wed, 22-feb-2012, 16:25
snowmachine trespass

Snowmachine trespass

It's great living where we do: in the middle of nowhere, and yet, only a few miles from town. I can ski to work in the winter on the multi-use commuter trail across the street from our driveway and ride my bike on the road in the summer.

If there is a down side to living where we do it's that it feels like the middle of nowhere to those who think it's their right to drive their gasoline-powered vehicles wherever they want. Several years ago I put up a pair of signs on one of our trails after a four wheeler damaged the vegetation around the trail. And miraculously, that seems to have worked.

Now we've got snowmachines (snowmobiles) riding down the road, which is illegal, then crossing onto the powerline, which is private property. Golden Valley Electric Association has a right of way easement, but it is still my property. In a different time and place it's the sort of thing that might be solved by shooting the offenders with a rock salt-loaded shotgun.

I took a more measured approach and stuck a pair of poles in the snow where they blew across the driveway in attempt to indicate that this isn't an acceptable place to drive their machines. Today they made a new track next to the poles, and knocked one of them over for good measure (the photo above).

And, keep in mind, there's a snowmachine-friendly trail across the street!

I know this is a fight I can't win, so I should just ignore it. And that's what I'll do after making this plea: if any of you ride snowmachines or know others that do, please encourage them to respect private property, including powerlines. Asshats like those riding roughshod all over my property give considerate riders a bad name.

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