Establishing trails is the next key step for bringing ATV tourism to Boonville, local officials say

BOONVILLE- "Snowmobiling is slowly going away, simply because we are not getting as much snow as we used to."

That's according to Charlie Domville. He is the current President for Northern Oneida County ATV Club and he is a main pillar behind the latest movement to establish trail systems, which would essentially connect to Lewis County and ultimately bring a new wave of tourism to the village of Boonville, NY.  

"In my opinion, we need that tourism," Domville emphasized. 

For some additional context, one of the last seasons when Boonville accumulated over 200-inches of snow (since 2000) was the winter of 2008 - 2009, where George Capron measured 231-inches, according to one of his original charts he used to keep track of. 

For even more context, the last time Boonville, NY saw 300-plus-inches of snow was the winter of 1977 -1978, where Mr. Capron measured 318-inches. A staggering 343-inches was measured the winter before.

Since those infamous, cold and brutal winters of the mid 1970's, the snowfall trend has slowly shifted the opposite direction, thus resulting in shorter and more inconsistent snowmobiling seasons, which is a local tourism staple for many North Country establishments.  

Amidst these shorter snowmobiling seasons, local outdoor and riding enthusiasts are have been putting their heads together for a solution. 

A common idea seems to involve establishing a broader ATV trail system, which would potentially allow a riding window from spring through fall.

Just last month, a public informational meeting was held in Boonville to discuss just that.

"We had a lot of positive comments and we had a couple that just are concerned about ATV's being on the road," said Guy Case, Deputy Supervisor for Town of Boonville.

Listen to our latest on-air coverage for more remarks from both Domville and Case:

Some of the concerns community residents have shared regarding potentially opening certain village roads to ATV traffic include noise levels, speed enforcement and traffic.

"Right now there are a lot of roads that are open (to ATV's) in Boonville that a lot of people don't know about," Case iterated, while also clarifying the main goal for this movement is to connect these roads to a new set of trails.

Here is the motion that was carried during a village meeting in the spring of 2018 to open the following streets:

To be clear, this process is simply in a planning stage. In other words, there are no trails right now that connect to the village. 

"We learned a lot last night at the Town and Village meeting," Domville said in a social media post following the gathering.

"There’s a lot of work we need to do as a club to get the end result we avid riders want. The most important thing we need to do is raise money for the club."

We plan on sharing any further developments that surface.

Northern Oneida County ATV Club image.