Old Quarry Youth Mountain Bike Skills Park

Submission to the National Capital Commission Greenbelt Master Plan Review - Part 3

By Richard W. Woodley, environmentalist, hiker, mountain biker, snowshoer, cross
country skier, kayaker

(Please note: click on images to enlarge)

While this may seem like a my most radical proposal yet it follows naturally from what I have already written:

Getting people out into the environment, onto the lakes and rivers and into the forests builds healthy lifestyles, and healthy lifestyles improve our health and reduces our health care costs. This is important at a time when obesity, and childhood obesity in particular, is at epidemic levels. We need natural spaces and trails to teach our children the benefits and enjoyment that can be had in the great outdoors. The National Capital Region is fortunate that we have a population that celebrates healthy lifestyles and rises up to challenge those that want to take our natural spaces and trails away from us. Allowing mountain biking on the trails is one more way to encourage people to get out and enjoy nature.

Young people need the type of challenges the outdoors can provide as an alternative to spending their time in a sedentary lifestyle centred on electronic devices, or other even worse, but seemingly exciting, activities like gangs and drugs. Youth can be attracted to these things by the very risks we want to protect them from. Outdoors activities such as rock climbing and mountain biking can provide exciting healthy risks that build character and a healthy body.

Mountain biking is the perfect activity to get young people active and out in the environment. It combines man and machine (or boy and machine) with a sense of adventure, all in a natural setting. The Greenbelt trails are the ideal location as many are closes to neighbourhoods and they have a wide variety of levels of riding difficulty and challenge.

The Old Quarry are trails are particularly suited for young riders just starting out in mountain biking because they provide a wide range of difficulty from easy flat gravel trails to intermediate level rooty and rocky trails.

A beginner level mountain bike skills park adjacent to these trails would be ideal for this location that is close to communities with young families and schools, as well as having it's own parking and close proximity to additional parking and facilities at the Hazeldean Mall.

The proposed location is off to the side of the trails and separated from roadways and traffic by bush.

MTB Park Location
MTB Park Trails
Why A Youth Mountain Bike Skills Park
There are two documented changes in young people's lives from when I grew up to today. They are a decreased level of physical activity and a disconnect from nature. Part of this stems from parents fear of letting their children play and wander outside alone and part of it stems from competition for their attention from technological devices from television to video games to the Internet.

We need to excite kids to get them to choose real outdoor physical activity over indoor virtual pursuits. Mountain biking is seen as an exciting "extreme" sport that can provide that excitement, yet when done with proper training at each individuals ability level it can be as safe as any other sporting activity.

A skills park can provide the setting and resources to teach young people how to handle their bikes safely and how to safely navigate technical mountain bike trails, as well as how to judge what they are capable of safely attempting on their bikes.

As well as including natural and man-made features to learn and practice their skills on, the park could also include educational displays on safe and responsible riding and respect for the trails, the environment and other trail users.

I believe this location is an excellent one for a beginner level mountain biking skills park as young riders can practice the skills they learn in the park on the adjacent trails that provide a wide range of trails of varying levels of technical difficulty.

Approaching Youth MTB Skills Park Site From Trails

Youth MTB Skills Park Site Overview


Youth MTB Skills Park Features


View of Trails From Youth MTB Skills Park Site

I also intend to propose that a more advanced level skills park be established adjacent to the mountain biking trail system in the South March Highlands.

Let's Send Clive to Copenhagen

I would like to congratulate the National Capital Commission, and in particular CEO Marie Lemay, for their enlightened approach to cycling in the capital. The Ottawa Citizen reports:

Ottawa has a car-first, bike-after attitude, says the chief executive of the National Capital Commission. And Marie Lemay said residents have to decide if that's really the way they want to build the future of Canada's capital.

One of the fundamental things that I think we need to have a discussion about is, do we want our National Capital Region to be bike- and pedestrian-friendly? And if the answer is yes, we have to be ready to do the things that implies. It might mean it will be more difficult for cars, for example, she said.

Do we make the decision that bikes and pedestrians come first? And if we do that, everything else follows.

Lemay said the place of cyclists and pedestrians will be a central question in the NCC's new, three-year initiative to develop a plan for Canada's capital. Public discussions on the plan are to begin this summer.

The Ottawa Citizen further reports:

The head of the National Capital Commission says she hopes Ottawa Mayor Larry O’Brien will join her and Gatineau Mayor Marc Bureau as they travel to a major bicycling conference in Copenhagen in June to pick up tips on how to turn the national capital into a cycling role-model for Canada.

“If it is him, I’ll be thrilled and, if it’s not, and it’s a councillor, I’ll be very happy. The important thing is that we do have a political champion with us,” said the NCC’s CEO.

Mayor Larry O'Brien as a political champion of cycling does not seem to be a very good fit. Indeed, we need someone to go the the conference who is already a political champion for cycling, who has the background and can come back even more enlightened and energized to lead Ottawa into a new future that is not dictated by the automobile. Who better to fill that role than Councillor Clive Doucet, who will almost certainly be back on Council after the next election, unlike Mayor Larry who does not even know yet whether he wants the job.

The Velo-city Global 2010 conference will feature four days of presentations and discussions by cycling experts and policy-makers from around the world. Topics include cycling in mega-cities; cycling in cold, hilly cities; suburban cycling; and lifting the social status of the bicycle, among many others.

The sheer fact of being in Copenhagen and observing the cycling culture there is also an important aspect of the trip, Lemay said.

“They definitely do put cyclists and pedestrians first. Even the signage at street lights. The priority is not to the car,” said Lemay.

