TART will Groom Vasa Trail without MDNR Funding

Fri, Nov  16, 2007 - By Bob Otwell

It is snowing in downtown TC!
 
If you already purchased a Badge or Vasa K for the 2007-2008 season, THANK YOU! You should have received your buttons in the mail. We’ll soon be updating our “grooming report email list” with the current subscribers and purging last seasons email list.
 
If you have yet to purchase one, the badges are again only $100 and are good for the entire family!  An advantage to buying a badge is receiving the grooming report emails, a service only provided to our Grooming Badge and Vasa K supporters. Grooming badges may be purchased online here.  

You may have heard some rumors that funding for grooming and parking lot plowing will be cut this year from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources budget. It IS true that the MDNR won’t be assisting us with grooming reimbursement funds, but TART will continue to groom the Vasa Pathway this winter with available funding. We raise money for the grooming program through grooming badges, kilometer sponsors, the fee pipes, and support from the Vasa Race group. Grand Traverse County will continue to plow the parking lot at the Vasa Trail head.

We have already spent considerable time working toward making this season the best-ever for grooming. When conditions allow, we will groom as  early as possible to let the trail set up before being skied on. We plan on sending out grooming report emails earlier in the day, provide more detailed information/communication about why we groomed or why we didn’t groom, as well as some additional signage in the warming hut and at the trailhead that let skiers know of our grooming plans. We hope all of these improvements will make for an even more enjoyable cross-country ski season!
 
And for you Leelanau  County folks… we will continue to groom the Leelanau Trail weekly, usually on Fridays.
 
We are hoping for a snowy winter and appreciate your support. Please pass this e-mail on to folks that might like to support our grooming program.

Thank you,
Bob
--   
Bob Otwell, Executive Director
TART Trails, Inc.
232 E. Front Street - PO Box 252 - Traverse City, MI 49685
(231) 941-4300 [email protected] http://www.traversetrails.org

"Enriching the Traverse area by providing an interconnected network of
trails, bikeways, and pedestrian ways; and encouraging their use."