Calgary Mountain Bike Alliance

Implementation of the Bowmont Park Management Plan is moving ahead. The Management Plan requires that many informal trails be closed and a well-designed multi-use trail be established.

The City of Calgary Parks is holding an information session to present the plans for upcoming park improvements based on the Council-approved Bowmont Natural Environment Park Management Plan.

Improvements focus on protecting Bowmont Park’s natural environment while allowing for appropriate sustainable human activities for enjoyment and recreation.

Date: April 21, 11:00am - 3:00pm
Location: Silver Springs Community Association - 5720 Silver Ridge Dr NW

A map of the proposed multi-use trail is available, however, detailed alignment and location is yet to be determined.

City of Calgary Council has approved the 2006 Capital Budget allocation of $1,650,000 for implementation of the Bowmont Park Management Plan. The City has identified priorities with input from the Communication and Stewardship Committee (CMBA is represented) which are:

Priority 1: Visitor Services - Entry signage with park orientation and care information
Priority 2: Multi-Use Trail System
Priority 3: Habitat Restoration

The City has divided the management plan implementation into three geographical phases beginning on the east end of the park and moving westward over time. With respect to the Multi-Use Trail System, the City started work on the Nature Appreciation Area just west of the Klippert facilities and south of the paved bike path on the east end of the park last fall. The plan is to rehabilitate the informal trails (closure) and establish one walking trail through the middle with signage.

Hog's Back (west and above Waterfall Valley) will be permanently closed with wooden corral fencing this season.

With respect to Habitat Restoration, the City has a tender (06-6757) for a Biophysical Impact Assessment and Restoration Plan for Park Development Projects. The results of the Assessment should be submitted to the City by October 2006.

On Monday March 1, 2004 two representatives from CMBA met with three City reps, in Bowmont Park, to discuss the alignment of the designated trail in the Waterfall Valley area within Bowmont park. Waterfall Valley is the valley area directly south of the Silver Springs Plaza, at approximately the mid east-west point in the park.

Waterfall Valley will have an interpretive trail running north-south along the bottom of the valley from the north end by the Silver Springs Plaza down to the river. The alignment of the designated trail, for both walkers and cyclists, that will ring or circumnavigate the upper, northern portion of the valley was the topic of discussion.

In the end, we left having two options for trails within the valley itself. The decision will be very dependent upon where a safe crossing of the interpretive trail can be made and that is dependent on whether a reasonable ~ 120 degree (hairpin) turn, on a hillside, can be engineered and built.

The group continued west of the valley because alignment within the valley and exiting on the west side must also be integrated with the available trails to the west. Unfortunately, the ridge top trail just west of the valley is unacceptable due to ground sloughing and safety issues. But we came up with two options that will work. CMBA would prefer the trail to be on the hillside and further away from the regional pathway and houses, for aesthetic reasons. Even further to the west, we scoped out an alignment that benches into the hillside. A short connector link may need to be built, but everyone was in agreement that this was workable. This carried us as far west as the next major valley which has an existing contouring, ring trail.

In summary, we scoped out a possible designated trail, with two sections, each having two options, from the east side of Waterfall Valley to almost the regional pathway at the west end of the park.

CMBA was very pleased with the openness and attitude of the City. They are genuinely interested in creating a multi-use trail that will be interesting and viable for all users but within the guidelines of public safety and liability, cost, and within IMBA's trail building and sustainability guidelines. We were pleased with the outcome. Life is full of compromises. "You can't always get what you want, but sometimes ... ".

The Bowmont Natural Environment Park Management Plan was presented to the Standing Policy Committee of the Community and Protective Services Committee (read selected Aldermen) on October 29, 2003. The Plan that was presented was approved by the Committee and will now go before City Council for what is generally a formal approval.

CMBA have been involved over the three years that the Plan has been in the making. We support the Plan and are pleased with the outcome. As cyclists, we retained access to all of the same trails that will be open to walkers, hikers etc. We need to respect that access. The process treated mountain bicyclists as equal partners and park users, with respect to other park user groups.

The Plan is based on "designating" trails within the park for use, and in the long term, closing other trails for rehabilitation. We did not obtain as many "designated" trails as we would have liked, but all of the user groups made compromises. The point is, all user groups were and will be treated equally. We also hope that CMBA will be consulted on trail closures and that these will be managed properly.

The Bowmont Park Management Plan is to be presented to the Standing Policy Committee on Community and Protective Services (SPC) on Wednesday, October 29. It is a daytime meeting and open to the public. Anyone in attendence can have up to 5 minutes to voice their opinion of the Plan. This will be the second time that the Plan has been presented to the SPC - the first was June 2002 when the Plan was presented and not approved due to dog off-leash issues.