“To see that and be immersed in a totally different way of thinking, then you can see that it can actually be done. I’m hoping from there, you move backwards, and say, ‘what do we like about this, and how can we get there?’ ”

Although the NCC has maintained recreational biking paths in the national capital region for 40 years, Lemay said she realized last summer the importance of moving beyond those paths to create a safe, integrated network of cycling lanes and pathways across the downtown cores of Ottawa and Gatineau.

One thing Marie Lemay has right, and that Clive Doucet would agree with, is that we need to build a city for ordinary cyclists. As the Ottawa Sun reports:

“When you have Lance Armstrong sending in a bib from the Tour de France, I mean, that accident went around the world,” said Doucet. “I think people are beginning to realize Ottawa is a wonderful place to be a recreational cyclist, but a terrible place to be an ordinary cyclist.”

Doucet said the reputation Ottawa had built as a cycle-friendly city had little to do with the municipality’s efforts. The National Capital Commission established and continues to maintain the vast network of bike trails that earned the city its good standing in the first place.

“If you strip away the NCC shared bicycle pathways, the city has nothing,” said Doucet.

Lemay makes the point that while avid cyclists may cycle anywhere and everywhere all the time ordinary cyclists will only cycle if they feel it is safe.

Lemay, who lives in Chelsea, said she owns a bike but is not an “avid cyclist.”

She said she’d love to bike around downtown Ottawa, but she’s concerned about safety on city streets. She believes this gives her something in common with other people who would like to use their bikes more, but don’t feel comfortable cycling in traffic.

“This is not about accommodating the avid cyclist. This is about integrating cycling into a sustainable mode of transportation,” Lemay said.

“It’s not about just one segment of the population. It’s everybody. It’s me. It’s all the other people that could be using their bikes if it was safer. If it was easier.

The City of Ottawa has to show that it is serious about changing from being subservient to the automobile to embracing the future, a future that already exists in much of Europe.

I have already presented my ideas and I encourage everyone else to let the City and the NCC know what they think.

NCC Greenbelt Master Plan Review Update

From the NCC:

Greenbelt Conference and online dialogue

The National Capital Commission (NCC) is conducting a review of the 1996 Greenbelt Master Plan, which guides the use, management and protection of the Greenbelt.

Take part in the discussion!

Noted speakers from Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom have agreed to share their knowledge about other greenbelts around the world, including the importance of greenbelts and the variety of roles they play, and the lessons learned from the experiences of other cities and regions.

We invite you to take part in this dialogue to help shape a vision that will guide the management of the Greenbelt for the next 50 years.

Conference: The Future of the Greenbelt

Wednesday, November 25, 7 pm
National Arts Centre, Panorama Room
53 Elgin Street, Ottawa, and on the web

Webcast and online dialogue: National Forum on the Greenbelt

Live, November 25 and 26, starting at 8:30 am
Delayed broadcast, until January 2010
More information can be found here.

Webcasts of these events will be available here.

January

In January you will be invited to take part in further public consultations to discuss the future of the Greenbelt in greater detail.

Further Information

The timeline for the Greenbelt Master Plan Review can be found here.

Information on Step 1 of the Consultation Process (and documents presented) can be found here.

Further information on the Greenbelt Master Plan Review can be found here.

Information on the Greenbelt can be found here.

Winter Trail Conflicts on the Greenbelt Trails

Submission to the National Capital Commission Greenbelt Master Plan Review - Part 2

By Richard W. Woodley, environmentalist, hiker, mountain biker, snowshoer, cross country skier, kayaker

In my previous submission on the Greenbelt Master Plan Review I discussed how well trail sharing amongst the various trail users worked on the Greenbelt trails during the spring, summer and fall.

Unfortunately I cannot say the same about the winter season. The main conflict, of course, is between cross-country skiers who like track set trails and walkers/hikers who walk through the track set trails punching deep holes in them.

Many skiers resent the walkers and many walkers feel they have just as much right to use the trails as the skiers. While I do not believe the conflict will ever be eliminated there may be a way to reduce it.

I believe the solution lies in encouraging the hikers/walkers to use snowshoes and provide dedicated trails for them, or at least publicise the dedicated trails that I just discovered exist as indicated on the official NCC trail map.

I would suggest the NCC, in partnership with snowshoe manufacturers and retailers undertake a snowshoe lending program. The partners would provide the snowshoes and lenders would receive information on where to purchase the snowshoes they are borrowing, as well as information on all the program participants. It only takes about one outing to realize it is a lot easier walking the trails with snowshoes than boots and that they do not punch deep holes in the trails. This will go a long way to reducing the conflict, because even on the ski trails snowshoes do less damage than boots - they may pack down the tracks but they do not punch deep holes in them. However if enough appropriate snowshoe trails are available many of the walkers/hikers may choose to snowshoe on them rather than walk on the ski trails.

In this context, I would also like to address the issue of winter mountain biking. For the last few years, within the South March Highlands, mountain bikers have been creating winter trails by packing the trails down using snowshoes and have demonstrated that snowshoeing and mountain biking are indeed compatible on the same trails. Mountain biking on packed trails simply leaves a track, similar to a cross-country ski track. Indeed it is not practical to mountain bike on trails if you are sinking deep into the snow and creating holes or ruts. So I would suggest that to get the maximum use out of the designated snowshoeing trails that mountain biking also be allowed on them.

I have attached maps of suggested routes for shared snowshoeing and mountain biking trails. I have chosen trails that are less cross-country ski friendly due to their terrain.

