West Carleton Mississippi Mills Snowmobile Club

District Position on Alto High Speed Rail Project

Whereas, the Upper Canada Snowmobile Region (UCSR) is District 1 within the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs (OFSC) and is comprised of 16 OFSC snowmobile clubs covering the area west to Napanee, north to Arnprior, east to the Ontario-Quebec border and south to the New York- Ontario border, maintaining 3391 km of OFSC Prescribed trails supported by nearly 1000 volunteers and servicing just over 10,000 snowmobilers and their families;

Whereas, this 3391 km trail network is made possible with the gracious support and cooperation of more than 2100 landowners, providing over 6,600 parcels of land of which over 80% are privately owned;

Whereas, the UCSR’s trail network generates an estimated $112,299,570 in economic impact (2022-2023 data) within the region, including $71,817,239 in GDP, supporting 604 jobs and generating $16,772,462 in federal taxes, $19,289,781 in provincial taxes and $2,078,838 in municipal taxes;

Whereas, the proposed Alto High Speed Train corridor would pass directly through the UCSR network effectively dividing the system and crossing rural communities, active agricultural lands, and environmentally sensitive areas;

Whereas, the UCSR Board of Directors is concerned about the potential long-term economic consequences for rural landowners, including impacts on agricultural operations, future land use, property value with limited direct local benefits;

Whereas, the UCSR is concerned that the project planning has not adequately considered the impact on recreational trail infrastructure, including:

• Maintaining safe and continuous trail connectivity across the rail corridor;
• Providing sufficient clearance and width (approximately 25 feet) within proposed underpasses or overpasses to safely accommodate recreational trail use, including snowmobiles; and
• With landowner support, allowing for the potential development of parallel recreational trail corridors (approximately 25 feet), including snowmobiles, outside of the railway safety fencing.

Whereas, the UCSR Board of Directors has significant concerns regarding the current Alto high-speed rail proposal and the expropriation-related provisions contained in Bill C-15;

Be It Resolved That, the UCSR formally opposes the Alto High-Speed Rail Project as currently proposed, due to its potentially significant negative impacts on the regional snowmobile trail network, participating landowners, and the broader rural tourism economy.

Be It Further Resolved That, the UCSR call upon the Government of Canada and project proponents to fully assess and mitigate impacts to recreational trail infrastructure, landowners, and rural communities, including the provision of appropriate trail crossings and connectivity measures.

Sunday, the WCMM Snowmobile Club held their annual Landowner/Volunteer Appreciation lunch. It was very well attended and everyone was commenting on how great the meal was. Many thanks to Leather Works Catering for once again providing a fantastic meal.

The Board of Directors would like to thank our landowners for providing the generous gift of allowing a trail on their property without our landowners we simply would not have a 280 km trail system.

To our many volunteers Thank You for all your hard work season after season. It takes a lot of volunteers doing a lot of hard work to get this large trail system ready in the fall and then to tear it all down in the spring to leave the properties like we were never there.
Thanks also to all our groomer operators who went above and beyond this season to provide amazing trails. We have received a huge amount of compliments about our trails this season. The many nights you spent in the groomers away from your families to provide such great trails certainly didn’t go unnoticed and was very much appreciated.

We also want to thank our local businesses for providing enough prizes that all landowners in attendance went home with a gift.
Here is the list of our generous businesses please support them as they support our club:

Antrim Truck Stop
Blacks Corners Motorsports
C+M Electric Carp
Covered Bridge Brewing Kinburn
Circle K Esso Almonte
Darvesh Corner Store Kinburn
Karson's Service Centre Pakenham
Nichols Store Woodlawn
The Prior Sports Bar and Family Restaurant
Ridge Rock Brewery Carp
Ross Heating and Cooling Kinburn
Scheel Furniture and Appliances Pakenham
The Point Dining Lounge Constance Bay

This is a friendly reminder to our landowners and volunteers who haven’t already RSVP’d to the luncheon, please do so in the next few days!

Volunteers!!! We’re looking for help to remove pickets soon from Homesteaders road to Stonecrest.

Please contact Kyle @ [email protected]

With the warm weather and rain in the forecast the WCMM board of directors has decided to close the trails starting tonight Friday March 6.

Depending what Mother Nature has in store for us we will monitor the situation after this warm spell to see if any trails can be reopened.We hope everyone has been able to ride many times to enjoy the trails and made some great memories with family and friends.It has been a good season in this area and we want to say a big Thank you to all the volunteers who did all the work to make the trails and also a big Thank you to all the groomer operators who have done a fantastic job on the trails again this winter.

These guys were out many nights grooming giving up their sleep to make table top trails for all the permit buyers to enjoy the trails.
Fantastic job guys.

I hope once again that the people who were complaining back when we had 2 inches of snow why the groomers weren’t out have finally realized that all the club needs is cold weather and a couple feet of snow and we will provide great trails.

We also want to recognize all our neighbouring clubs for all their hard work to provide excellent trails this winter. Thank you!

Keep an eye on the ITG and when the trails are closed please do not ride on them.
Riding closed trails could very well mean closed forever.

WCMM
Board of Directors

A message from Steve Burgess:

I was out grooming yesterday and came onto a pile of old drywall dumped along side the trail. It is on the A trail about 3 miles west of Almonte.
The landowner is going to be real happy. More work for volunteers to clean this mess up in the spring.

If anyone has any info on who might have done this please contact the club.

W11 and loggers way.

We’re lucky to be allowed back on it after being kicked off it for about 5 years.

Landowner has kindly asked us to stay off his winter wheat - yet someone chose to drive through all the caution tape put up.

Be better.

Ontario Snowmobile Safety Week
🦺 Safety tip -Stay on Marked Trails

Venturing “off‑trail” might feel adventurous, but groomed routes are designed to keep riders safe. Beneath untouched powder, hidden dangers like stumps, rocks, or even old barbed‑wire fencing can turn a fun ride into a serious accident. Sticking to marked trails also protects young forest growth and respects private property, keeping our trails open for everyone.




https://www.ofsc.on.ca/news/one-week-one-reminder-whole-season-smart-riding