The Bowmont Park Natural Area Management Plan was presented to the Standing Policy Committee on Community and Protective Services (SPC) in June, 2002. Presentations by the dog walkers regarding off-leash areas convinced the Aldermen to send the plan back to Parks to resolve certain issues. As a result, Parks had some more meetings and performed some user surveys which supported previous user surveys. The first survey, from September 2002 was based on visual observations made at entrances to Bowmont Park (30% cyclists, 26% dog walkers). A second survey, based on users filling in and returning a paper form indicated about 35% cyclists, 45% dog walkers. The bottom line is about 30 - 35% cyclists and 25 - 45% dog walkers. This is in sharp contrast to the claim by dog walkers that they represent 80%+ of the parks users.

The next presentation of Bowmont Plan to the SPC is tentatively scheduled for late March or early April 2003 with no changes from the version that was presented to the SPC last June. These are daytime meetings, downtown. We as cyclists need to have a presence at this meeting, if for no other reason than to show that we care about access to these parks, and to counter any anti-cycling comments.

The proposed Bowmont Environment Park Management Plan was presented on June 19th to the Standing Policy Committee on Community and Protective Services (SPC). This committee consists of alderpersons Joe Ceci, Gord Lowe, Bob Hawkesworth, Craig Burrows, Madeleine King, Diane Danielson and Diane Colley-Urquhart plus Dale Hodges (as Bowmont Park is within his riding). This is one step before the Plan goes before a full City Council meeting for a vote.

The City Parks department presented the proposed management plan after which individuals from the public are given five minutes to make a presentation to the committee. The main issue regarding the park and the plan is off-leash dogs and the area within the park that will be assigned to off-leash. About 20 people, some from the group Off-leash Calgary, made presentations regarding dogs.

The Calgary Mountain Bike Alliance made a 5 minute presentation which gave some background, stated our support for the proposed plan but offered two comments for changes to the Plan. One comment was to give Parks the discretion to incorporate additional designated trails, as justified. We felt that there are an inadequate number of designated trails. "Undesignated" trails will be closed to all users and rehabilitated. The second comment was to make public education a first priority and that only after the public are educated, can trail restoration begin. A reference was made to the mistakes on Nose Hill. Both of our comments will be added into the next draft of the Plan, as suggested by Diane Colley-Urquart.

It is unfortunate that the cycling community did not have more representation at this meeting as it would have been useful to indicate to these aldermen that CMBA has been active with trail maintenance and rider education. CMBA have worked with some bike stores (specifically Bow Cycle with respect to Bowmont Park) to try and educate riders as to the type of riding that is appropriate in City Parks and that more intense and radical riding is better suited to places like COP.

The bottom line of the meeting was that the proposed plan was not passed, and that Parks must go back to the dog issue and gain more agreement with dog owners. A new draft plan will again be presented to this committee - most likely in January 2003. It is assumed that CMBA may be able to make a further presentation at that time. So, it is certain that there will not be any changes in Bowmont Park this summer. Please ride responsibly and be courteous to other park users.

Bowmont is a natural area park located on the north side of the Bow river between Home Road and the 85th Street bridge. Bowmont is both an important natural area and a good place to mountain bike. Until recently, Bowmont lacked an up-to-date management plan that could address off-leash dog areas and the use of designated and undesignated (dirt) trails.

"Undesignated Trails" are defined as random paths or "desired lines" created as a result of repeated use.

"Designated Trails" are defined as "developed or undeveloped paths that have been formally identified in city policy or site operations as an agreed upon route" but do not include the paved regional pathway.

Therefore, ideally, the only dirt trails that would exist in a park would be "Designated Trails" and all undesignated trails would be rehabilitated.

In the fall of 2000, the city of Calgary formed the Bowmont Advisory Committee to provide user input into the new Bowmont Park Management Plan. CMBA along with the Elbow Valley Cycling Club was invited to participate as representatives of the cycling community.

Of special interest to mountain bikers is the future of undesignated trails. CMBA participated on the trails sub-committee to help create the trails policy and to help select multi-use trails that would be interesting to both cyclists and non-cyclists.

The trail policy will not please everyone. Some of the more popular trails have been selected for closure to everyone for safety or for environmental reasons. Trails such as:

We realize that some members of the mountain biking community will be unhappy with some of the trail closures but we must balance access to Bowmont with the city's primary concern with protecting the environment. It is the official policy of CMBA that reasonable trail closures for safety or environmental reasons that apply to everyone are acceptable in a natural area park.

Bowmont represents an excellent opportunity for us to show that responsible mountain biking can co-exist in a natural area park. We are hoping that a good experience with mountain bikers in Bowmont will help to open up escarpment trails currently closed in Nosehill and elsewhere in the city.

Parks and Recreation sees CMBA as an ally and has publicly expressed that CMBA has been a responsible member of the process.

We have sold the idea of multi-use on the basis of education and responsibility. We need to reach mountain bikers with the message that if we set a good example in Bowmont we may regain access to other threatened areas. We have started the process of spreading the message to bike shops in the northwest corner of the city.