Photo by Gary Schroyen “Male Cougar in Sea to Sea Regional Park”
Updated May 11th:
Here’s a Podcast we just did with the Capital Daily debating mountain biking in CRD Parks. Please share it on your social media and help to get it heard very widely. I think it will help inform people and involve them in protecting our region’s parks.
https://capitaldaily.simplecast.com/episodes/the-debate-over-new-crd-mountain-bike-trail-guidelines
Wild Lives Matter!
In 1994 we campaigned to win protection for what is now Sooke Hills Wilderness Regional Park and went on to raise public support for purchase of the private lands required to complete the Sea to Sea Greenbelt including what are now the Sea to Sea and Sooke Potholes Regional Parks. Our campaign message was simple.
On the edge of Victoria are Canada’s largest tracts of wild coastal Douglas fir forest. They are the last on southern Vancouver Island which have not been converted to urban developments or tree plantations. More than 99% of the ecological zone where these ancient forests once grew has been logged and developed.
The public understood and backed the campaign contributing over $1.5 million in individual donations and over $3 million in regional LAF funds – a fund that the public pushed to implement primarily to enable the massive private land purchases required to complete the Sea to Sea Greenbelt vision and protect our regions wild forests and the native species they harbour.
I raised 2 million in Federal Gov funding from CWS for these purchases on the strength of the significant wildlife values and vulnerability of the Coastal Douglas Fir ecosystem on Southern Vancouver island.
I sat on the PAG to draft the management plan for SHWRP. The minimal trails we devised together were designed to minimize impact.
A bylaw now upholds these requirements. Studies of impact were to be done prior to any new trails being added. Studies which haven’t been done and others which HAVE been done whose recommendations haven’t been implemented.
Meanwhile a new process was established inviting recommendations for new trail additions and now a PAG of mountain biking advocates are advising CRD on mountain biking guidelines in these and other CRD Parks.
At a time when protection of biodiversity is globally more important than ever…. I fear we are loosing our vision.
When I go back into these hills we worked so hard to protect … I see wild flower and moss meadows, shredded and reduced to mud and bedrock. Wide runnels of erosion exposing life giving root systems, killing trees and other species already stressed by the changing climate. And these are only the most visible impacts. What of the ground nesting night hawk, the elk, bear, wolves and cougar. The impacts on these are only seen by their quiet disappearance.
The mountain biking guidelines suggest avoiding “sensitive areas”. The whole Sea to Sea greenbelt is sensitive. That was the point of protecting it. It’s the last undeveloped wildland in our region large enough to support viable native species populations and habitats.
Certainly hiking needs to be better managed … too many rogue trails have been made, but mountain biking is a whole other order of impact and should not be introduced into parks created to protect the natural world.
I don’t think that’s too much to hope for from a Board that’s heeded the call of the young and declared a climate change emergency and who know that protection of our planets biodiversity is a critical component of climate action.
Our planet’s lost 60% of all terrestrial wildlife in the last 50 years and more than half a million species are now living with insufficient habitat for long term survival.
I don’t believe it’s too much to ask that here in our own backyard we’d unite behind the science and support the national goal of protecting biodiversity.
Please ask your CRD representatives (crdboard@crd.bc.ca) to put the brakes on this inappropriate activity in our region’s wildlife ‘Arks’. We must find another place for mountain biking… not in our wilderness parks.
Thank you
Alison
This Video shows some of the amazing wildlife here in the CRD. We created the Sea to Sea Greenbelt and our parks system as a safe haven for these wild lives.
Protecting Biodiversity is a Climate Emergency Action. If not in our Parks…. then where?
—
Alison Spriggs, Former Parks Campaigner with the Wilderness Committee and TLC and a member of the Elders Council for Parks in BC.
Update: On Wednesday May 12, 2021 the CRD will be discussing guidelines for mountain biking in CRD Parks. If this is of concern to you please plan to attend the virtual CRD Board meeting using this link: https://www.crd.bc.ca/about/board-committees/addressing-the-board when the agenda is set or write a letter in time for the meeting to:https://www.crd.bc.ca/about/who-we-are/board-of-directors
The CRD has been heavily lobbied by mountain biking interests. Our Region’s native species and their habitat have no vocal user group or industry backing. They rely on a proxy provided by concerned citizens, scientists and activists. That’s us!
Hi Alison,
I’m Kate — a reporter at Capital Daily. We’re doing a podcast episode on the new CRD MTB guidelines. I was wondering if you’d be open to briefly chatting with me to give me some background on your viewpoint.
I’m available all day. Feel free to email me at kate@capitaldaily.ca.
Thank you!
