Union County groups help Oregon snowmobile trails earn national award

Snowmobile clubs from La Grande to the Blue Mountains helped put Oregon on a national stage by keeping a winter trail network in shape long enough to win one of only 10 trail awards handed out across nine states. The recognition went to the Oregon State Snowmobile Association for a statewide heavy trail restoration effort on federal lands, but the work behind it ran through Union County names and the volunteers who kept the routes usable.

The award came through the Tom Petri Recreational Trails Program Annual Achievement Awards, a program established in 1998 to recognize strong uses of Recreational Trails Program money. This year’s winners were set to be recognized in Washington, D.C., on June 25, 2026, and Oregon’s project stood out for the amount of trail infrastructure it restored and improved across the state. Oregon Parks and Recreation says the state has funded more than 500 RTP projects since 1993, a long paper trail that shows how much of Oregon’s trail system depends on steady public investment and local labor.

For Union County, the story runs through the clubs doing the work. The La Grande Sno Drifters, led on its Oregon State Snowmobile Association page by Amber Schlegel, and Tollgate Trailfinders, led by Steve Harvill, were both actively grooming trails during the 2025-2026 season. The Burnt River Snowmobile Club, listed under OSSA District 6 and led by Ty Sharp, was also part of the broader effort. OSSA District 7, which includes Baker City, La Grande, Ukiah, Halfway, Richland, Enterprise and Union, shows how closely the award’s footprint is tied to Northeast Oregon communities.

That local labor matters because the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest says its winter recreation season runs from mid-December through late April and includes hundreds of miles of snowmobile trails. Catherine Summit Sno-Park and Grande Ronde Sno-Park are maintained in partnership with local clubs and plowed under agreements with the Oregon Department of Transportation, which makes grooming and coordination as important as the snowfall itself. Those same routes also support Nordic skiers, snowshoers, sled dog teams and other winter users.

OSSA says it was formed in 1972 by snowmobilers looking for a groomed statewide trail system and continued access to public lands. More than five decades later, the award gives that mission a national stamp while underscoring a local reality: in Union County, winter access is built by volunteers, club leaders and land managers working the trails long before visitors ever reach them.