It was after creating those maps that I noticed the increased number of snowshoeing designated trails on the on the NCC Greenbelt Trail Map. I was surprised to see Jack Pine designated as snowshoe trail and Trail 11 designated as a ski trail. I think it would be better to designate trails that are less skier friendly as snowshoe trails and the most popular ski trail as ski trails. Although Jack Pine would make an ideal beginner winter mountain biking trail, frankly I do not believe the skiers will stop using Jack Pine. The vast majority probably do not even know of its designation as a snowshoe trail rather than a ski trail.

Encouraging walkers to switch from using boots on ski trails to using snowshoes on snowshoe trails is going to take more than just putting red dots on a chart on the official map that few people actually look at. It is going to require a concerted effort and campaign to encourage snowshoeing on the designated trails, a campaign that should include allowing and encouraging mountain bikers to use the snowshoe trails.

(click on maps to enlarge)

The Joy of Undocumented Trails

On the weekend we were hiking near the Lime Kiln and came across a trail that I was unaware of. We had skied or snowshoed along this route but thought it was just a winter route. Both ends of it are fairly well hidden so it was a fluke that we found it without tracks in the snow.

That, and the fact that I was exploring some other undocumented trails behind Stittsville last week, got me thinking about undocumented trails.

So what are undocumented trails. Well the simplest definition is trails without maps, or at least without official maps.

An internet search could not find any maps of, or references to, the Stittsville trails that I explored so I feel confident in considering them to be undocumented.

The trail near the Lime Kiln fits that description as it is not on the NCC official trail map. Neither is the one kilometre technical trail that is known to mountain bikers as the Lime Kiln Trail, although it was on an earlier version of the NCC map as an unnamed trail. The NCC designates the wide trail from parking lot P10 to Richmond Road as the “Lime Kiln Trail”.

Personally, one of the biggest joys of undocumented trails, besides riding an unknown trail for the first time and not knowing what I will find, is documenting them. I have always had a thing about maps and the ability to actually become a map maker is really rewarding. So I have spent the last few biking seasons starting to map all the western greenbelt trails. It is currently a work in progress. I plan to move my maps to a new home and add trail descriptions and eventually photographs. Watch for an announcement in the next few weeks.

Undocumented trails tend to be unofficial trails that were not planned, or built by, any official entity but created by trail users.

An architect once proposed that when designing open spaces pathways should not be planned in advance. Rather the space should be left open for users to walk across and the users of the space will create paths where they are best suited. The designers would then build the pathways were the users have walked.

In many ways that principle can be applied to trails. Often the users know best. Certainly the greenbelt is full of unofficial user created trails and these are some of the best trails in the system. Surprisingly the National Capital Commission (NCC), known for being overly bureaucratic, does not appear to have made any effort to close such trails, even placing signposts on some in the Old Quarry area.

However, the City of Ottawa, during the South March Highlands (SMH) Management Plan process, has proposed that many of the existing “unofficial” trails in the SMH be closed as part of the process of legitimizing the trail system. As far as I know, none of the closures are for specific environmental reasons but more a matter of rationalizing the trail system.

If past experience is any indicator I think it will be difficult to convince users to stop using trails they have used for years. I suspect the city hopes that user groups that have been involved in the SMH management plan process will try to convince their members not to use the closed trails. It remains to be seen how they will respond. So far it appears that everyone, including the city, consultants and user groups have been acting in good faith during this process and I believe the city hopes users groups will feel they have enough “ownership” of the result to support it. The fact is that most trail users, whether they are hikers, mountain bikers, or cross country skiers do not belong to organized groups, and those that do are not necessarily going to do their groups bidding.

Perhaps the best policy for the city to pursue would be to leave the trail system the way it has naturally evolved except for measures to address specific environmental concerns or improve the sustainability of the trail system.

Gatineau Parkway: A Cyclists Dream or A Drivers Nightmare

In an earlier Fifth Column I stated:

A few weeks ago I was driving home from mountain biking along the Gatineau Parkway when I noticed just how little room there was for cyclists and motor vehicles to share the road. If I wanted to pass a cyclist I had to hug the yellow line, a dangerous thing to do if traffic is approaching me and only possible if the oncoming traffic sees the cyclist on my side and moves over to give me room, and impossible if there are motor vehicles and cyclists on both sides of the road. At one point I just had to follow behind the cyclist till it was safe to pass, fortunately he was moving at about 40 km/hr.

This can create very dangerous situations, especially if there are impatient drivers. Drivers should, however, be aware that, although used as such, the parkway is not a commuter route, it is a scenic route for tourists and residents to use to enjoy the park scenery and has a speed limit of 60 km/hr.

In many ways the Gatineau Parkway is a wonderful route for cyclists, scenic, winding and hilly. It could be a world class cycling route and a major tourist attraction and economic benefit to the region, if the safety problem was solved.

The National Capital Commission and The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are also aware of the safety problems and they have announced their solution, according to an article in the Ottawa Citizen which states:

Don't ride your bicycle in double file, in "packs" of more than 15 or speed through stop signs this summer.

The National Capital Commission and police are cracking down on cyclists and motorists in Gatineau Park as part of a share the road campaign prompted by the increasing number of traffic violations in the park each year.
…

RCMP Const. Suzanne Lefort said cyclists who ride in double file or in groups of more than 15 face $95 fines. Cyclists who run through stop signs face $15 fines, plus the loss of three demerit points if they have a driver's licence. Also, cyclists were warned about speeding last year, but this year they will be ticketed.

Drivers who exceed the speed limit by more than 40 km/h could have their vehicles impounded for seven days.

