Alberta Parks announced recently that the Alberta Off-Highway Vehicle Association and the Alberta Snowmobile Association will be Trail Managers for their respective trails.
The press release pointed out that “Under the Trails Act, new trails can only be approved through a planning process to identify and designate the trails to ensure that social, economic and environmental aspects are considered.” It failed to point out that “All designated trails and designated trail areas are subject to an applicable trail management plan”— not just new trails.
The logical steps when considering a Trail or Trail Area (Trails Act section 4) are:
- Create a Trail Management Plan (section 5).
- Sign an agreement with a Partner such as West Bragg Trails (section 7).
- Appoint a Trail Manager to work with the Partner and provide government oversight (section 6).
- Formally designate the trails if not already designated.
It appears that the Alberta Government is handing over the management of all OHV and Snowmobile trails in the Province to two volunteer organizations, and that for a substantial sum of money the government is getting out of the business of managing these trails.
So, what will be the role of a provincial association that has been tempted by a million dollars a year (but only for the first four years, or until a change of government) to accept the position of Trail Manager?
Associations, whose primary purpose is not trail management, are taking on tasks and responsibilities in areas where they currently have little expertise. Their only recourse is to hire more staff or consultants, and in practice become bureaucratic behemoths in their own right. This will leave very little money for actually improving trails.
- It is important that the Trail Manager for a given Trails Area has detailed, firsthand knowledge of the trails so they can assist and advise the Partner. Part of a Trail Manager’s job is to ensure that the Partner implements all the actions called for in the Trail Management Plan.
- Are they expected to create Trail Management Plans? It’s unlikely they have volunteers who can do this. Creating such plans requires access to resources that only government employees or consultants have access to. Imagine doing an environmental review of the McLean Creek OHV area as part of a management plan!
- Who are they going to get to actually improve and maintain trails? While they may co-opt their member clubs, they still have to develop, sign and monitor Partnership Agreements.
- Who in the government will provide oversight of the whole operation; approve plans; designate new trails?
- What if they want to get out of the role after a couple of years. Who will pick up the pieces? The taxpayer?
This whole scheme of turning over trails to provincial associations makes no sense. No one has thought out the whole idea. It was devised without any public consultation and, in a dubious political move, announced prematurely.
