Tip-to-tip grid for ATV riders on P.E.I. won't be easy but it's 'doable,' says trail planner
Biggest challenge will be building and maintaining ties with landowners, says expert
What it will take to build a provincewide network of all-terrain vehicle trails on P.E.I. became a lot more clear last week when an expert in such systems visited the Island.
Magi Scallion lives in Golden, B.C., but grew up in the Wentworth Valley area of Nova Scotia, where her love of skiing and mountain biking began.
She eventually channelled that passion into trail planning, and has worked to create networks for everything from snowmobiles to offroad motorcycle clubs.
Scallion spent a week on the Island helping the P.E.I. ATV Federation map out what a completed tip-to-tip trail for its riders might look like.
"A big priority for this project… is making sure that it's environmentally responsible and also safe for all users," she told CBC's Island Morning.
"You see different levels of erosion just because of the way the wheels can spin and the knob of your tires, so it requires a different level of environmental responsibility."
An Island-wide system for ATV users has been a goal for years. The federation had previously pushed to have riders be allowed to use the Confederation Trail, which also runs from one end of the province to the other.
That idea received pushback during public consultations, with some people concerned that the presence of ATVs would be too dangerous for the pedestrians and cyclists who currently use the trail system built on the beds of the province's old railroad system.
'Highs and lows'
There are hundreds of kilometres of ATV trails around the province, but piecing them all together into a tip-to-tip network would be tricky.
The P.E.I. government has been helping the federation by allowing member clubs to use certain designated pilot roads in various areas. As of early June, there were 77 kilometres of dedicated trails across the Island.
The province requires that the pilot trails be on dirt roads, with low traffic volume and no potential environmental concerns. The federation also has to work with private landowners in those areas to ensure riders can get on and off the roads without issues.
The latter presents ATV users in P.E.I. with a hurdle that riders in some other provinces don't face, said Scallion.
In British Columbia, for example, many similar trails are constructed through publicly owned Crown land — meaning only the provincial governments need to be consulted on use of the land, rather than an array of private owners.
"The biggest challenge for the federation is building and maintaining relationships with private landowners," Scallion said.
"We all know what being in a relationship is like — there's going to be highs and lows and trust and mistrust…. It's certainly a real challenge for the federation to find a way across the province on private land."
From the federation's perspective, though, those relationships have been developing well.
Executive director Peter Mellish said there are now 600-plus signed agreements with landowners across the Island.
"Private landowners basically are fairly open-minded when we approach them," he said. "We want to have the best possible relationship that's beneficial for the landowner and us and that we're good stewards of the land… and that we add value to the property when we're there."
Building trails through wetland is incredibly expensive to do in a responsible manner.— Magi Scallion, trail and recreation planner
Before leaving the province, Scallion provided the federation with a couple of options for potential paths the trail network could take.
She also equipped the group with some information about the administrative work that will be required with the province when it comes to permits and legalities of crossing wetlands and private property.
While she couldn't estimate when the system would be complete, she's confident her roadmap will help lead the federation in the right direction.
"Trails cost money to build, and building trails through wetland is incredibly expensive to do in a responsible manner. We're talking like hundreds of dollars per metre if you're going to do it right," Scallion said.
"It's not going to be easy, but I think it's doable."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from Island Morning