This has led to considerable reaction from the cycling community, including Letters to The Editor from Mike Abraham, Matt Surch, Alex MacKenzie and Avery Burdett.

Matt Surch describes the Gatineau Parkway as a road cyclists haven:

Cycling is a healthy practice with a rich tradition in the Ottawa Valley, home of the country's two oldest bike clubs, dating back to 1882. More than just a sport, cycling affords pleasurable movement through the city and its surroundings.

On any given day, hundreds of cyclists, many in their retirement years, seek the challenge of the hilly Gatineau Parkway to recreate, to live, on the bike. Many users ride the parkway more than once a week, for years.

Some ride alone, others in groups. By riding side-by-side, conversation flows. Other groups with a more competitive bent enjoy the parkway for its promise of training gains and the opportunity to practise road tactics such as drafting, working together as a group.

Yes, road cycling is in fact a team sport; working together to cover ground faster is the magic of cycling.

The parkway is special -- it is a haven for cyclists because it is a parkway; low car speeds are appropriate. Cyclists outnumber any other user group in the summer, including drivers. We feel like the parkway is our oasis in an otherwise hostile cycling environment.

Unfortunately, the NCC does not acknowledge cyclists on the parkway as a recreational user group. Instead, we are being treated just like traffic.

As the last quoted sentence indicates, the NCC does not see it that way, and that is the crux of the matter – should the NCC Parkway be seen as just another commuter road or as a recreational route for cyclists.

Of course the Gatineau Parkway is not just another commuter route. You don't close down a commuter route for a whole season, banning cars, and let a recreational user group use it as their own. But that is what is done with the Gatineau Parkway in the winter for cross country skiers. That does not stop people from using their vehicles to access the ski hills or trails or other recreational facilities. And it certainly contributes to tourism in the National Capital region and the local economy.

The Gatineau Parkway already has the hilly terrain that serious road cyclists love to ride and train on. So why not apply the same logic to the summer season, ban cars from the Gatineau Parkway, and take advantage of an even greater opportunity to turn the National Capital Region into an international destination for cyclists, not to mention providing a wonderful opportunity for local cyclists to develop their skills. It is such opportunities and facilities that produce Olympic Gold Medallists.

Why Mountain Biking Should Be Allowed on the Greenbelt Trails

Submission to the National Capital Commission Greenbelt Master Plan Review

By Richard W. Woodley, environmentalist, hiker, mountain biker, snowshoer, cross country skier, kayaker

The following statement, contained in an email from an NCC representative, dated May 12, 2006, makes it clear that the current NCC policy banning mountain biking on the Greenbelt trails is unenforceable.

We know that there is a lot of interest in off-road riding on Greenbelt hiking trails. On the other hand, section (16) of the NCC Traffic & Property Regulations states..."No person shall ride a bicycle on property of the Commission other than a driveway or on a bicycle path set aside by the Commission for the purpose...". While we have not actively tried to enforce this particular regulation, we do not condone the practice. There are long-term impacts on the trails and surrounding area, particularly rutting, trail erosion, trail widening as users veer off the designated route to avoid ruts and muddy surface, and destruction of adjacent vegetation. In the winter, we want to discourage bike riders who may travel across groomed ski tracks.

What is apparent, when one examines the facts, is that there are no legitimate reasons for banning mountain biking on the Greenbelt trails. In fact, there are numerous reasons why it should be allowed, and indeed encouraged.

There is a certain irony, some might say hypocrisy, for the NCC, an organization that is known for what I call the “NCCification” of trails, the flattening and widening of natural single track trails, and an organization that regularly uses heavy equipment and tractor-like lawn mowers on the trails, to claim that mountain biking damages the trails.

Even more than my desire to see the NCC adopt a policy of allowing mountain biking on the Greenbelt trails is my desire for them to adopt a policy of leaving all trails in their natural state and to do as little damage as possible to the environment when creating trails.

It is the creation of trails that has potential to do environmental damage, not the responsible use of them. Trails should be designed and built in a sustainable manner, a practice that interestingly enough has been developed and promoted by mountain bikers, and in particular the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA).

Trails can be of great environmental benefit. First, by keeping trail users away from environmentally sensitive areas. Note that hikers are much more likely to go off the trail and do environmental damage to sensitive areas than mountain bikers are. Secondly, trails bring people into contact with the environment, learning to love and respect it and often becoming advocates for the environment.

People can be a great threat to the environment, the biggest impact being from development, bulldozing and paving it over, blasting and replacing forests and meadows with parking lots, buildings, and roads, a practice that the NCC has been known to be a party to.

On the other hand people hiking responsibly through the forest have no greater impact than deer or bears running through the forest, particularly when they are on a controlled trail system. The same applies to mountain biking where the scientific evidence indicates that hikers and mountain bikers and hikers have equivalent impacts on trails. See for example the reviews done by the International Mountain Bicycling Association and the New Zealand Department of Conservation.

The other argument against allowing mountain bikers on the Greenbelt trails is user conflicts.

In various places, including the Greenbelt, hikers and bikers regularly share the trails with each other with few problems. I can personally attest to never having had a conflict with hikers on the Greenbelt trails while riding them regularly (several times a week). I can also attest to hiking and mountain biking in the South March Highlands and always having other trail users treat me with respect, whether as a hiker or a biker.

The majority of outdoors persons considers themselves to be, and indeed are, environmentalists. The best way to raise environmental awareness is by getting people out into the environment, enjoying it and learning of it’s importance and the need to protect it. That is where the environmentalists that we need to fight the real threats to the environment - development and habitat destruction, are born.

