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Snowmobiling is a popular winter pastime on Vancouver Island. The Island climate often produces several meters of snow at higher elevations. The season typically starts mid to late December and can extend late into April and May.
The spine of Vancouver Island is extremely rugged mountainous terrain. The highest peaks reach over 2000 meters. Snowmobiling occurs in certain areas on the flanks of some of these mountains. Logging roads and cut-blocks provide trail and open area riding. Riding in mature second growth treed areas is also popular. Alpine riding is limited due to Provincial Park and Private Land restrictions. Areas are small compared to mainland areas. The marine climate causes a lack of snow in valley bottoms. This limits mountain to mountain riding.
Vancouver Island has two active snowmobile clubs. The Mid-Island Sno-Blazers Association manage and maintain 4 riding areas. Mt. Washington, west of Courtenay. Bacon Lake, west of Campbell River, The Beauforts, north of Port Alberni and also accessed from the east at Buckley Bay. Finally, McGlaughlin Ridge/Labour Day Lake, east of Port Alberni and also accessed from south Nanaimo.
The second club is the North Island Snowmobile Association. NISA manage and maintains one area, Mt. Adrian, west of Campbell River. Both clubs are Member Clubs of the British Columbia Snowmobile Federation and partner with private forest land owners for riding access.
Mid Vancouver Island has approximately 600,000 hectares of private property informally known as the private forest lands. The two island snowmobile clubs pay a substantial amount of money annually and sign an agreement that maintain access in designated areas located on this private property for members during the riding season. This money comes from membership dues and access fees.
See guide to accessing MISB riding areas.
Because the private forest land owners require it to operate Off-Road Vehicles on their land legally. You put yourself at risk of trespassing charges by not following the land owners rules to be on their private property. Land owners requiring riders to be members of a club takes away the burden of having to manage individuals. They make the participating clubs do all the record keeping and request from them any required information. See Access Webpage https://www.mosaicforests.com/access
The short answer is, the club access agreement requires it.
The long answer is forest land owners want records maintained on who has access to their property and the ability to identify them by their vehicle registration. They do have security patrols and occasional gate checks.
The ORV liability insurance is to to ensure the snowmobiler has the means to cover any damage or injuries to the company and/or other people.
The Off Road Vehicle licencing in BC changed several years ago. Many older sled have a yellow with black numbers licencing decal. This decal was a one time purchase and stayed on the snowmobile through all owners. These are no longer valid. The new system copies regular motor vehicle registration. It is renewed annually and the decal is white with black letters & numbers. With the $200,000 Road Crossing Liability Insurance the cost is approximately $75 this year. This insurance has many restrictions and limited coverage. It is not sufficient insurance to satisfy the forest land owners. Private ORV Liability insurance is purchased through some ICBC brokers. $2,000,000 liability coverage last year was $52. For half the price of a good spare belt you can be legal and cover your butt with some insurance.
There are two opposing views regarding trees. The snowmobilers view is to avoid hitting bigger trees for obvious reasons but tend to give much less consideration to smaller ones or the tops of larger ones in deep snow. The forest companys likely could care less if you hit a bigger tree but care a lot if you are damaging small trees and taking the tops off larger ones. Trees are their crop. Any damage that breaks off branches or remove bark puts the tree at risk of disease or insects. When a smaller tree gets run over it can be partially uprooted, bent over and/or the trunk gets cracked. Even if it survives, the tree will grows in a curve trying to go vertical again. When the crown gets broken off, a stem takes over and also grows in a curve to vertical. It's like the tree starting over from that point. Needless to say, both occurrences devalue the tree. Are you going to miss them all? Unlikely, but make an effort and avoid going off the trail during low snow conditions.
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