10Nov/109
Unofficial Trails Issue
The NCC are moving to reduce hiking traffic in areas of Gatineau Park deemed most ecologically sensitive. It is the discussions of this issue that were planned to take place last Wednesday but had to be delayed due to illness.
They placed banners like the one below along unofficial trails which they hope hikers will stop using.
One must suppose that talk and signage aren't enough because they have also dug barriers where hikers habitually parked their cars.
I'll keep you posted on how discussions go.
November 10th, 2010 - 10:20
The posters aren’t only installed in ‘ecologically sensitive’ areas. Take the poster @ the corner of Notch and Chemin de la Mine, for example.
November 10th, 2010 - 16:29
What is the point of a recommendation to ‘go back to the official trail’ where there is no official trail? Or is the intention that one should never be anywhere in Gat Park where there is not an official trail? Not even Point Pelee Nat Park goes this far. I suppose that it is natural for parks planners to exalt the ecological importance, sensitivity, and uniqueness of their projects, and so we might forgive the Gat Park planners for forgetting that they are not dealing with a wilderness park but rather with a near-urban park intimately connected with agricultural areas. Anyone worried about the affect of walkers on the deer of the escarpment needs to remember that every sqaure metre of that area is within the domains of domestic dogs and that they can be encountered there any time of the day or night, year round.
November 10th, 2010 - 21:08
Had a pleasant chat with Julie Goulet of the NCC today regarding these banner installations. Turns out the banners have since been removed for winter season because the NCC isn’t prepared to maintain them thru a harsh winter, nor are winter activities necessarily the target here.
We’re not sure whether these banners have contributed to a supposed decrease in ‘off-trail’ use, but it’s a strategy the NCC has employed since late last summer to encourage proper trail usage, enabling them a better control of Park fragmentation and un-checked trail erosion.
Despite rash moves, like closing the hang glider parking lot, the NCC seems quite responsive to discussion with off trail users.
Any word, Charles, on a rescheduled meeting?
November 11th, 2010 - 07:27
I pinged them yesterday asking about a revised date but haven’t heard back yet.
November 11th, 2010 - 09:25
By ‘off-trail use’ are we talking about off-official-trail use or off-any-trail use? If my destination is Lac des Epinettes, my options are to use unofficial trails or to go off-trail. I suspect that using the unofficial (or perhaps given their history: once-official) trails has less impact on the environment. I can’t think of any spot between the official Wolf Trail and the Eardley-Masham Road where there is an erosion problem on the unofficial network. However, on the official Luskville Falls and Wolf trails there are serious and perennial erosion issues.
I’m very interested in any discussion with the NCC on the use of unofficial trails or routes, so long as the NCC is interested in managing a longstanding traditional use of the park, rather than eliminating it.
November 11th, 2010 - 14:03
We should not lose the opportunity here to let the NCC know why we end up on unofficial trails in the first place.
-are the official trails too busy?
-do we want to see more wildlife?
-are the official trails too wide?
-do the official trails offer service to most features of the Park?
-do signs and stairs distract us from a wilderness experience?
-do we want more variety than current trails offer?
-do we feel that unofficial trails aren’t harmful to the Park?
-is hiking funner when you don’t really know where you are?
-do we like the challenge of discovering new routes?
-are official trails suffering from too much erosion?
-and so on…
It’s hoped the NCC will see this issue as a signal that needed improvements/changes to the official trail network are likely to keep a greater number of users on proper trails. This approach enriches everyone’s outdoor experience and also contributes less damage to the Park.
November 11th, 2010 - 17:41
Excerpts from an email to NCC
For over 38 years I have used, commented on, and enjoyed Gatineau Park. Much of that time I was accompanied by my wife and/or groups of hikers, skiers and snowshoers. Most of our time has been spent on unofficial trails. I believe that the presence of the trails is not detrimental; the marking of the trails is. Let me explain.
Access to many unofficial trails from official trails is not obvious. In turn the trails are not obvious, in fact we have walked across trails which we know were there. “Eric Morse” trails invariably started a few yards in from any other trail. Thus one had to know that there was a trail there. In winter Eric would ski in a short distance away from the access trail, make like it was a toilet stop, and continue.
Some people who joined us said they felt we were never on a trail. I have given portions of my map to select hikers and they have not been able to find the trails, trails accessible from Pilon Road area for example.
I recently tried walking the unofficial trail from Crilly (Kelly) Road to Hollow Glen with little success. The point being that use of many of the unofficial trails do not cause deterioration. They are the same as surrounding areas. This is not true where markers are applied. We have taken down ribbons only to have paint used instead. The markers, not the trail are the problem.
Some unofficial trails are very obvious – Crilly for example. They could serve as a test to see how well the signs and banners work in discouraging people from using the trails.
I hope that the NCC will stop trying to keep people off unofficial trails; like prohibition, people will continue to use trails; concentrate instead on keeping paint and ribbons out of the park, and encourage walkers to remove ribbons and paint which they see on unofficial trails. Some of us have been doing this and thus improving the park. We also have been removing objects brought in by others. The usual plastic bottles and bags, empty six packs; we found a mattress but did not remove it.
I suggest then that the current emphasis on discouraging the use of unofficial trails be changed to
A. trying to stop paint and ribbons from being imported into the park
B. encouraging people to remove paint and ribbons on unofficial trails.
A policy of “you know that we are using the trails, and we know that you know” seems to have worked in the past. I believe that groups that i have walked with and guided have been an asset to the park.
November 14th, 2010 - 10:32
Confirmation from NCC that (so far) the meeting has not been rescheduled.
November 15th, 2010 - 10:30
Interestingly, the flashy banners and publicity will probably draw more attention to these unofficial trails, similar to what happened with the geocaching and climbing items earlier in the year. Let’s just hope that serious study (i.e. by actual experts on conservation) is untaken before rash steps are taken in the name of environmental protection.