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By JONATHAN PRATT - BIG MOOSE TWP, ME - Snowmobilers in the area may not have use of a local trail if trespassers do not cease riding off-trail, and costing at least one business added financial burden for maintenance. Due to the illegal riding up and down the ski trails at Big Squaw Mountain Ski Resort, ITS 113 is threatened to be permanently closed. Once a snowmobile trail is closed, it is extremely difficult to reopen it. Riders trespassing on the ski trails cause those that care for the ski area to have to groom the paths over again. The cost of having to groom the trails accumulates rapidly due to fuel and vehicle maintenance costs. "I don't want to have to close any trails, but we can't afford to keep regrooming the ski area because of these people," Jim Confalone, owner of Big Squaw Mountain Ski Resort, commented. The Maine Department of Conservation is taking notice as well. Anyone caught trespassing is subject to prosecution, and potential loss of other IF&W licenses exists as well. Those include hunting and fishing licenses. Along with that, local Game Wardens have been on extra patrol and on the lookout for those that violate private land owner rights.
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