Olds Snowmobile Club president Lyle Statham wrote the following letter to the government of Alberta in response to its decision to ban snowmobiles and quads from the Castle Provincial Park and the Castle Wildland Provincial Park in southwestern Alberta
I am a motorized off-highway user: quad and snowmobile. My fellow volunteers and I have spent thousands of our own hours and much money building sustainable trails in the Bighorn area. Other groups have done the same all across Canada.
Groups in the Castle-Crowsnest area have built a world-class set of trails there over the last 40 years. Your Castle Management Plan takes all that away.
Are we to believe that this is a precedent for the other trails and Management Zones in Alberta? There are hundreds of miles of volunteer- built trails on public land in Alberta. Will you be trying to take those away next?
Trail building groups in Alberta have never received an ounce of moral support or a dime of funding from any environmental groups. They usually consist of a few, PAID vocal members who take a few pictures of the undisturbed and damaged landscapes, then lobby the government for area closures.
We rely on volunteer labour and private, corporate and government donations to build sustainable, multi-use trails for the public to enjoy.
In addition to trail labour, volunteers spend countless hours filling out government surveys, attending various committee meetings, and working with other active user groups. Are you saying those surveys were useless, volunteers' efforts are not valued and the time and money were wasted?
Why have you decided to discriminate against motorized users by banning us from the Castle instead of implementing a designated trail-only system as used elsewhere in Canada?
Use the examples of other provinces by building good, sustainable multi-use trails that are promoted as tourism destinations and let local municipalities and businesses enjoy the economic rewards.
Provide some trail maintenance funding and law enforcement so that irresponsible riders are punished, but other Albertans and visitors can enjoy our beautiful wilderness.
Locking areas down will only serve to send people and their money elsewhere. British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec and their businesses welcome motorized users. Isn't that what the government of Alberta wants?
What is the total cost of this new park to Alberta taxpayers? Reclamation costs, industry lease contract buyouts, aboriginal payments, park incorporation costs?
And are you going to give the local motorized user groups other land to build new trails on? And what about compensating them for all their past investment and future work that would not have been needed if you just managed the trails they currently have built in the Castle?
Our user group generates huge revenues across the province every year and we directly impact the economies of areas where we ride. If trails are built on high ground and managed correctly, the damage from quads can be minimized.
Snowmobiles do no damage. I have seen spring runoff flooding cause more damage than 100 years of managed OHV motorized usage will ever cause.
Managed multi-use trails with motorized access allow seniors, the disabled and families to enjoy our wilderness without causing unacceptable damage.
Volunteers from the Crow Snow Riders Club and Crowsnest Pass Quad Squad have spent thousands of hours and countless dollars building trails and bridges in the area over the last 40 years.
Your decision spits on their efforts and sends a negative message to ALL other volunteer groups in Alberta. How would you feel if government made a decision to destroy a community volunteer effort that YOU personally were heavily involved in, instead of finding a creative way to satisfy everyone?
Were the local municipalities and motorized users fairly represented and truly consulted during this decision-making process? Who were the committee representatives?
To summarize, your current draft management plan may only slightly improve the vocal environmentalists' concerns, but it negatively affects:
* Active senior citizens.
* The active disabled.
* Family recreation activities.
* Decreased provincewide OHV related sales revenues and resulting taxes.
* Local businesses' revenues - hotels, gas, groceries, restaurants.
* Local municipalities being vibrant versus becoming ghost towns.
* Decreases provincial tax revenue from reduced business taxation.
* Cost to the province and taxpayers of this plan's implementation.
* Reduced tourism in affected areas.
* Volunteer morale and activity across Alberta.
This is no different than any other road in the province. Most of the users ride responsibly and there are a few who should be punished, but you don't close down the highway because of a few speeders.
You build and maintain it, enforce the rules of the road, promote the tourism amenities of the road and where it goes, and then government collects taxes from the businesses and municipalities that prosper from it.
I encourage the people who drafted this plan to get out of their offices and REALLY spend some time on the land watching what truly goes on. Then come up with a plan that works for all Albertans. Clean water and preserving the environment are important to all people, but can be achieved without a total motorized ban.
Lyle Statham
Rural Olds
