As someone who enjoys the occasional hike in Sundre’s West Country, there is nothing much less pleasant than walking along a horse feces riddled trail that create swarms of vicious horse flies eager to take a bite out of your eyeballs.
A close second might be having a calm, peaceful evening breeze shattered to oblivion by the brain-rattling roar of an off-highway vehicle; the otherwise refreshing, invigorating air tainted by nauseating wafting exhaust fumes.
There is also nothing quite like stumbling into an improvised, unsupervised camp site complete with a makeshift bucket full of human excrement, shards of broken glass, butchered trees, and plastic trash such as fishing lines and floss picks littered about.
Unfortunately, these problems will only increase as our population keeps growing while word continues to spread about the majestically breathtaking vistas on the Eastern Slopes.
So that all being said, I cannot help but to sympathize with the government’s plans to conserve and protect our natural resources to ensure future generations also get to enjoy what we are so fortunate to have access to today.
As of now, the situation in the West Country is largely an unsupervised free-for-all, which was arguably fine in the past when far fewer people accessed the land.
After all, most users, including volunteer recreational groups committed to conservation of the land and resources, are responsible. Their efforts, which involve spending their personal time and resources developing and maintaining trails, are nothing less than commendably admirable.
Yet all of their well-intentioned pursuits are potentially threatened by the actions of the reckless few who treat the land like their personal party grounds and garbage dump with no regard or respect for other users, let alone future generations.
Eventually, the government will have to choose how best to protect our natural resources. In fact, plans for the Bighorn Country proposal have been under development for years and started under previous conservative governments.
Alberta is larger than many countries, with a comparatively small — albeit growing — population. We have more than enough space to fairly accommodate all user groups — from industry stakeholders to hikers, horseback riders, and off-highway vehicle enthusiasts.
Personally, I would much prefer an injection of tens of millions of dollars to develop, enhance as well as maintain existing trails for all user groups with increased enforcement to protect our natural resources than to witness the situation deteriorate further.
Of course people have every right to expect adequate, meaningful consultation when big changes are being discussed, and the government’s approach has in some ways been arguably less than forthcoming.
Anyone with an Internet connection and the ability to read can find out more about the proposal and they are encouraged to provide input by the deadline of Feb. 15.
Sadly, we must remember that the rules and regulations society has in place stem essentially without exception from being forced to cater to the lowest common denominator. Not killing, stealing, driving wasted or otherwise harming others should simply go without saying, and the majority of people do not engage in such behaviour.
But the reality of the human condition is that some do. So we either take measures to mitigate such instances, or allow the situation to degrade.
To me, the former sounds much better than the latter.
