100 Years of Skiing Party
The Canadian Ski Museum and the Camp Fortune Ski Club are now offering tickets to an October 23 2010 evening of dinner, drinks and dancing.
Carleton Newspaper on Hiking in Gatineau Park
The Charlatan takes a look at hikes in the Park
Climber Meeting Called – Frustration Evident
The ongoing saga of discussions between the NCC and rock climbers in Gatineau Park resurfaced yesterday with the posting at the Climbers’ Coalition website of documents and a call for a climber meeting August 17th.
While both sides are making considerable efforts at reaching agreement there remains a real risk that the lack of a happy middle ground might mean a losing situation for all.
The NCC consider the climbers a very small user group and have still invested considerable time in considering their needs. The climbers are all volunteers but have still organized a sophisticated management plan and offered many forms of collaboration in attaining NCC conservation objectives.
Yet the current state of play is that the number of climbing routes that the NCC seems willing to consider may turn out to be too few to keep the coalition together as a representative of the climbing community.
Though meetings and discussions have taken place, what hasn’t been happening is a working relationship. The Coalition’s Climbing Management Plan proposes climbs that could remain open including ecological considerations and management options. The NCC has rejected many of these and given its reasons, but without exploring with the climbers whether there were control options that could mitigate those concerns.
If the August 17th climber meeting votes to reject the NCC offer the loss to the climbers is clear but there is a significant loss to the NCC as well. The Coalition is a sophisticated partner that can work with the NCC to educate park users, protect the park ecosystem and even facilitate liability coverage against climber injury. The people the Coalition represents are committed wilderness lovers who as partners will support NCC conservation objectives. If the strained relationship reaches the breaking point the NCC loses these assets and likely gains rogue park users intent on circumventing climbing restrictions. It also loses face with many other park power-users already skeptical of the NCC's commitment to openness and dialogue.
Reading over the 42 pages of meeting minutes, management plan and NCC reaction posted by the Coalition yesterday one can sense the tension in the room, feel the collaborative spirit when things were going well, see the hard work that went into the plan, and share the sense of helplessness at the remaining gap between the needs of each side.
Both sides in this drama are serious players, I just wish they’d pick up the phone and talk to each other more often. I’m imagining… “You suggest Baby Pneu, we have a problem with that. The staging area is too close to the stream. Any suggestions?”…
That climbers meeting takes place at 7pm on August 17th in the conference room of the Jean Talon building at Tunney's Pasture (1st floor Building 5, 170 Tunney's Pasture Driveway)
View Jean Talon building at Tunney's Pasture in a larger map
Old Wolf Howl
Google alerts sometimes dig up odd things. Here's an article from the Aug-Sept 2008 Capital Parent newspaper, written by Katherine Fletcher about wolves, their howls and people visiting parks at night to howl themselves.
Dryland Training for Young Skiers
From TriRudy:
The LifeSki Academy is running an early-fall dryland camp for young cross country skiers to assess and improve their movement technique in regular fall activities such as running, core strength, plyometrics, ski striding-bouncing, pre and post-training stretching, and roller skiing. The camp run by an international coach will prove necessity of an instant coaching feedback and an individual approach to each student during a workout. The structure of 4-day camp respects all physiological and sport training patterns.
Young athletes will experience group practices with mates from other local clubs. They will interact with new activities including team games, exercises, and drills.
The camp will be held in Gatineau Park, Aug 26 - 29. For further details, registration, and contact visit www.lifeski.com or call 819 – 772 4833.
Unofficial Access Points Closed Off
The blog Hiking in Gatineau Park: The Unofficial Trails has posted photos of several places along the Eardley-Masham Road where the NCC has blocked access to unofficial trails.
The blog encourages Park users to participate in the upcoming fall consultation surrounding the Park's recreational services plan and to let Park Management know the Eardley-Masham access points should be restored to their former state. The consultation meeting is described on the NCC website as focusing "on proposals regarding modifications to infrastructure and activities."
In addition the Hiking in Gatineau Park blog offers the following photo. It is unclear if this is a photo-shop job or whether someone has actually modified the sign.
Park Entrance Work Out For Tender
In November 2009 the NCC undertook a consultation on the redesign of entrances to Gatineau Park. In June of 2010 they released a report on that consultation. On July 14th they issued a call for proposals due August 5th to begin the work.
Low Down Zip
Reporters from LowDownOnline checked out the zip line course at Camp Fortune and compared it to those at Great Canadian Bungee and Lafleche Adventure. Video included.
NCC Criticized Over Parking Pass
A letter to the editor in the Ottawa Citizen opines that to get a parking pass required too much detail (name, address, e-mail, phone, and licence plate no.).
Beaver Bafflers
From a longer article on coexisting with beavers, from the Haw River Assembly website:
Gatineau Park, an 80,000-acre park in Quebec, solved its beaver problems with a combination of beaver bafflers and beaver limiters. In the 1960’s, Gatineau Park had a serious problem with roads being washed out from flooding behind beaver dams. For nearly 20 years, the park tried to control the problems through trapping, with little success. In 1981, the park hired a contractor to come up with a long-term solution to their beaver problems. The contractor stopped all trapping, and experimented with bafflers and limiters--with great success. The beaver population actually increased 15% in 5 years, yet flooding problems in the park were reduced by more than 75%. In addition, fears that the beaver population would skyrocket once trapping stopped were unfounded. The park’s beaver population stabilized at only 60% of the estimated figure.