8555-R2_MSA_November2023_Newsletter

Off Trail Riding Prohibited By Joe Higgins, Dept. of Agriculture Conservation and Forestry

T he State of Maine Snowmo bile Program has been work ing in conjunction with Maine Snowmobile Association, Land owners, Snowmobile Clubs and the Maine Game Wardens dealing with un-wanted off-trail snowmobiling. This has been a subject in many conversations and has become more prob lematic over the years. As a lot of you already know, club vol unteers have worked hard with private landowners developing and maintaining snowmobile trails. Developing a great rela tionship for generations only to have them closed due to off-trail riding. Some of this has come to a point of harassment, which is totally unacceptable. Knowing that law enforcement needed

the tools and laws to better han dle these issues. All the parties came together to come up with a law to prohibit off-trail riding where not wanted and a mecha nism to enforce it. Welcome to LD732, an Act to Prohibit Off-Trail Operation of a Snowmobile in an Area Closed to off-Trail operation. Sec. 1. 12 MRSA §13106-A, sub-§27 is enacted to read: Operating snowmobile in posted area. A person may not operate a snowmobile off a snowmobile trail in an area that is posted as being closed to off trail snowmobile operations. A person who violates this sub section commits a civil violation for which a fine of not less than

$100 and not more than $500 may be adjudged. A person who violates this subsection after having been adjudicated as hav ing committed 3 or more civil violations under this Part within the previous 5-year period com mits a Class E crime. SUMMARY:This bill prohibits a person from operating a snow mobile off a snowmobile trail in an area that is posted as being closed to off-trail snowmobile operation. It provides for a fine of not less than $100 and not more than $500 for the first vio lation of the prohibition and that a violation after 3 or more civil violations of the inland fisher ies and wildlife laws is a Class E crime.

Actual sign colors are deep red.

These signs are available through the State of Maine, Department of Agriculture, Con servation and Forestry, Bureau of Parks and Lands, Off-Road Vehicle Office, Snowmobile Pro gram. It should be noted that these signs need to be posted as stated. It is in law and posted is defined as “posted” to mean containing signage that is rea sonably likely to come to the attention of a person operating a snowmobile that indicates that

off-trail snowmobiling is pro hibited and that is placed by the landowner, the landowners rep resentative, a local snowmobile club trail master serving as the landowners representative, a local snowmobile club represen tative or an employee of IF&W or DACF. These signs should be installed in problematics areas and needs to be a joint effort with the land owners, snowmobile clubs, State of Maine snowmobile Pro

gram and if needed law enforce ment. Let’s protect our landown ers and trails for the future. To order, they will be on the new sign order forms or on our website. Here is the link to our web site. https://www.maine. gov/dacf/parks/grants/snowmo bile_grants/club.html In the meantime, feel free to call or email our office at: 207-287 4957, joe.higgins@maine.gov Thank you, safe snowmobiling. Joe Higgins

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