Dear CRD Board Committee,
I have worked for 20 years in Haro Woods, Konuksen Park and Phyllis Park removing invasive species and trying to “save” Saanich wild places. In 2005 we volunteers began the arduous job of removing the foot high ivy layer and other invasive plants that infested Haro Woods. As soon as we removed and cleared a part of this forest area, the mountain bikers were there. They came at night, at all times and built their trails and jumps through the forest. Soon what had been restored woodlands was a packed earth 6 ‘wide trail bereft of plants which led over artificial jumps and valleys. We tried numerous times to contact the mountain bikers so that we could work out a compromise. ALL TO NO AVAIL.
The Saanich Parks Department had a similar experience 10 years later when they tried to plan how to best utilize the Haro Woods forest area remaining around the central CRD pumping station. Saanich Parks proposed devoting a whole section of the park to the mountain bikers and were prepared to build them a special mountain bike trail with jumps etc. The answer they received from the mountain bikers was “No thanks, we want the whole park”. Twice we were not able to meet and negotiate with the mountain bikers.
I am providing these two concrete examples to illustrate that mountain bikers , in general are a law onto themselves. THEY WANT THE THRILL AND EXCITEMENT OF SPEED AND DANGER! There is no way that they will slow down, concentrate on avoiding damaging the flora and stay in a set path.
KEEP THEM OUT OF THE SEA TO SEA GREENBELT. We tried twice (that I know) to negotiate and work with them, all to no avail.
Don’t forget that Canada has the fastest rate of global warming in the world and the poorest G7 record for implementing alternative energy and controlling CO2 emissions. We desperately need all the natural areas’ forests and wetlands to draw down CO2 and store this for us. So much more of our population, thanks to COVID-19, has discovered the healing effects of forest bathing. Consequently our forests and wild areas are crowded. We have to preserve them, not let them be destroyed by a few reckless mountain bikers.
Hi Alison
Wells Gaetz here from CTV Vancouver Island.
Would you be will to chat with me about the CRD’s decision on MTB trails in the region?
My email is Wells.Gaetz@bellmedia.ca
It would be for today (Thursday). Thank you for your time.
All the best,
Wells Gaetz
CTV Vancouver Island
UPDATE:
https://www.cheknews.ca/crd-approves-mountain-biking-guidelines-but-some-not-in-favour-787138/
Not a good outcome for our parks. Please help push for a halt to new trail development within existing parks and stress the need for new dedicated areas outside CRD Parks and partnerships to achieve this as we did when we set out to save so much land for the protection of our regions native species.
The May 12th CRD Board Meeting was a disappointment for those concerned about protecting wildlife and the ecological integrity of our regional parks.
https://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/crd-backs-upgrades-for-mountain-bike-trails-possible-expansion-some-park-users-angered-1.24318618
It is my deepest hope that this fall when CRD Parks does its review of the Regional Parks Strategic Plan, that all of you who believe parks should be first and foremost, sanctuaries for nature will show up and give voice to what you believe and value.
We will keep you posted and you can also ask CRD Parks for notification to participate in the Regional Parks Strategic Plan. (CRD Parks 250-478-3344)
There is a place for mountain biking in our region but not in these parks and for good reason.
Here is my presentation to the CRD Board in the hope that it is helpful to anyone wishing to write in response to the latest decision on mountain biking in parks.
CRD Board Presentation
Agenda Item: 8.3 CRD Regional Parks MB Guidelines
May 12, 2021 at 1:10pm
Presention by Alison Spriggs
(video)
These are the wild lives that live in our Sea to Sea Greenbelt and are the reason it was created.
Over the years millions of public dollars were raised along with the hope that we could create a park system big enough and connected enough for these wild lives to survive and flourish.
A green and blue belt of wild land and water, habitat stretching from South Saltspring Island, through Tod Gowlland Provincial Park and linked to Mt Work and Thetis Lake Regional Parks, through Goldstream Provincial Park into the Sooke Hills and down to Sooke Potholes, Sooke Basin and East Sooke Park.
That might sound like a lot but 150 odd square kms is really very little habitat for wildlife, hemmed in by clearcuts, tree farms and subdivisions.
The impact of mountain biking, the disturbance and the distance that can be easily covered would undo all that has been achieved to protect these wild lands and their species. There is good science affirming the impacts. Good science we should be listening to.
It has been suggested that perhaps the best we can hope for on this issue is a compromise….
With respect…..The best we can hope for is that a climate emergency declaration means something.
The time for compromise is long gone. We can’t shoehorn everything into these parks. Nature is struggling to survive everywhere on the planet and report after report confirms this. Protecting biodiversity is an urgent climate action recognized globally.
If we don’t uphold that in our parks…then where?
