BC Trail Strategy

• Posted on November 12, 2008 at 1:22 PM
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There are more than 30,000 kilometres of trails in British Columbia, but nobody knows how much more. Nor is there a plan in place for developing more trails, upgrading and maintaining existing trails or governing who can use them. Most of this planning is done ad hoc - whenever it's needed at the local level. But change is in the works.

A 48-page draft BC Trail Strategy document was released this week. It's not the most exciting piece of literature. And it doesn't promise thousands of kilometres of new single track. But it is worth checking out and commenting on.

The idea behind the strategy is this to create: A world-renowned network of sustainable trails, accessible to all, which fosters social, cultural, health, economic and environmental benefits for trails users, communities and the province. In keeping with the diverse multi-functional role of recreation trails in B.C., including transportation, tourism and leisure, this vision is based on an inclusive definition for ‘recreation trails:’ A recreation trail is a path or route solely or partly used for one or more recreation functions.

I've talked to some of the people involved in drawing up the strategy. It sounds like it was a long process of meeting after meeting with various areas of government and stakeholders. To most of us trail users the eventual implementation of the strategy will have little affect. But at the planning and funding level it could be very important, creating opportunities to build more trails, money for mapping and promoting trail networks, putting some teeth in non-motorized use regulations, creating a value for trails and recreation areas when considering competing uses of land (like logging or development). Overall I think this kind of a strategy is says to everyone that trails are an important piece of infrastructure, just like roads and bridges, that must be maintained and improved over time. I don't think anyone of us would complain about that.

If you're interested in finding out more about the strategy you can download the entire document and read background docs at the Recreational Trail Strategy site There are a series of open houses in B.C. to discuss the strategy and the schedule can be found on the site. You should go if you're interested in a sustainable trail network in B.C. If you want to share a comment and can't be at one of the sessions send an email with your thoughts to: RecInfo@gov.bc.ca

Do you have any questions about the trail strategy? I can tap my contacts to get some answers.