The most important part of your question about which club to join was already answered in your thread when you stated that you have decided to (re)join a club. Club membership is extremely important as most of the trail work is done by club members, so that decision is to be commended, even if you never hammer in a stake! I have been in snowmobile clubs and organizations since the beginning and they were all different, but all were there with the primary focus of being a part of putting in the trails and promoting everything good for the Wisconsin snowmobile program. And there is no shortage of clubs to choose from, even if you live out-of-state. Talk to others, search the internet, maybe go to a couple of different club meetings, then decide. You won’t regret it, even if you find that your club of choice is somewhat “cliquish” or maybe too focused on the drinking part of meetings, conventions with hospitality rooms, etc. etc. The club of choice will be happy to have you. You will most likely find that only a few of the club members actually take an active role—probably less than 25%, and even less than that for the number of persons who go to the meetings and hold offices. Just saying, this is the reality of snowmobile clubs and probably other similar organizations such as your church group or boating club. Most club membership dues vary from about $10 on up, depending on whether or not they include AWSC membership (not all do), active vs inactive membership, single or family, and other factors. Websites can also answer those questions. Generally the clubs receive the bulk of their financial input from fundraisers and a return of snowmobile registration moneys (basic registration fee, gas tax return, 1.5+ multiplier funding—all from the State of Wisconsin through the counties following submission of properly filled-out paper work by the club). The Wisconsin Snowmobile Recreation Council is the group that advises the WDNR on which projects and expenses that are submitted for reimbursement actually are recommended and receive this funding. No money received by the clubs comes from AWSC, which is a private organization that provides some of its funds to officers and maybe others who help run their organization, their administrations costs, and very large (sometimes) lobbying costs. Clubs usually spend most of their funds for groomer fuel and insurance, and for trail signs and other expenses that don’t qualify for reimbursement, such as their newsletters, postage, some club activies (parties, banquets), and other administration costs. Didn’t mean to get off of the topic of your thread, but some of these things need to be brought out. So, please join a club of your choice, voluntarily, and we welcome you aboard. Until Cap/Step passes, if it ever does, you do not HAVE to join, and even then you won’t have to join but you would have to pay a higher snowmobile registration cost to ride if you don’t.
