Motorsports Summit Brings Region Together
More than 70 people gathered last Saturday morning at the Rangeley Lakes Snowmobile Club’s new clubhouse for a Motorsports Summit organized by the High Peaks Alliance. Attendees came from more than 15 clubs across the region, snowmobile and ATV riders, club officers, and trail volunteers, to talk through the issues that matter most to Maine’s motorized recreation community.
The summit was part of the High Peaks Initiative, a collaborative of local, regional, and national organizations working to protect natural resources, secure public access, and support healthy communities in Maine’s High Peaks. HPA led the event as part of its ongoing effort to strengthen coordination across the region’s motorized and non-motorized recreation community.
The conversation covered trail access, landowner relationships, the recent ATV weight legislation in Augusta, and what it takes to keep a volunteer-run trail system running year after year. There was also time to hear directly from the state officials and legislators who have been part of those efforts.
Legislators in attendance
Four Maine legislators joined the summit and shared updates on their work:
Senator Russell Black has spent 16 years in the legislature working on ATV and snowmobile issues, including sponsoring the recent bill on trail registration fees. He is returning to run for his former House seat after an earlier retirement.
Representative Michael Soboleski has been a consistent presence during regional emergencies, including the flooding that affected trails and back roads across his district. He emphasized that open communication with landowners remains the foundation of trail access.
Representative Liz Caruso, who is running for Senator Black’s Senate seat, grew up in the outdoor recreation economy. Her family are guides, she owned a whitewater outfitter in the West Forks, and her husband has groomed snowmobile trails for decades. She helped build the Denver River Trail and created the first snowmobile trail map for the Forks area.
Senator Joe Martin represents Senate District 19, a large district of 28 towns that runs from Stowe down through Andover. He and his family run the gas station in Andover, where many trail users stop in. He was out in the field during the flooding to help coordinate recovery.
Partners in this Work
The summit also included representatives from the Maine Snowmobile Association, ATV Maine, the Maine ATV Coalition, and the State of Maine ORV Office.
A big thank-you to Dana Bowman and the RLSC for hosting at their new clubhouse and making the day possible. Thank you to everyone who came out, contributed to the discussion, and continues to put in the hours to keep these trails open.
Congratulations also to the RLSC, which received an award at the summit recognizing it as the largest snowmobile club in Maine.