Getting people out into the environment, onto the lakes and rivers and into the forests builds healthy lifestyles, and healthy lifestyles improve our health and reduces our health care costs. This is important at a time when obesity, and childhood obesity in particular, is at epidemic levels. We need natural spaces and trails to teach our children the benefits and enjoyment that can be had in the great outdoors. The National Capital Region is fortunate that we have a population that celebrates healthy lifestyles and rises up to challenge those that want to take our natural spaces and trails away from us. Allowing mountain biking on the trails is one more way to encourage people to get out and enjoy nature.

Young people need the type of challenges the outdoors can provide as an alternative to spending their time in a sedentary lifestyle centred on electronic devices, or other even worse, but seemingly exciting, activities like gangs and drugs. Youth can be attracted to these things by the very risks we want to protect them from. Outdoors activities such as rock climbing and mountain biking can provide exciting healthy risks that build character and a healthy body.

Mountain biking is the perfect activity to get young people active and out in the environment. It combines man and machine (or boy and machine) with a sense of adventure, all in a natural setting. The Greenbelt trails are the ideal location as many are closes to neighbourhoods and they have a wide variety of levels of riding difficulty and challenge.

The other very important reason for legitimizing the already existent practice of mountain biking on the Greenbelt trails is that it would provide an opportunity to undertake a public education program on environmentally friendly and sustainable trail use, including respect for other trail users - share the trail. The education campaign should stress that trail users should stay on the designated trails. As well it should encourage trail users to avoid wet muddy trails but advise them to use the centre of the trail, not go alongside and widen it, if they do need to go through wet muddy sections. It would be very difficult for the NCC to undertake an education campaign on the responsible way to do something that they officially prohibit.

A good place to start with trail education are the IMBA Rules of the Trail.

For more information on mountain biking see the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) website and the Ottawa Mountain Bike Association (OMBA) website.

There are, indeed, no legitimate reasons for prohibiting mountain biking on the Greenbelt trails.

NCC Greenbelt Review and Mountain Biking: Part Three

This is the third part of a series of blog postings on the National Capital Commission's Greenbelt Master Plan Review as it relates to mountain biking. The last posting will be my personal submission on Mountain Biking in the National Capital Greenbelt.

This link will take you directly to the Review of the 1996 Greenbelt Master Plan.

Managing Recreation and Mountain Biking

In this post we will look at the NCC document entitled Managing Recreation as well as other information on their web site relating to NCC policies on trails, cycling and mountain biking.

The document Managing Recreation states:

Over 100 kilometres of trails have been developed for recreational use in the Greenbelt (skiing, snowshoeing, hiking and birdwatching), and the Greenbelt Pathway is under development with links to the recreational pathway system (in the Capital region), the Rideau Trail (Ottawa to Kingston) and the Trans Canada Trail (across Canada). A number of recreational facilities such as campgrounds, riding schools, municipal sports fields, golf courses and two leash-free areas for dog walking can also be found in the Greenbelt.

The Greenbelt Pathway

The Greenbelt Pathway is planned to be a continuous 56-kilometre recreational pathway that will provide a unique experience from Shirley’s Bay in the west to Green’s Creek in the east.

Its objectives are:

- to connect key visitor attractions and link with other pathways in Canada’s Capital Region
- to provide a unique rural experience along the Capital’s integrated Recreational Pathway Network

My understanding is that cycling is only officially allowed on the “recreational pathways” and not the “trails”. We will examine the document Biking Country to try and find a clear statement of that policy.

The document The Capital Pathway states:

Canada’s Capital Region is home to one of North America’s largest networks of cycling pathways — the Capital Pathway network. More than 170 kilometres of recreational pathways link superb natural areas, parks, gardens, museums and attractions. The paths are great for cycling and many other activities such as walking, jogging and in-line skating. Come and fill up on fresh air!

The Map of the Capital Pathway makes it clear that this only includes paved and hard packed surface pathways and not the natural trails in the Greenbelt.

The chart of recommended activities on the NCC Greenbelt Map indicates that “biking” is only recommended on the “pathways” and on none of the “trails”.

Nothing in the review documents that I have seen indicates that these specific policies are under review, but everything I have seen in the documentation so far has been very general.

The only reference on the NCC website to mountain biking seems to be the section on Mountain Biking in Gatineau Park.

So the clearest statement of current policy we seem to have is the email that we received from an NCC representative dated May 12, 2006:

We know that there is a lot of interest in off-road riding on Greenbelt hiking trails. On the other hand, section (16) of the NCC Traffic & Property Regulations states..."No person shall ride a bicycle on property of the Commission other than a driveway or on a bicycle path set aside by the Commission for the purpose...". While we have not actively tried to enforce this particular regulation, we do not condone the practice. There are long-term impacts on the trails and surrounding area, particularly rutting, trail erosion, trail widening as users veer off the designated route to avoid ruts and muddy surface, and destruction of adjacent vegetation. In the winter, we want to discourage bike riders who may travel across groomed ski tracks.

I will be watching for further information on the Greenbelt Master Plan Review to be posted on the NCC web site and for notices of public meetings and will report them on my blog. I will now begin drafting my personal submission on Mountain Biking on the Greenbelt Trails.

NCC Greenbelt Review and Mountain Biking: Part Two

This is the second part of a series of blog postings on the National Capital Commission's Greenbelt Master Plan Review as it relates to mountain biking. The last posting will be my personal submission on Mountain Biking in the National Capital Greenbelt.

This link will take you directly to the Review of the 1996 Greenbelt Master Plan.