As for mountain biking… there are many solutions outside our park system that need to be explored.
The Sto’lo Nation partnered with the United Way, Canada Summer Jobs Program and the Chilliwack Community Forest in a Partnership for health, wellness and reconciliation.
Lets look to forest lands immediately west of Sooke Potholes. Traditional Indigenous Iands that are currently owned by a private logging and development company.
The 50+ year forests there with a network of trails and old skid roads, several lakes and topography similar to the rest of the Sooke Hills could be an excellent buffer to the parks a very compatible adjacent land use….much more so than a subdivision or another clearcut.
Creating a designated mountain biking area there could result in an innovative project where everyone wins….including biodiversity.
If biodiversity wins everyone wins.
Our grandchildren win.
Sincerely,
Alison Spriggs
Former Parks Campaigner, Wilderness Committee and TLC
and member of the Elders Council for Parks in BC
If you are interested in the science, there is a webinar coming up on the issue.
https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/707597720065111566?fbclid=IwAR3VmyKi6EeXALg6uDc7n036z2J9Um7kSpnekXT3NhuoEH8ecQHil0kIHkw
Can Parks Keep Pace with Recreation Demands while also Protecting Wildlife?
Setting aside natural habitats in parks is a major strategy for protecting biodiversity. Yet these parks are also increasingly important for human health and well-being. For example, in recent years outdoor recreation in parks has grown dramatically in British Columbia, representing a significant part of the economy This has been particularly important during the COVID-19 pandemic, when safety precautions have limited indoor gatherings and international travel. What has this increase in human activity meant for the wildlife that call these parks home? Can park managers effectively protect wildlife while meeting our collective desire for more time in nature?
During this webinar Professor Cole Burton will share his latest research completed with the Wildlife Coexistence Lab and collaborators. With hundreds of motion-triggering camera traps placed in and around parks in Southwestern BC, as well as elsewhere in the world, Cole and his team are gathering data on a range of wildlife species and human recreational activities.
About the Speaker
Dr. Cole Burton is an Assistant Professor in in the Department of Forest Resources Management and the Canada Research Chair in Terrestrial Mammal Conservation.
re “But mountain biking is a whole other order of impact.”
Sorry – that is simply not true. The impact of the two is in the same ball park. And, frequently, there is little or no visual difference between many hiking and mountain bike trails.
Mountain bikers are active in what are TINY slivers of land compared to the overall forest. The impact on trees, other plants and wildlife is trivial compared to the impact of logging and real estate speculation (such as the garry oak woods destroyed across the road from CostCo in Langford).
People need outdoor recreation and biking is a great recreation for all ages. (I’m nearly 70 and I intend to be going for a long time yet.)
We would all do well, I think, to work together to protect MORE land, and to stop abominations such as the current destruction of the little remaining big-tree old growth.
The above comment is incorrect. Recently published research by UBC (see abstract below) shows that mountain biking has significantly greater more impact than hiking and is comparable to the impact of ATVs.
CONSERVATION SCIENCE AND PRACTICE, CONTRIBUTED PAPER
Volume 2, Issue 10
October 2020
Open Access
Relative effects of recreational activities on a temperate
terrestrial wildlife assemblage
Robin Naidoo , A. Cole Burton
First published: 05 September 2020 | https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.271
Funding information: Habitat Conservation Trust Fund; World Wildlife Fund; Lillooet Naturalists Society; BC Parks
Abstract
Outdoor recreation is one of the fastest growing economic sectors in the world and provides many bene!ts to people. Assessing possible negative impacts of recreation is nevertheless important for sustainable management. Here, we used camera traps to assess relative e”ects of various recreational activities—as compared to each other and to environmental conditions—on a terrestrial wildlife assemblage in British Columbia, Canada. Across 13 species, only two negative associations between recreational activities and wildlife detections were observed at weekly scales: mountain biking on moose and grizzly bears. However, !ner‐scale analysis showed that all species avoided humans on trails, with avoidance strongest for mountain biking and motorized vehicles. Our results imply that environmental factors generally shaped broad‐scale patterns of wildlife use, but highlight that recreational activities also have detectable impacts. These impacts can be monitored using the same camera‐trapping techniques that are commonly used to monitor wildlife assemblages.
Another study that shows additional impacts from mountain biking:
Research from the Colorado chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers indicate that hikers can clear a swath of disturbed animals 1/2-mile wide, especially if they have a dog. And mountain bikes can clear a swath 4 X times this width: a full 2 miles wide demonstrating a significant difference in the impact to wildlife.
