Brad Beardsly | Region 3 District 8
MISORVA is the Michigan Snowmobile & ORV Association, and the key roles of the Association are to protect the rights and funding for the snowmobilers and ORV users in the state of Michigan.
MISORVA started life as the MSA (Michigan Snowmobile Association) in 1982 with 36 members, after combining several other state associations into the MSA and becoming one voice for snowmobilers the membership grew to the 20,000 members range during the height of organized snowmobiling (the good old days). MSA was instrumental in setting up the funding structure for the snowmobile trail grooming program and in protecting the snowmobile funding. Over the past 40 some years MISORVA has helped evolve the snowmobile program as there was a need.
Who is MISORVA and what are they all about? In 2019 with ORV use becoming a popular summertime hobby for many fun seekers the snowmobile clubs in Michigan who were grooming and handling trail maintenance started to see the need for trail work for the growing SXS users in their area. With many clubs starting to handle both snow and ORV grooming the MSA leadership discussed and presented to the membership the option to become a dual user association as well. It was voted on by the members to become a dual user association as many members were already dual users themselves and saw the value of representing both user groups. MSA became MISORVA at this point, the programs at the state level are still two separate programs.
This next section is a bit of history and a little explanation of the growing pains of becoming a dual user association. MSA was involved in every step of setting up the snowmobile program and the members who helped were the people in the trenches maintaining trails with their own local clubs. They knew firsthand what was needed and how to make the program work and then work better as the program grew. The program is in a constant state of evolution with the main goal to create and maintain the best snowmobile trails possible. The ORV program was in place for many years when the association changed to a dual user association. The ORV program is much different than the snowmobile program. Not all the grooming clubs are dual purpose: some snowmobile clubs have no ORV trails in their trail system, some ORV clubs cover several snowmobile clubs trail systems using a portion of each club’s trails. Each program has their own funding source, state level advisory group, budgets and funding structure, but both groups are funded by the users and both programs trail maintenance and grooming is accomplished by clubs made up of volunteers who put in thousands of hours of work each year.
Just like the clubs MISORVA is made up of volunteers who are the Board of Directors who volunteer their time, many of the BOD sit on the state Advisory committees for either ORV, snowmobile and the trails advisory group and also are active in their local clubs. All of this hands on involvement allows the BOD to help protect the user’s rights and the funds they paid into the program through registrations and trail permits.
MISROVA has a hired Lobbyist to help keep us informed of everything in Lansing that will affect motorized users. MISROVA is 100% funded through membership and donations. We are not part of the state government or the DNR, but we work directly with the DNR where issues require it. If you would like to learn more about MISORVA please check out our web site at MISORVA.org ν