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BACKUS - Lake Country Nordic Ski Club will gain efficiency for trail grooming this winter, enabling groomers to cover more miles.

Tuesday, Cass County Board accepted a $12,200 donation from the club to purchase a second snowmobile to be used for grooming. The county will own the machine and lease it back to the club for grooming use.

This will enable the club to keep one snowmobile and groomer at Backus to use on trails in the Backus-Hackensack area and to keep the new snowmobile with a groomer in the Emily area to groom the trail there.

This will save time formerly spent transporting a single groomer between areas and enable the club to spend more time actually grooming, Land Commissioner Joshua Stevenson said. The Arctic Cat machine will be purchased from Brothers Motor Sports in Baxter, the lowest of three area bidders.

The board also authorized Stevenson to spend $11,500 to hire T & C Excavating to repair a portion of Soo Line Snowmobile Trail at Federal Dam where the Leech River has been eroding one side of the trail. Additional rock for the project at $50 per yard also will be paid from the county's recreational fund balance.

That work will be done this fall.

Also approved, contingent upon a federal grant being received is repair work on Snoway One Snowmobile Trail at two sites. That work is scheduled for next spring.

Sawyer Enterprises was low bidder at $37,990, with additional Class 5 gravel at $15 per yard.

Holmvig Excavating will make repairs at three sites on the Thunder Lake Snowmobile Trail at $17 per yard for taconite tailings.

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