OFSC Urges Trail Riders To Make Smart Choices On Family Day Long Weekend

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Smart Choice #1 For Snowmobiling Is Riding Available OFSC Trails

(Barrie, ON: February 11, 2021) – Snowmobile trails operated by clubs belonging to the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs (OFSC) comprise about 40% of our province’s recreational trails, a network that continues to be the smart choice for where to ride your sled. Recent statistics provided by the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) show that over 90% of snowmobile fatalities this season have occurred on roads, ice and unmaintained areas, and not on available OFSC trails. That’s one good reason why we’re pleased to welcome smart riders to over 22,000 kilometres of snowmobile trails now available for local riding this Family Day Long Weekend.

We want you to feel safe on our trails and arrive home without incident after every ride. To help, we’ve invited the OPP and other enforcement services to patrol our trails this weekend. You can do your part to safeguard your family by reminding everyone in your group of smart riding choices expected on our trails. There is no more important time to take this advice to heart than Family Day Long Weekend when so many families and new riders will be sharing our trails for a special winter outing. These smart choices include:

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OFSC Adds Public Health Unit Boundaries To Interactive Trail Guide

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Boundary Lines Assist Snowmobilers To Ride Locally Within Their Public Health Region

(Barrie, ON: January 27, 2021) – With winter finally upon us and thousands of kilometres of trails now showing either Green or Yellow on the Interactive Trail Guide (ITG) for local riding, the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs (OFSC) has created a new tool to assist snowmobilers.

As of today, we have temporarily added public health region boundaries (blue lines) to the ITG on our website, which are visible in both Trail Network and Trail Status views. They will also show on the Go Snowmobiling Ontario Apps after your next regular data update. The blue boundary lines will help you to stay within your own public health region while riding available OFSC trails and enable you to plan your local rides more easily while complying with public health measures.

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OFSC Urges All Snowmobilers To Follow Public Health Protocols

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Together We Can Do This!

(Barrie, ON: January 20, 2021) – On January 18th, the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs (OFSC) received the news that, effective January 21st, 2021, North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit (NBPSDHU) is temporarily closing all OFSC trails within its region for the duration of the provincial Stay At Home Order. This district stretches from Parry Sound on the shores of Georgian Bay, east to Mattawa on the Ottawa River, and from Novar north almost to Marten River. It also includes many OFSC clubs and their volunteers in OFSC Districts 10, 11 & 7 who have worked very hard to prep their trails and, in some cases, had commenced grooming operations despite a late start to winter.

In a news release from January 18th, 2021, Dr. Jim Chirico, NBPSDHU Medical Officer of Health, stated that: “I have received many complaints about people travelling from other districts to use the local snowmobile trails, thus putting our district at risk of COVID-19. The OFSC recommends that snowmobilers avoid trailering and travelling to destinations that are outside their health unit region to snowmobile, but people have not taken the direction seriously.”

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No Change For OFSC Snowmobile Trails At This Time

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Trails Remain A Permitted Recreational Activity Under New Regs

OFSC Update Based On Info Available as of January 14 at 9 AM

On January 12th, 2021, the Province of Ontario announced a second province-wide State-of-Emergency and a new Stay At Home Order. The Order, which has come as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, will take effect at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday, January 14th and will last at least 28 days. On January 13 at 5:56 PM, the Province issued an Order In Council with the regulations for the Stay At Home Order. This Order In Council specifically allows:

16. Exercising, including,

i. walking or moving around outdoors using an assistive mobility device, or

i i. using an outdoor recreational amenity that is permitted to be open under the Stage 1 Order.

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Rider Surveys Provide Valuable Insight for Organized Snowmobiling in Ontario

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OFSC Shares Key Rider Preference Results With Snowmobilers For The First Time

(Barrie, ON: January 7, 2021) – To improve our trail riding experience for snowmobilers, the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs (OFSC) conducts our Rider Opinion & Preference Survey every other spring to learn more from riders while the past season is still top of mind. To our knowledge, no other snowmobile association in North America does anything similar or as frequently. Today, we are sharing some of our results from our most recent survey, Spring 2020, to give you another glimpse into the broad range of activities we undertake every year.

About The Surveys: These anonymous surveys repeat previous questions so we can compare answers and identify trends important to all of us. Each time, we also add new questions to address emerging issues or clarify your previous responses. Our results from survey to survey remain remarkably consistent, regardless of weather, snow cover, or season length.

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OFSC Delivers Important New Year’s Message For Snowmobilers

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Until Shutdown Ends, Stay Close to Home & Only Ride Local When Trails Are Available

(Barrie, ON: December 31, 2020) – In support of the existing provincial shutdown and to limit non-essential travel, the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs (OFSC) urges snowmobilers to avoid travelling outside their local public health region, and only ride local trails when availability shows as Yellow or Green on the Interactive Trail Guide (ITG).

The OFSC highly recommends that snowmobilers avoid trailering and travelling to destinations that are outside their public health region. To discourage travelling by snowmobile beyond public health region boundaries, the OFSC has made trails between health units temporarily unavailable (showing Red on the ITG) until further notice.  Trails to Quebec, Manitoba and the United States remain closed.

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