Stay out of the caribou closure areas

[got sled?]

Just a thought maybe it will help. The guy in the booth collecting the money for the trailpasses, maybe he can just give a quick reminder to the people as they are paying. Or have a notice for people to read.. cant get a trailpass unless you read this first! Just a thought!!

 

[maxwell]

all they need to do is issue some BIG fines, like 10,000+ then people will start listening.

a sign wont do anything

you telling someone wont do anything

someone enforcing it wont do anything

small money wont do anything

 

[FernieHawk]

Our group has also warned riders of their violations...you either get a "sorry I didn't know" or a "ya...F you buddy". The next time I get a "ya...F you buddy" I'm going to grab their ignition key and toss it in the snow.

At Caribou Basin last year, the Grader activities pushed the closure sign over on a slight angle so the snow built up on the sign and you couldn’t read it. We cleared the snow off, but forgot to notify the club about the problem.

Any chance of having the closure signs mounted on a cable above the access roads? It would be hard to miss them and you wouldn't have a snow build up issue. Leave them up year round. Power cables cross the road...why not signage cable?

Observe, record and report the morons...

 

[Powder Puff]

That sign problem and the fact that you need binoculars to read it was reported to MoE last season.
Ferniehawk thanks for your suggestion, and if anyone has any other signage concerns or suggestions the club would like to hear them.

 

[bbtoys]

We are having the same problem here as well Kathy. The difference is that our closures are not on a managed trail system and sledders should not be going in there if they don't know the out of bounds lines. it will just make them close these areas 100%, not the 50% that is now in effect.
we have no signs up in these areas as it is not in any of our management agreement areas, maps are av. all over town but already this year a ton of sleds in the closed areas.
the bad ones will get more area shut down and they will be the first and loudest to cry. wake-up sledders, it is now or never to step up and look after what we have because next year you might not have much left. I know for one I sick of going to bat for this sport just to get kicked in the kester by some of those that think they can sled where they want.

 

[Depsnolvr]

This seems to come on more than ever when we are lacking fresh snow. I recieved a call this morning as well.

Please everyone, this is our love, our sport, please do you part by educating your friends and help "self police" each other out there.

Your tracks stick out like a sore thumb from the air, if you think you did not get caught, you are wrong.

 

[maxwell]

well why isnt it more clear. all these heli ski and caribou and park closures are hard to manage if not marked. why are there not more user friendly maps put out by the govt. if they are going to close these areas then MAKE THE BOUDARIES CLEAR. there are tools like google earth that are free to the public. props to varda for having our managed areas in google earth. really makes the boundaries clear and understandable.
if your driving past a sign. your an idiot. but there are alot of grey areas

 

[Powder Puff]

Have Blue River and Valemount signed their Stewardship Management Agreements with gov. yet? We worked on ours for 3 YRS and then did sign it in Aug. 08, ours was signed with MoE and I understand other areas have signed with ILMB. We thought that signing with MoE that we would be dealing with that branch of gov. not so now, makes you wonder why the SMA`s were even put in place. Four yrs. ago did you see a map for your area showing what the science team recommended be closed? This is what ILMB have come to us with now for closure and very well could come back to you with. If you signed with ILMB maybe it will be MoE knocking on your door.
Remember the million $`s set aside for the caribou, well it`s gone now and there is no money in gov. budgets for closure or informational signs.
The official Caribou Habitat Closure maps for Revelstoke finially arrived early in Jan. 2010 and did not even have Revelstoke on them. We had asked for these maps to be available before the snow shows started to be able to hand them out. I have also been told that it is questionable if the boundaries on the official gov. closure maps on their site are correct.
On the maps the gov. has put up the GPS co-ordinates aren`t aren`t in lat/long, so now there is more confusion. The maps are very detailed and you do need binoculars to read them, I`m not kidding.
We have provided the C.O.`s with our Snow Patrol schedules for the last 3 yrs. and ask that they ride with us and hand out tkts. I think this offer was accepted once. We had our yearly follow up meeting with MoE in Oct. and were told there were a couple of areas of concern but all in all compliance was good. Now this.
This yr. with very little snow in the valley bottoms the caribou have not yet travelled up to their winter habitat. Gov. handed out 70 more tags last fall for moose, in hopes that the huge wolf problem that we have to the N would move away because of lack of food. Sure hope those caribou can run fast.
Twice now riders have been tkt.`d by C.O.`s out of a chopper at Caribou Basin in an area that was changed to closed with elevation closures and not signed. We are the only area in the province with these type of closures, this just happened overnight a few yrs. ago and then we were notified. I`m not making excuses for the ones that just plain don`t follow the rules but for the ones that do they need correct, easy to read and timely information provided and it should have been available to us all before Jan.1, 2009.

 

[garlic bear]

sale is one area that I know that is signed from one side but not the other the areas should be marked properly anyone caught should be ticketed. why all the whinning just ticket the offenders and let word of mouth do its job.

