History:

Poultney Valley Snowmobile Devils, Inc. is a non-profit corporation that was established in 1972 by a small group of snowmobilers who felt the need of creating and organizing communication with landowners. At the time, landowners in Poultney were mostly dairy farmers who were quite generous with allowing snowmobiling on their property, and with common sense, members were allowed to ride at free will on landowner property. As the sport became more and more popular, specific trails were created and a lot of the trails included scenic views of the area. As time went on, the club became more organized as did the trail system, with safety and landowner consideration being the main focus. Presently, Poultney has about 100 miles of trails, approximately 300 members, and over 150 landowners.

Our Mission:

Our clubs focus encompasses being environmentally conscience, providing safe riding, promotion of community involvement, and respect and appreciation for landowner property. We spend many hours maintaining our trail system to ensure safety, including such work as brush-hogging, clearing fallen trees, straightening an unsafe corner, or rerouting of a blind hill on the trail. Most of our trail work is done between August and the beginning of hunting season. We have found that the trails are quite useful to the landowners too, whether it is for them to have a place to cross-country ski, use as a walking path, or even to have easy access to firewood. Many of our trails are old logging roads or wood roads that have been used for years by present or previous landowners. We try to maintain an 8' to 10' wide trail, but often the width is reduced to 5 or 6 feet because of large trees or perhaps an old stone wall being next to the trail and we chose to leave the area as it is.

Community Donations

We believe in the strength of a community and we are proud to donate funds to a number of different organizations each year. Some of the groups we contribute to are: Poultney High School Scholarship Fund, Project Graduation, Poultney Elementary and High School Bands, the High School Booster club, Poultney Fire Department, and Poultney's "Young at Heart" senior citizens center. We also contribute generously to Vermont Achievement Center and Camp Ta Kum Ta, a children's cancer camp program.

Activities:

Each year, the Poultney Valley Snowmobile Devils not only hold fun raising events, but other activities as well. In January, we have our annual Pancake Breakfast, usually serving over 300 people. We participate in the Town Wide Yard Sale each June, and we are involved with providing a concession stand for East Poultney Day held each August. The 4th of July parade finds us proudly displaying numerous floats. The club co-sponsors the Poultney Winter Carnival, with the Chamber of Commerce, and the weekend kicks off with a torchlight parade and spaghetti dinner. The following day we have lots of fun at our carnival where we offer rides and games for the young and young at heart. Each year we also have one of our biggest events of the year, Landowner's Appreciation. It's our chance to say "thank you" to all our landowners.

Conclusion:

Our sport has been and will continue to be a family oriented sport. Unless you ski, snow shoe, ice fish, or snowmobile you will find the winters in Vermont to be quite long. Most of the snowmobilers we know think that winter is too short for their much loved sport. Thanks to the generosity of landowners that "open their gates" each year and allow us to use their property, we are able to experience the beauty of winter on their land.

Thank You!
Poultney Valley Snowmobile Devils, Inc.