The Southwest Sno Trackers recently received funds to upgrade their snowmobile club through the Province's Building Sustainable Communities Program.

Club President, Gord Weidenhamer, says the $53,425 matching grant will go directly to purchasing land and to construct a building to house their trail groomer.

"We are in the process of purchasing a lot in Deloraine which is kind of central for the club," he explains. "We run from Souris all the way to Boissevain and the Turtle Mountains, so this is the most convenient location.  We're hoping to have the building up in Fall and once we have the lot purchased, then we'll reconnect with the contractor and get things going!"

The new building will be approximately 40'x 80' with a 20' overhead door.

The Southwest Sno Trackers started their snow trail system close to 30 years ago, with club members helping out with the storage and maintenance of the trail groomer since 1996. "We have a local club member who graciously stored the unit for many, many years and then we've used club members' shops for maintenance, so we're just at the next stage now, and lots of other clubs have done it.  The biggest thing is to build a building that we can store the groomer in and perhaps a phase 2 will be to make it into a shop and do our own maintenance in it," he adds.

With the current heat wave, few are thinking of snow, however Weidenhamer says there is always a need for volunteer help,  and calls out for sledders to help maintain trails and signage in the Turtle Mountain-Metigoshe areas.  "We need people for volunteer support in that area to keep up the standards that we try to maintain up there."

Looking to the future, the club is looking at expanding their building project to include a maintenance shop and greater storage space. 

For more information on volunteering, please visit their Facebook Page at:  Southwest Sno Trackers | Facebook

Please listen to more of the interview with Sno Tracker President, Gord Weidenhamer, and CJRB's Betty Sawatzky below: