Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Fall 2016 | 9 VAST News BEST PRACTICES FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF SNOWMOBILE TRAILS The VAST trails team has been working hard on an update to the guide for the Development of Snowmobile Trails. Not only is the information being updated to reflect the best practices for trail construction, but we have also changed the format of the manual to make it much easier to use. This newly updated guide is broken up into two major sections: design/ planning and construction. The design/planning section covers the basics of planning a trail or reroute. It offers tools and guidance geared towards someone who has not built a trail before, but offers some good suggestions for veterans too. The construction section provides a new format for presenting information. For each structure or technique there is a description/purpose, a diagram and an explanation of how to build it. To present further information, the manual uses pictures from the VAST network to demonstrate real-life scenarios where the structures were in use or possibly needed. We recognize the amount of hard work that the clubs put into the trail system. The manual is designed to give you the tools to build the best trail possible while taking into account the realities that you face on the ground when planning and constructing a trail. The first draft is being reviewed internally and by our partner organizations. Once comments are submitted and changes made, we hope to have the new manual available in the spring of 2017. By Shane Prisby VAST Trails Manager