All the manufacturers are involved. I laid into my DM about it one day and he told me all 4 manufacturers fund the backcountry lobby groups. They feel this is the best way to fight the anti motorized groups. The lobby groups are well versed in the problem and they feel they get a better bang for their buck funding groups to fight this. Plus it looks better if multi million dollar corporations keep their name out of the public eye so the impression doesn't come across that big business wants to destroy the backcountry. User groups are far less stigmatized in the public eye.When are the manufacturers going to get on board to help fund some fights? I have been dealing with closures in the North Shuswap for over 10 years as club president and now VP. I ride with the guy who owns GVP and he is really trying to help and has been talking about some way to get BRP on board to help. In the end they will be financially impacted by these closures so it would be in their best interest to help now. Look at the Change when the manufacturers started getting on board with avalanche education and funding.
That doesn’t sound good...public use of crown land is to be controlled by the fns. There will also be a First Nation enforcement body developed and used to protect and patrol the closures
The greenies love mountain biking. You wanna see forest and backcountry damage, check out the massive exposed roots of giant trees and destroyed ecosystem from trails. You just shake your head and think “holy crap, sleds do about .00001% damage that mountain bikes do.” And then a greenie rides over the roots eating tofu....Y2Y Region Boundary | Data Basin
General boundary of the Y2Y region; revised in 2013 as part of a project to revise organizational priority areas.databasin.org
Establishing Wildlife Corridors & Habitat Protections in US & CA | Y2Y
The Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative connects crucial wildlife corridors and habitats across the U.S.-Canada border.y2y.net
its going to get worse, the greenies dont want people in the back country. alot of the areas will be closed down in the next 5-10 years
That's interesting....I know a guy that drives from up lake to the mill every day and has never come across anyone standing on the McCormack trestle.....I will let you know what I see in the next couple days . The rail grade is slated for a resource road designation. Also, the WCRTS and the Canadian govt have both done extensive work on the rail grade (including the bulldog tunnel) in the last few years, I doubt we will go down without a fight. I know I won't.Here’s some more inside info
BTW, thanks to all who emailed or petitioned, apparently the government will meet with the TL club (which they did in the winter and never said anything about closures)
Here’s some more interesting info on where the trouble is coming from. As you can figure, some Y2Y type people
“Just to give you guys a quick note, we had some information passed onto us that the same Engineer in the Ministry named Mike Ferguson who is getting his jollies going around and shutting down and “deactivating” these old Forest Service Roads has now taken a run at the Columbia and Western Rail Grade. They tell us he has tried to condem and shut down the Bulldog Tunnel last week for no reason other than he does not want the Ministry and his engineering department to have to assume responsibility.
The BC Timber Sales staff are actually fighting him, trying to keep the Tunnel open for everyone and have allocated BCTS funding to do an independent engineering report on the tunnel and prove him wrong. (A very special thanks to the BCTS staff for standing up to this jerk, and wanting a good relationship with all the public)
We were also told Mike was standing on the McCormack trestle stoping and telling the residents and quaders that the trestles are only certified for a bicycle according to his engineering bible.
(allthough he can’t explain how Interfor found an Engineers plate welded on the side of one of the trestles confirming it certified for a train until 2040.)
From what we were told, the Regional Executive at the Ministry has gotten involved and refused to shut the Bulldog Tunnel down in the meantime, citing political pressure and probable fear of Katrine Conroy.
This is the same guy trying to shut the Rady FSR down in Trout Lake and about 5 other FSR roads also on his agenda. The rest of the Ministry staff are disgusted with him, it’s pretty common knowledge in the Ministry’s offices that he gets off on his jollies poking someone in the eye, and cutting the public off wherever he can on a power trip.
What they have on their hands is an HR problem in the Selkirk office. ATVBC and the rest of the Recreation organizations can’t understand why this “deactivation” issue is only in the Selkirk District office and not going on anywhere else in the Province. (Because they don’t have a government bureaucrat running around poking everyone in the eye)
The big question is, why is the District Managwr allowing these malfeasant staff to operate like this?
It seems like every-time this comes up somewhere, unless a pile of people write in and lobby the Minister to halt the BS, it’s doesn’tseem to stop. In fact the other Ministry staff tell us, it’s just a game of dancing around a few land mines, and hope Katrina Conroy doesn’t notice or find out, so they can get away with it.
An even bigger question is, why doesn’t the upper Ministry step in and clean these malfeasant bureaucrats right out one and for all.
If it’s not Rady Creek FSR or the Columbia and Western Rail Grade, sure as hell it will be something else not far down the road.
What some very, very, very good Ministry staff are saying, is that everyone should be writing into Katrine Conroy and asking her to sharpen up the axe and clean these 3-4 private agenda bureaucrats right out permanently so this can’t keep happening.”
Usually that's the norm, but its actually the opposite in this case Ray. The Rails to Trails has been a historic resource traditionally, and the Govt and user groups have been fighting with funding models for its upkeep. Now industry wants to take it over (and the maintenance costs) and relieve the govt of a burden.Once those bridges, roads and tunnel are finished being used by logging they should transfer responsibility to tourism and tourism needs to get a bigger budget to maintain them. Forestry only cares about forestry.