ND Parks and Recreation Department owns a fleet of 14 groomers and drags.  The use and management of this equipment is contracted to Snowmobile North Dakota.  They require all groomer operators to have taken a state Groomer Certification Class in order to operate the equipment.  This class is held at Snowmobile North Dakota’s annual convention.

Classes outside of the convention are considered Remote Groomer Certification Classes and are scheduled as requested by the state trail associations.  After completing the class, new operators are required to spend four hours grooming with an experienced groomer operator (someone that has groomed for the state snowmobile trail program in previous years.)  During the four hours, the new operator is required to observe the experienced groomer operate the equipment for two hours.  The remaining two hours, the experienced groomer operator must observe and monitor the new groomer operate the equipment.

Groomer operators are paid employees of the state snowmobile trail system.  However, to help reduce costs for the program, many groomer operators donate their time.