MOUNTAIN BIKING IN PARKS OUT OF ALIGNMENT WITH CLIMATE EMERGENCY
On April 28th I addressed the CRD Parks Committee requesting that they not approve the proposed Mountain Biking Guidelines for Regional Parks. The primary reason is that these guidelines are not written with a climate emergency lens, which every project and policy in the CRD should now use after their declaration of a Climate Change Emergency in 2019.
The guidelines state that the CRD recognizes the gap between demand for mountain biking and the opportunities offered in the region.
But by far the most significant gap in the CRD is for biodiversity. Our vulnerable native species do not have a vocal user group or industry backing. They rely on concerned citizens, scientists and activists who see no more room for compromise. Biodiversity in the Capital Region has been squeezed into a tiny corner of its original extent and we all need a functional ecosystem to help us adapt to climate change. Anything that further compromises native species and their ability to function is a major concern.
Mountain biking advocates stress the compatibility between their sport and conservation of wildlife and ecosystems, but they fail to grasp the risk to wide-ranging species whose habitat is fragmented by trails used by fast moving vehicles. A mountain bike by the way, is a vehicle in this context. They overlook the risk to soil, eroded by trail and off-trail use and exacerbated by rain and wet conditions as well as the impact on streams and stream organisms when unusually high soil particle loads are carried by water into streams. And they ignore the increased movement of invasive species like the tiny seeds from broom brought with mud on bikes that can go further into wild places than a hiker.
The proposed guidelines say that trails would be sited away from sensitive habitats and areas of potential conflict with wildlife to be consistent with the CRD Parks mission. The problem here is that most of the CRD is in the Coastal Western Hemlock biogeoclimatic zone which is ALL sensitive, ALL rare and ALL at-risk.
A Qualified Professional is supposed to identify important habitat features. But it would be impossible for a QP to know every corridor, den site, or other important feature for every species. To complicate decisions, these features move constantly. In a climate emergency, habitats need to be managed conservatively.
To assess the impact of trails to Conservation Values the Guidelines ask, “Will there be any known impacts to critical habitat, species at risk or sensitive ecosystems?”
How specific does this need to be? If mountain biking is causing “unknown” but real impacts, do they not count? At what point do the needs of nature trump recreational use? I would think that point has been reached. We are living in a climate emergency. We are living in an ecosystem that is only found in 0.3% of the province and that currently is at a level of protection around 1%. Let’s make sure that protection is real.
I am a cyclist and sympathetic to mountain bikers wanting to be in nature. I do, too, but we all must make hard decisions about limits in this time of climate change. We can no longer afford to compromise with Nature.
What we need for mountain biking are designated areas that do not have high ecological values.
Hi Tory,
I’m Kate — a reporter at Capital Daily. We’re doing a podcast episode on the new CRD MTB guidelines. I was wondering if you’d be open to briefly chatting with me to give me some background on your viewpoint.
I’m available all day. Feel free to email me at kate@capitaldaily.ca.
Thank you!
Dear CRD Board Commitee
We have a worldwide pandemic much more dangerous to the survival of our species than Covid, and it a pandemic of self interest politics.
When I read the arguments of those in favour of saving our environment and wildlife and biodiversity, I sense no self interest but instead a deep love and concern for our planet and the life forms it nourishes.
The request for more mountain bike paths in already established and protected parks is absurd. It is not about who can produce the most clever arguments, it is about the energy behind those arguments.
Thank you for this post Alison Spriggs. Tree Watch Victoria’s message of support, and letter to the CRD Board is here:
https://treewatchvictoria.blogspot.com/2021/05/tree-watchers-have-message-for-crd.html
What a great comment Barbara. How beautifully articulated. Thank you 🙂
Mountain Biking in Our Parks – Podcast Interview/ Debate on Capital Daily News
https://www.capitaldaily.ca/podcast
Mountain bikers are also conservationists. Mountain bikers in general are outdoor recreational enthusiasts who have a great appreciation for nature and an outdoor lifestyle.
In places like Washington and most areas of BC recreation and conservation are a combined entity. Providing a connection to nature and our outdoor world through recreation will have the greatest impact moving forward for generations to come. We need our future generations to fall in love with nature so it will be a forefront in people’s lifestyle and they will know what it is they are protecting.
We should be working to connect people to the forests, not keeping them out of it. Technology has a firm grip on our younger generations. Mountain biking is an amazing human powered activity that releases dopamine’s, endorphins and other types of chemicals in the body that make us feel good, all the while connecting to nature. What an amazing way to strike up a bond between people and the outdoors.
Science has now proven mountain biking to be as if not lower impact than hiking. Its foot print is more narrow, its quieter and the user group travels faster through the woods making it less noticed by the wildlife.
Please open your minds and dont fall for this personal life mission of a few out of touch opinions that are NOT fact or science based. You will be doing future generations a disservice.