Snowmobiling has grown tremendously in popularity across New Brunswick in recent years.

The president of Snowmobile Montoneige NB (SMNB) noted how snowmobiling remains the province’s number one tourism sector and it continues to grow.

Dave Garland said while we may not have a lot of snow across the southern half of the province, it all comes down to elevation.

“We talk about low lying areas and of course we have a lower snow count. We talk about elevated areas where we have a higher snow count. Throughout the past few years, we’ve identified regions that had more elevation and we’re calling them snowbelts.”

Garland noted the Caledonia or Fundy Highlands would be a good example which stretch between Moncton and Saint John.

He said a little bit of elevation goes a long way in terms of snow cover.

Since the pandemic started, Garland has seen a lot of interest in snowmobiling.

“I think our snowbirds stayed home and got back into snowmobiling. We had very unusual growth through COVID. And of course now we’re hoping that we can maintain that growth and keep people interested in the sport.”

Garland said the organization wants snowmobiling to be viewed as a family-friendly activity.

SMNB manages a provincewide network of more than 8,000 kilometres of trails which are maintained and groomed by local member snowmobile clubs.

Trail permits are mandatory when using the system and are the main source of revenue for trail maintenance which is performed mainly by volunteers.