Notes from the Rotary Meeting 12.30pm Thursday, October 22, 2026.
President Olaf chaired the meeting.
Club Business
Before lunch Olaf spoke of two items of business
- Connolly Aziz, Development Officer at Grenfell Campus has suggested that Rotarians might like to have a guided tour of the exhibition on display at the Grenfell Art Gallery entitled ‘Lines in the Snow’. Several Rotarians have shown interest. Olaf will hear from Connolly at the beginning of next week as to a possible time and date for the visit.
- October 24 is World Polio Day. Olaf suggested that the club donates to the Rotary Foundation to support the work being done to eradicate Polio. This was agreed on a motion by Jackie, seconded by Kathleen. A donation of $500 from the Corner Brook Rotary Club to the Rotary Foundation will be made to support this cause. Rotary has been working to eradicate polio for more than 45 years with the goal of ridding the world of this disease
Guest Speaker
After lunch Kathleen introduced the guest speaker Mark Lamswood, Executive Director of the Newfoundland and Labrador Snowmobile Federation, NLSF. His presentation was titled ‘Off Road, Off Rails and On Track!
Modernizing the NLSF - 4 Challenges, 4 Solutions, 4 Seasons. 4 Rural!’
Mark began by speaking of his own history leading into becoming the Executive Director of NLSF. This not-for-profit federation was established in 1994 and now there are 17 clubs involved with 3300 kms of trails. This organization is dedicated to supporting, developing and maintaining a safe sustainable snowmobile trail network. This network has been built by the clubs and volunteers, and it connects communities across the province. The established trail network reaches beyond the railway bed corridor. Mark then looked at the different organisations involved and supporting the work being done. These are -
NLSF, the local group of which he is executive director
ISMA- the International Snowmobile Manufactures Association, which represents the four companies that manufacture snow machines.
IASA - the International Association of Snowmobile Administrators which is a
self-organized, nonprofit organization comprised of snowmobile program administrators in the United States, Canada and in Sweden
Mark went on to looking at the 2026 challenges and possible solutions as not much has changed since NLSF was incorporated in 1994. He looked at some of the changes including climate changes, ageing volunteers, wages and costs for groomers and staff before looking at possible solutions. These included using marked fuel, Build Canada Strong funding request, simplified method for obtaining a pass, updating mechanism, empowering volunteers and encouraging youth participation, recruiting, training and retaining groomers and staff as well as partnerships for sourcing materials. He would like to see four season trails that would connect rural communities not only on the winter season but throughout the year.
He continued by looking at rural opportunities throughout the year that would involve supporting the trails by grooming in winter and by snowmobiling. Then in spring trail maintenance would include repairs and improvements. Summer would involve the growing use of off-road recreational vehicles while in the fall preparation for the winter season and new trail development would happen.
There is a growing interest in building on the existing snowmobile network to safely connect rural communities throughout all four seasons which would result in local tourism and economic growth helping to build a sustainable future including off road trails connecting rural Newfoundland.
Mark finished his presentation by speaking of a new possible model NOVA – Newfoundland Off -Road Vehicle Association before answering several questions.
The meeting concluded when Mark was thanked by Linda on behalf of the club for his interesting and informative presentation.