The Backgrounders and the Process

In this post we will look at the Backgrounders provided by the NCC on their web site.

These references to trails and cycling are found in the backgrounder entitled The Greenbelt.

It is a key recreational and tourist area. Over 100 km of trails within the Greenbelt pass through its conservation areas of Green’s Creek, Mer Bleue, Shirley’s Bay and Stony Swamp as well as through the Pine Grove and Pinhey Forests. Greenbelt trails for walking and cycling in the summer, walking, snow-shoeing and cross-country skiing in the winter, link to parts of the Trans Canada and Rideau Trails and the Capital Pathway Network.
…

Many people decided to leave the farms that were on poorer soil instead of leasing them back from the NCC. This prompted the NCC and the Government of Ontario to re-forest much of that farmland. The Pine Grove and Pinhey forests of today largely resulted from that initiative. By the 1970s, steps were taken to protect natural areas such as Mer Bleue and Stony Swamp. Walking and ski trails were created and the Greenbelt became recognized as an accessible oasis for outdoor recreation in the capital.

Note no details as to what trails “cycling” is allowed on are provided in this document.

These references are found in the backgrounder entitled The Master Plan. Again few details are provided.

As an example of its impact, the Master Plan directs how and where pathways should be built to provide a connected and varied experience for walking and cycling. The current Greenbelt trail system extends over 100 kilometres.

The backgrounder entitled The Update Process/The Review provides details on the review process time line.

What is the process for updating the Master Plan?

The process will consist of a number of steps that begin in 2008 and end in 2011.

Step 1: Research (Fall 2008 to Spring 2009)
This step will include a review of background information, site visits and discussions with a number of groups with a stake in the Greenbelt. These groups include all levels of government, residents, farmers, the business community and the general public. A Public Advisory Committee that will be established during this step will also be consulted. The public can also provide input through the NCC’s website.

The result of this step will be a common understanding of the current status of the Greenbelt.

Step 2: The Vision (Spring 2009 to Fall 2009)
During this step all involved parties, including the public, will participate to help improve the vision statement for the Greenbelt. The existing vision as set out in the 1996 Master Plan will serve as a starting point. There will be a national workshop and three public workshops in the eastern, central and western parts of the Greenbelt. The Public Advisory Committee and the interactive website will continue to play a part.

The result of this step will be a clear view of how the Greenbelt should look at least 50 years into the future.

Step 3: Concept Plans (Fall 2009 to Summer 2010)
This step involves developing what is called a “concept plan.” A concept plan is the first step in applying the vision to physical reality. It sets out principles and objectives. It describes the functions of different areas of the Greenbelt and sets the types of use that may occur on the lands throughout the Greenbelt. The concept plan will also set priorities and give direction for the Greenbelt’s long-term use and development. During this step two or three concept plans will be developed as options. Comment on these options will be obtained through discussions and meetings with stakeholders and the public. There will be three public workshops in the eastern, central and western parts of the Greenbelt. The Public Advisory Committee and the interactive website will continue to play a part.

The result of this step will be an evaluation of two to three options for making the vision for the Greenbelt a reality with a recommended land use concept plan.

Step 4: Sector Plans (Spring 2010 to Spring 2011)
The background data, vision and concept plan of the three previous steps will then direct revision of the 11 sector plans. A sector plan applies the Master plan to specific parts of the Greenbelt, such as Mer Bleue, Pinhey Forest or Conroy Pit. During this step the sector plans will be updated to ensure they reflect the revised direction of the new Master Plan. These options will be discussed with stakeholders and at public meetings. There will be three public workshops in the eastern, central and western parts of the Greenbelt. The Public Advisory Committee and the interactive website will continue to play a part.

The result of this step will be a renewed set of recommendations for how the Master Plan will be applied in specific areas of the Greenbelt.

Step 5: The Master Plan (Fall 2011)
During this step the final Greenbelt Master Plan will be prepared and approved. Individuals and groups interested in the Master Plan will be able to obtain copies of the final version, once approved.

The result of this step will be an updated National Capital Greenbelt Master Plan that will preserve and guide the Greenbelt in the future.

Although the evaluation process continues throughout the plan review, a Strategic Environmental
Assessment report will be completed at this stage. This assessment compares the proposed plan sections developed at each phase of the study against the guidance provided through the Plan for Canada’s Capital and against sound and established environmental principles.

In the next post we will look at the NCC document entitled Managing Recreation as well as other information on their web site relating to NCC policies on trails, cycling and mountain biking.

NCC Greenbelt Review and Mountain Biking: Part One

I am starting a series of blog postings on the National Capital Commission's Greenbelt Master Plan Review as it relates to mountain biking. This will be the first posting in that series. The last posting will be my personal submission on Mountain Biking in the National Capital Greenbelt.

This link will take you directly to the Review of the 1996 Greenbelt Master Plan.

Just as an aside, an interesting thing I discovered in starting this review is that the airport is part of the greenbelt. And I thought including a golf course as part of the Kanata Lakes environmental lands was pushing the envelope. Do they paint the runways green.

The NCC's current policy on mountain biking on the Greenbelt Trails was expressed this way in an email sent to us, dated May 12, 2006:

We know that there is a lot of interest in off-road riding on Greenbelt hiking trails. On the other hand, section (16) of the NCC Traffic & Property Regulations states..."No person shall ride a bicycle on property of the Commission other than a driveway or on a bicycle path set aside by the Commission for the purpose...". While we have not actively tried to enforce this particular regulation, we do not condone the practice. There are long-term impacts on the trails and surrounding area, particularly rutting, trail erosion, trail widening as users veer off the designated route to avoid ruts and muddy surface, and destruction of adjacent vegetation. In the winter, we want to discourage bike riders who may travel across groomed ski tracks.

