upon weather and traffic.