Dec. 26, 2009
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When Glen French talks about developing sustainable recreation trails in Southwest Alberta, he combines equal parts passion for the area he has grown up in and concern that it could all be lost.
As chairman of the Southwest Alberta Trails Advisory Committee and past president of the Crowsnest Pass Quad Squad, Glen speaks proudly of efforts to improve access to outdoors recreation north and south of Highway 3 in the Southern Alberta Rockies.
“There isn’t a trail south of the highway that doesn’t show evidence of our work,” he says.
The work started about 10 years ago, not long after the Quad Squad began operating “initially as a bunch of good ole boys riding around. That only lasted for about a year. We started to realize the importance of stewardship when trails were being destroyed. The way the area was being used was not sustainable. So, we got people involved in the landscape and taking ownership for what happens to it.”
That’s when the group started engineering bridges as part of a trail system to keep quadders and others from crossing through streams. The early bridges were built of used materials “but we’re way beyond that now. New, more effective designs using galvanized steel are even more cost effective and will last a hundred years, requiring little maintenance.”
The bridges and trails are not just for motorized use, Glen emphasizes.
“These trails are for use by pedestrians, equestrians, cyclists, cross-country skiers. We’re doing it for healthy lifestyles and enjoyment of the outdoors.”
The economy of a down area is also a motivation in the trails effort. The “backbone” is the Alberta Recreation Corridor and Trails Classification System proposal released earlier this year.
The document says population growth has pushed demand for “trail development and significantly greater use . . . resulting in confusion and, in some cases, conflict among trail users, adjacent landowners, land managers and other parties.”
The classification would involve primitive, semi-developed and developed trails for non-motorized, motorized and multiple use. They would accommodate activities involving pedestrians, cyclists, equestrians, horse-drawn vehicles riders, cross-country skiers, snowshoers, dog sledders, off-road motorcycle users, snowmobilers and ATVers, among other outdoors enthusiasts.
SWAT is using a three-year, federal $800,000 Trails Improvement Grant through the Community Development Trust to install bridges and designate and improve 400 km of trails by 2011.
Says Wade Aebli, who oversees the work, “If you provide a good trail, people will use it. Without a good solid trail, they will make their own.”
Glen adds, “The landscape can’t stand 15 to 20 trails going up one valley. We say there should be one” to minimize the impact from too many users.
Long term, he says, “You want something that can be here 20 years from now. I want my grand kids to have the same opportunity that I had to see and enjoy the outdoors. If that happens, we’ve been successful.
“If in 20 years there’s nothing up there, if it’s all locked down, then Albertans will have lost something.”