It wasn’t a bad snowmobile season and it wasn’t the greatest, but it sure allowed for some enjoyable snowmobiling while it lasted! Here it is April with all the trails in the area closed and Mother Nature comes along and says "April Fool" winter isn’t over. All those with late season new sleds are trying to get a few final miles of riding in.

Membership Meeting: On Thursday night, March 22^nd the membership meeting was held at the Greene Township Building. Attendance was poor with only the board members and 5 other supportive souls. Maybe it should have been a pity party because all the snow was melting? Most of the meeting was spent discussing "grooming"; the good, the bad and the facts. It basically breaks down into three segments: 1) The Yanmar cannot be used as a groomer for the lack of traction, horsepower and speed. It is a super summer trail machine and will be kept for that function until an interested party is identified that might want to purchase it. If you know of such individual, you should contact one of the Board members. 2) The Yamaha sleds will be our grooming machines. One has just had the drive repaired – labor provide by Tom Dipko and parts provided economically by Offroad Express. The other sled will be overhauled this summer. Both will be ready to meet the grooming demands for next year. If we get lots of snow, we will need volunteers to man them. With the increase trail use it is expected that the trails will need groomed at least twice a week. 3) While the sleds do a fair job, the club must come up with a more viable means to smooth our trails. All the other area clubs are obtaining trail groomers. Corry and Presque Isle have obtained DCNR grants to purchase professional groomers. A good and reliable piece of grooming equipment is way outside our club’s financial capabilities. It appears that a grant would be our only means to obtain a true trail grooming piece of equipment. To that end, I have elected and started the research and investigation into the grant process. The experience of others and the grant manual indicates that it is a long drawn out process and will take some time to prepare, submit and gain approval. This could take from two to three years. I’m attempting to spear head this task. Mark Omniewski has agreed to research the equipment to comply with our needs; width, horsepower, speed, traction and options. At this time we are looking for someone in the club that would like to join us on the grant committee to focus on working with, talking to and gaining the support of our area politicians for our grant request. If you would like to help our future grooming capabilities and you have the talent and interest in dealing with our elected officials, please give me a call (899-8171).

ECSA Snowmobile Club of the Year - Wales Sno-Drifters (third time)

ECSA Snowmobile Family of the year – the Engessers

Burbules, Steve Hair, Earl Williams, Mike Murdock, Rob Tobin, Regan Tanner, Earl Williams and George and Denny Engesser. Marc Matczak, our Trail Coordinator, would like to give a big THANK YOU to all that helped.

Earth Day, April 21^st, this is when we as a club show the communities how much we appreciate the area that we enjoy so much during the winter time by removing the trash from along the roadways. All members planning on giving a helping hand to the cleanup should plan on meeting at 9:00am at the Green Township Building .We will be needing drivers and trash pickers. We will pick up trash from along Wales Road from Station to Rt8 and Knoyle Road from Kuhl Road to Wales Road. Anyone needing information please contact Fred Morris at 899-6307.

The next activity will be Green Township Spring cleanup on May 19^th and 20^th from 9am till 2pm each day. As you may or may not know, the Greene Township makes available the room we meet in at no cost. Not having to pay rental fees, allows these funds to be applied to trail improvements. To reciprocate and show appreciation, we work with the township supervisors and area residents process their recyclables. It’s a great time. Contact Steve Hair (725-9313) to sign up and give a hand on one or both days.

We are very interested in having our annual picnic as a kickoff for the coming snowmobile riding season. This is a good event and enjoyed by all that attend; date, time and place to be determined. To that end, we are looking for an event chairman. If you are so inclined and would like to volunteer or assist in this event, please contact a board member.