Questions and answers about snowmobiling in Wisconsin

I can probably guess that if you live in Taylor County or in any part of Wisconsin, that you know what a snowmobile and a snowmobile trail are. But do you know what kind of problems they have to deal with for trails to open or if you’re just starting out, what trails to use?

I sat down with Taylor County Forestry and Recreation Administrator Jake Walcisak to ask some questions about snowmobile trails. Walcisak has been working in natural resource management for around 15 years being with different Wisconsin counties and working for the Wisconsin DNR, with 10 of those years being at Medford.

What trail do you prefer for people who are just starting to snowmobile?

“There are quite a variety of trails in the county. Generally south of state highway 64 is more open, flat, less challenging terrain. North of highway 64 is more wooded and it also can be more curvy and more hilly, but trails in the state of Wisconsin are built to a standard that should be accommodating to all snowmobile users. They shouldn’t be so challenging that they couldn’t be navigated.” Walcisak said.

What are some of the usual problems you have when trying to open the trails and what is the biggest problem you have faced when trying to get the trails to open up?

“So we manage the trails on a county wide level so there’s 347 miles of trail in Taylor County and that’s a lot of miles so it requires cooperation with a lot of volunteer clubs to make it all happen. So the way that this works is that funding is provided by the DNR and DNR contracts with all the counties in the state to do this trail work, for maintenance and grooming. The counties work with local volunteer clubs to make that happen and because, it’s a lot better bang for the buck to work with volunteers than it is to pay someone full time to do the work. The largest challenge that we have is the large number of miles and the shortage of volunteers. Regardless of what type of community oriented group it is, could be ATV, snowmobile, horses, Lions Club, any of those and many more there is a shortage of individuals wanting to get into those kind of community orientated volunteer groups. Shortage of people is probably the biggest challenge right now and then in years like this we had a lot of storm damage, so that was a unique challenge to this snowmobile season which doesn’t happen very often.” Walcisak said.

What do you think the future of snowmobiling is for the next 5 to 10 years?

“We’re seeing a very steady and stable amount of snowmobiles registered across the state of Wisconsin. It’s not growing, it’s not shrinking, it’s just flowing in a very narrow range. So I think that the state of snowmobiling in Wisconsin is going to be stable, I don’t see it shrinking or growing significantly. Snowmobile technology hasn’t taken huge strides in the last handful of years, there’s been some improvements to engine power and efficiency, but as far as rider comfort and usability they haven’t changed a lot but the prices of snowmobiles, like many things have increased a lot. A new snowmobile used to be $8,000 to $9,000. Now there are some snowmobiles that are $20,000 new and so it all depends on what you’re looking for on features but one thing that might challenge the stability of snowmobiling is the barrier of the cost to entry,” Walcisak said.

How does it make you feel that Wisconsin is known as the snowmobile state?

“I think that’s something to be very proud of and we have some of the nation’s best trails, we have a very well managed system and the DNR does a really good job of administering that from the state level and having the process and place for counties and clubs to implement what we need to do on the trails. We have visitors from all over the United States that come to northern Wisconsin and most often we hear that these are the best trails that they ride anywhere, most well maintained. So that’s something to be very proud of,” Walcisak said.