Hopefully this review process will allow the NCC to become more enlightened about the environmental impacts of mountain biking and the benefits of allowing mountain biking on the Greenbelt Trails.

Greenbelt Master Plan Summary (1996 Master Plan)

The first thing I looked at in my review of the NCC documents on the current Greenbelt Master Plan Review was the Greenbelt Master Plan Summary (1996 Master Plan).

In reviewing the 1996 Master Plan Summary I found references to trails, including this reference:

What is the Greenbelt?

As the Capital’s principal rural landscape, the Greenbelt offers a welcome breathing space between the Capital’s inner and outer urban areas on the Ontario side of the Ottawa River. The Greenbelt is a crescent shaped mosaic of farms, forests and wetlands complemented by ski and hiking trails and dotted with federal and private institutions. Its rural character, along with the wilderness setting of Gatineau Park and the Capital’s many riverside parks and urban green spaces, creates a uniquely Canadian setting for the Capital that symbolizes the vast and diverse landscapes of this great nation. It is the only greenbelt in the world that is publicly owned in its entirety, and it helps make Canada’s Capital one of the most beautiful and enjoyable capitals in the world.

A search for references to cycling or biking found no references except one reference to providing bicycle parking:

Infrastructure Corridor

This designation identifies lands that are used to move people, services and goods through the Greenbelt without fragmenting valuable cultivated or natural areas. Appropriate uses include roads, transitways and sewers,water mains and natural gas pipelines. Infrastructure such as hydro lines will be as unintrusive as possible, and public access to the Greenbelt will be improved via such facilities as bicycle parking or farm produce stands at transitway stations. Most infrastructure corridors or will be owned by levels of government other than federal.

Obviously, the Master Plan requires updating to take into account the extensive interest in cycling and mountain biking in the National Capital Region.

Announcements

The next thing I examined were the announcements relating to the review.

The revision will be done in two phases. Phase I will run from now through to the summer of 2010 and will focus on developing a comprehensive assessment, a vision statement and a land-use concept. Phase II will span from the spring of 2010 through to the fall of 2011 and will help to specify work needed in each area, including the development of policy statements, designations of land use, recommendations on the National Interest Land Mass (NILM), and requirements for guidelines and design. Once these are established, the final draft of the Master Plan can proceed.

The review process places particular emphasis on consulting the public in the very early stages. Other partners and stakeholders to be consulted include the Public Advisory Committee, affected municipal, provincial and federal bodies and various interest groups. This extensive consultation will complement and inform activities of the NCC’s existing groups of experts including NCC staff, its Advisory Committee on Planning, Design and Real Estate (ACPDR) and the NCC Board.

The NCC site also included this statement:

Participate

The NCC is encouraging the public and other levels of government to participate in planning the future of the Greenbelt. There will be extensive public consultations and workshops during the process of the updating of the Greenbelt Master Plan (see “The Update”).

During Step 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the process there will be numerous opportunities for members of the public to participate and contribute to the review. Those opportunities will be advertized and posted well in advance on this website. As the study proceeds, members of the public can share their views on this website.

So far the only opportunity provided on the web site, that I could find, for the public to participate is a survey form here:.

An email address for more comprehensive submissions does not seem to be provided, though perhaps one could send a submission to info@ncc-ccn.ca and request that your submission be forwarded to the appropriate person.

The Backgrounders

Coming in the next blog posting.

Mountain Biking In The Spring

Rutted Muddy Trail from Spring Biking
For those of us that put our bikes away for the winter, when the first sign of Spring arrives we want to get out on the trails. However more often than not the trails are not ready for riding, usually being wet and muddy. Of course to some people that adds to the fun.

While one may be able to argue that riding muddy trails does no damage beyond the trail and does not affect the surrounding plant or animal life there is no doubt that it affects the trails.

These are the comments posted in a public forum by local mountain bikers about rutting caused by riding muddy trails:

"Watch out for the ruts. I got caught in one at speed between the first and second v-trees. Threw my right shoulder smack into a tree. Though I didn't wipe I have a large bruise to show for it. Anywhere it get's muddy in SMH (South March Highlands) is now a rutted mess..."

"I find fixing ruts to be more challenging than riding them. Riding them can get downright annoying when they go on forever. Way more annoying when they suddenly toss you off your line into a tree."

"The main reason to stay off the muddy trails is because of the erosion.. The more the trails erode the less fun they are to ride and the more work required to maintain them. "

And of course it is not just mountain bikers that notice bike ruts in the mud but also other trail users, which does little to raise the image of mountain biking in the community at a time when we need to be making friends, not enemies, and building partnerships with other trail users.

When it comes to the greenbelt trails, biking is barely tolerated, while being officially banned. The following was stated in an e-mail from an NCC representative:

"We know that there is a lot of interest in off-road riding on Greenbelt hiking trails. On the other hand, section (16) of the NCC Traffic & Property Regulations states..."No person shall ride a bicycle on property of the Commission other than a driveway or on a bicycle path set aside by the Commission for the purpose...". While we have not actively tried to enforce this particular regulation, we do not condone the practice. There are long-term impacts on the trails and surrounding area, particularly rutting, trail erosion, trail widening as users veer off the designated route to avoid ruts and muddy surface, and destruction of adjacent vegetation. In the winter, we want to discourage bike riders who may travel across groomed ski tracks."

