Two Mountain West states could raise fees for snowmobilers. This comes as the cost of grooming forest trails skyrockets.
In Wyoming, it鈥檚 currently $35 to register a snowmobile for the winter season. But if lawmakers pass a that price could go up to $50 for residents and $70 for nonresidents.
Out-of-staters already bring in about $70 million a year, , but that isn鈥檛 enough to cover the cost of grooming trails. Some prominent snowmobilers agree.
鈥淔uel costs are up. Maintenance costs are up. You know, everything has gone up significantly,鈥� said Scott Jones, who leads the snowmobile association in Colorado.
While the biggest group of Wyoming鈥檚 out-of-state riders come from Minnesota, nearly 10% hail from Colorado, and many come from Idaho (6%) and Utah (4%).
Jones doesn鈥檛 think the price increase will impact those numbers much, since he said riders want to help keep trails open.
鈥淚 don't see it being a major barrier,鈥� Jones said. 鈥淚 think it's probably where a lot of the states are gonna end up.鈥�
Colorado is also currently considering raising its fees to $50 across the board. Jones said the state hasn鈥檛 increased that number since 2007, and this move brings it up to speed with other states.
In addition to grooming costs, revenue from fees goes toward educational efforts for new riders and avalanche safety. Jones said the state isn鈥檛 considering differentiating between residents and nonresidents since the latter group already doesn鈥檛 bring in that much money.
This all comes after Idaho lawmakers raised fees back in 2021. Scott Chapman with Idaho鈥檚 snowmobile association said there was some pushback from legislators who saw it as a 鈥渢ax.鈥�
鈥溾�奍t's not a tax increase,鈥� Jones said. 鈥淲e use those funds to support our program 鈥� We need to make sure that the groomers can run til March and they can run five days a week instead of two.鈥�
Like Wyoming, Idaho also chose to make prices slightly higher for nonresidents. Chapman said the increased fees haven鈥檛 deterred riders.
鈥淭he industry has always had no problem paying their way,鈥� he said.
Colorado鈥檚 park and wildlife commission is set to start discussing the issue Wyoming lawmakers will consider it as the kicks off in the weeks ahead.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, 糖心vlog传媒 in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the .