The Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs hosted a session Monday night to discuss whether upcoming provincial restrictions and bans are appropriate for off-highway vehicle (OHV) riders using Alberta’s public lands.
“It’s that balance between Mother Nature, the environment and recreation, between not only OHV-ers but everybody that uses the backcountry,” Crowsnest Pass Quad Squad president Gary Clark said.
Environmentalists and OHV representatives explained their views as panellists at the event, then participated in a contentious question and answer session.
“The OHV community feels like they’re being the poster child, for example, of what all is wrong in the backcountry and that simply is not correct,” Clark said. “I think that’s where the frustration comes from.”
“I think any time there’s sort of an issue where people love to go out and they form these personal connections with the land, of course, emotions are going to run high,” Alberta Wilderness Association conservation specialist Joanna Skrajny said.
“But that’s, of course, the most important part — there’s all this passion behind this landscape.”
The province is set to spend $5 million over the next four years for several projects in the Livingstone-Porcupine Hills area, including creating new trails and bridges for off-highway vehicles and snowmobiles. In 2020, quad riders will only be allowed on designated trails to minimize the ecological impact.
Clark says 70 per cent of the current trails will vanish, but likely not forever.
“We’re not totally happy because obviously, we’ve lost a lot of trails, compared to the amount of trails that we’ve had,” Clarke said. “These trails will increase as the government inventories the trails and does their environmental assessment.”
Organizations like the Quad Squad also say they’re doing their part to encourage conservation by promoting safe, responsible riding, adding the group has built bridges and maintained trails in the area.
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