While this statement does reflect a need for some education of the NCC about the relative effects of hiking and biking on the trails, one cannot dispute the concerns about rutting from riding muddy trails. If we want to convince the NCC, and other trail users, that mountain biking should be encouraged, and not just tolerated, we are going to have to start riding more responsibly.

For me, the most annoying thing about people riding muddy trails in the spring is that the rutting slows down the natural drying process. Wet and muddy trails dry out fairly quickly in the summer when it is hot. However in the spring, when it is cool and the ground is still partly frozen, the drying process takes longer and it is not helped by ruts that hold the water and disrupt the natural drainage patterns. Those of us who avoid riding the mud holes in the spring have to wait longer to ride the trails due to the actions of those who do not have patience to wait a few weeks for the trails to dry, and when the trails do dry out they are often a rutted mess that takes longer to dry each time it rains.

If we keep the trails in good condition they will dry quickly after summer rainfalls.

So what should we do in the meantime. There are a number of options. We do not need to ride in the dirt to ride. Pedaling is pedaling. We can start getting into condition for the technical single track by riding gravel and paved paths like the Trans-Canada Trail.

Twelve Thousand Words on Why We Should Preserve The Greenbelt

The Ottawa Greenbelt, or as it is officially known, The National Capital Greenbelt has been in the news lately due to the musings of the new Chair of the National Capital Commission (NCC), Russel Mills. Fortunately, if not surprisingly, the Minister of the Environment, John Baird thinks otherwise.

Today I want to share with you some of my photographs taken in our favourite place to spend our time, The Greenbelt:

Click on the photos to see larger images.

























More of my photos of The Greenbelt and other locations can be found in Richard's Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20 Photo Galleries @ Fotopic.Net

Cycling and Mountain Biking in the Gatineau Park

A few weeks ago I was driving home from mountain biking along the Gatineau Parkway when I noticed just how little room there was for cyclists and motor vehicles to share the road. If I wanted to pass a cyclist I had to hug the yellow line, a dangerous thing to do if traffic is approaching me and only possible if the oncoming traffic sees the cyclist on my side and moves over to give me room, and impossible if there are motor vehicles and cyclists on both sides of the road. At one point I just had to follow behind the cyclist till it was safe to pass, fortunately he was moving at about 40 km/hr.

This can create very dangerous situations, especially if there are impatient drivers. Drivers should, however, be aware that, although used as such, the parkway is not a commuter route, it is a scenic route for tourists and residents to use to enjoy the park scenery and has a speed limit of 60 km/hr.

In many ways the Gatineau Parkway is a wonderful route for cyclists, scenic, winding and hilly. It could be a world class cycling route and a major tourist attraction and economic benefit to the region, if the safety problem was solved.

The answer of course is simple - put dedicated bike lanes along both sides of the parkway. Yes, it will take up some green space but only along the parkway corridor, doing much less damage than building superhighways through the park which the National Capital Commission (NCC ) thinks is appropriate. These bike lanes should be double lanes, not to encourage riding double which cyclists do now adding to the safety problem, but to allow faster cyclists to pass slower ones without having to enter the motor vehicle portion of the parkway.

Perhaps if the NCC undertook a project such as this it would divert their attention from turning single track trails into gravel roads. Which brings me to the other aspect of cycling in the Gatineau Park - mountain biking.

The NCC, in it’s wisdom, has decided that mountain bikers should be second class citizens in the park. If they want to ride single track trails they are relegated to a small section of the park (Camp Fortune) run by a private operator where fees are charged. Meanwhile hikers and trail runners have free reign over all of the public trails in the park at no charge, including the wide trails designated for mountain biking.

I appreciate having the wide gravel trails to ride, they are fun, but mountain bikers, like serious hikers, love rough natural technical single track trails, which are a lot more environmentally friendly than widened gravel roads, which the NCC loves to build and call trails.

There are two arguments for keeping mountain bikers off single track trails - user conflicts and environmental damage. However, neither of these arguments holds up to scrutiny.

In various places, including the NCC’s own greenbelt (where bicycle use is against NCC regulations but the regulations are not enforced), hikers and bikers regularly share the trails with each other with few problems. I can personally attest to never having had a conflict with hikers on the greenbelt trails while riding them regularly (several times a week). I can also attest to hiking and mountain biking in the South March Highlands and always having other trail users treat me with respect, whether as a hiker or a biker.

As to the environmental impact, the overwhelming scientific evidence indicates that hikers and mountain bikers have equivalent impacts on trails. See, for example, the reviews done by the International Mountain Bicycling Association and the New Zealand Department of Conservation.

For more information on mountain biking see the International Mountain Bicycling Association (IMBA) website and the Ottawa Mountain Bike Association (OMBA) website.

Since there are no reasons to treat them differently from other trail users, what should the NCC do to ensure that mountain bikers receive equal treatment and trail access in the Gatineau Park.

First they should enter into an agreement with the operator of Camp Fortune to replace the cross country trail fees paid by individuals with a fee paid by the NCC. I suspect the impact of this on the NCC budget would be minimal. This would ensure that mountain bikers do not have to pay access fees that other trail users do not have to pay.

The next thing they should do is to provide mountain bikers access to the rest of the single track trails in the park. This may require a short transition stage for public education and signage and perhaps some trail maintenance. There may even be a few trails that for specific reasons should not have mountain bike access. The NCC should take advantage of OMBA and IMBA’s sustainable trail building expertise during this process. In the interests of equality, this process should be expedited.

The NCC has an opportunity to make the Gatineau Park an internationally acclaimed location for both road cycling and mountain biking. Let us see if they are up to the challenge.