 

[maxwell]

Have Blue River and Valemount signed their Stewardship Management Agreements with gov. yet? We worked on ours for 3 YRS and then did sign it in Aug. 08, ours was signed with MoE and I understand other areas have signed with ILMB. We thought that signing with MoE that we would be dealing with that branch of gov. not so now, makes you wonder why the SMA`s were even put in place. Four yrs. ago did you see a map for your area showing what the science team recommended be closed? This is what ILMB have come to us with now for closure and very well could come back to you with. If you signed with ILMB maybe it will be MoE knocking on your door.
Remember the million $`s set aside for the caribou, well it`s gone now and there is no money in gov. budgets for closure or informational signs.
The official Caribou Habitat Closure maps for Revelstoke finially arrived early in Jan. 2010 and did not even have Revelstoke on them. We had asked for these maps to be available before the snow shows started to be able to hand them out. I have also been told that it is questionable if the boundaries on the official gov. closure maps on their site are correct.
On the maps the gov. has put up the GPS co-ordinates aren`t aren`t in lat/long, so now there is more confusion. The maps are very detailed and you do need binoculars to read them, I`m not kidding.
We have provided the C.O.`s with our Snow Patrol schedules for the last 3 yrs. and ask that they ride with us and hand out tkts. I think this offer was accepted once. We had our yearly follow up meeting with MoE in Oct. and were told there were a couple of areas of concern but all in all compliance was good. Now this.
This yr. with very little snow in the valley bottoms the caribou have not yet travelled up to their winter habitat. Gov. handed out 70 more tags last fall for moose, in hopes that the huge wolf problem that we have to the N would move away because of lack of food. Sure hope those caribou can run fast.
Twice now riders have been tkt.`d by C.O.`s out of a chopper at Caribou Basin in an area that was changed to closed with elevation closures and not signed. We are the only area in the province with these type of closures, this just happened overnight a few yrs. ago and then we were notified. I`m not making excuses for the ones that just plain don`t follow the rules but for the ones that do they need correct, easy to read and timely information provided and it should have been available to us all before Jan.1, 2009.

thankyou!

i have hundreds of maps on my computer and printed off and none of them overlay or make ANY sence. let alone the grid coords not lat long which makes it impossible to use anyways. and they are just contour maps on the BC website they are not overlayed over sat imagery so people can see landmarks to say ok that is out of bounds.

 

[muffin]

There seems to be a new generation of people/ sledders appear to only be sledding for a short time and then they will move on to something else that atracts their short attention span, not thinking or caring that some of us CARED about the area and sport. Leaving the long time, or dedicated people of the sport with the mess to clean up or repair the damage done . There dont seem to be allot of help from goverment , ie cops of any kind , we definatly need to take some names and photos and REPORT them BEFORE it is too late

 

[800 RMK]

I agree with getting tough on people riding in these areas.

However I think there is also another issue here. Its time to get snowmobilers organized against all these damn tree huggers. I would gladly pay an extra $5 on my daily trail pass so there is more money to fight all their crap. The "save the caribou people" and global warming yahoo's all belong to the same club of morons, and the only way to fight there insanity is with money and organization.

 

[drew562]

I agree with getting tough on people riding in these areas.

However I think there is also another issue here. Its time to get snowmobilers organized against all these damn tree huggers. I would gladly pay an extra $5 on my daily trail pass so there is more money to fight all their crap. The "save the caribou people" and global warming yahoo's all belong to the same club of morons, and the only way to fight there insanity is with money and organization.

We need to give people heck our selves. its going to be like in the states. Montana has ares smaller than frisby in revi and 5000 people go there to sled. if we are lucky they might leave us one little area to. I swear when i see people disrespecting the sport i grew up with and they can jepordize whether i ride i am gonna lose it. Funny cause all sledders have friends who dont ride and we all like to introduce others to are sport. From now on anyone who asks me about sledding and quading.... im saying it sucks you wont like it. lol Already to many of us out there.

Andrew

 

[The Snowman]

its every where not just with sledders, just look to the ski hill in revelstoke!! already this year how many people have been killed and had to be rescued because they have blatantly skied/boarded past the signs thinking it means nothing!

Common sense is a thing of the past these days

 

[Veedy]

its every where not just with sledders, just look to the ski hill in revelstoke!! already this year how many people have been killed and had to be rescued because they have blatantly skied/boarded past the signs thinking it means nothing!

Common sense is a thing of the past these days

This is a very good point. I know we started talking about us as snowmobilers riding inside the imaginary line that caribou don't cross, but why doesnt Weigle come out and have a press conference and tell everybody about how much the taxpayers have spent saving those idiot skiers who get lost while skiing out of bounds. I talked to one of the guys here and he said that he himself has been out on 13 rescues by helicopter so far this year, and I talked to him about a month ago, so I would imagine there has been more.

 

[team dirt]

This is a very good point. I know we started talking about us as snowmobilers riding inside the imaginary line that caribou don't cross, but why doesnt Weigle come out and have a press conference and tell everybody about how much the taxpayers have spent saving those idiot skiers who get lost while skiing out of bounds. I talked to one of the guys here and he said that he himself has been out on 13 rescues by helicopter so far this year, and I talked to him about a month ago, so I would imagine there has been more.

ya and how come Weigle can still land his choppers inside our clubs closed to sledders area. doesnt make much sense to me.

 

[maxwell]

didnt you know a helicopter is much more environmentally friendly and quieter

 

[mcridge]

Well said. Mike Wiegle has no business talking enviromental issues.

 

[mcridge]

Maybe someone can clarify this for me.
Are the heli ski companies allowed to use the caribou closure areas as part of their heli tenure.
From what I understand, the big push to close off some of the areas around Trout Lake came from CMH.

Is this another classic Canadian case of different rules for different people? Do heli skiers contribute more to a local economy than Sledders? How much of this is really about the well being of some Mountain Caribou's well being? Or is it more about staying out of the eyes and ears of the rich and elite of CMH?

 

[Powder Puff]

Yes heli-skiing is allowed in areas that are closed to snowmobiling for caribou habitat, but then again the gov. gets a fee from the tenured operators each time a skier uses the area.