Fall 2017 | 41 CENTRAL VERMONT MOTORCYCLES 360 WEST STREET RUTLAND,VT (802) 773-4533, WWW.CentralVermontMotorcycles.com Ad De Ad by Ed inf Professional rider on a closed course. Polaris® recommends that all snowmobile riders take a training course. Do not attempt maneuvers beyond your capability. Always wear a helmet and other safety apparel. Never drink and ride. © 2017 Polaris Industries Inc. CENTRAL VERMONT A D A b E in CENTRALVERMONT MOTORCYCLES 360WEST STREET RUTLAND,VT 802-773-4533 www.CentralVermontMotorcycles.com turnout of about 20 active club members to help get things started for the upcoming winter season. The club ended up with 325 members for the 2016/17 season, a far cry from our former 500 plus members of 10–15 years ago. Hopefully, we can build up our sustaining membership again. Speaking of the need for club support, we have formed a committee to begin the process of replacing a key piece of the club: the groomer. Over the summer, the Tucker received a $13,000 maintenance job and is in fine shape with reasonable hours. However, we feel it would be in the club’s best interest to upgrade to a new or low- hour unit. We are discussing going to a PistenBully at a cost of well over $230,000 for a new unit. We have a tall order ahead of us to finance this. Let’s hope for some good grooming years. The U.S. Forest Service continues to move forward with the former Johnson Lumber 2,500-acre tract of land in Chittenden, Mendon and Killington. This land encloses a good portion of the Dammers’ trail system and, when the deal is done, it could mean good things for outdoor recreation enthusiasts in our area. It looks like it will be a year or so out. Keep an eye on our website and Facebook page for trail work dates. If you have an ATV, you will be permitted to use it on trail workdays for strictly maintenance purposes, provided you have a permit that is available from the club and the USFS. We will again be doing TMAs from our website. Just print the form and mail it in to us or if you need a form mailed to you, you can call at 802-353-0789 and we’ll mail you what you need. TMAs are available online through the VAST website or locally at The Wooden Barrel in Chittenden or Central Vermont Motorcycles. The Chittenden Dammers meet the first Tuesday of the month at the Mountain Top Inn Tavern at 7 p.m. Stop by early and enjoy some great food and beverages. Charlie Robbins,Treasurer chittendendammers.org Like us on Facebook Poultney Valley Snowmobile Devils We had a successful fundraiser on Aug. 12 at East Poultney Day. We sold out of hamburgers, french fries and hot dogs. We also participated in the Poultney Fourth of July parade. We have one of our Tucker groomers back from a maintenance overhaul with new tracks. Tom Coloutti is ready take it out grooming with all the snow we hope to get this year. Let’s all do a snow dance! We will be out brush hogging, clearing trails and doing some bridge repair in September and October to get ready for all that snow. We would like to thank VAST and the clubs that put on the VAST Annual Meeting. We had a great lunch, and a good time visiting with all our snowmobilers and browsing the vendors, equipment, antique sleds and library of 50 year memories. Club News Shrewsbury Sno-Birds I have noticed that the leaves are starting to turn colors already. I guess that is normal. We had three members attend Annual Meeting this year. Lamoille county did a great job and had great food! To all that worked on it, thank you. We had a good time. We also had our first club meeting for the season but not before I posted this, so I do not have any info on it. I do know that we have found a member that is willing to be our secretary. His name is Mike Gabriele and we will vote on this tomorrow night. I am sure he will get in. He has my vote! Wishing the best for the VAST officers and all that work at VAST so we can enjoy our sport. Ernie Dematties, Club Reporter poultneysnodevils.wordpress.com Like us on Facebook