Kananaskis Country Trail Users Group

CMBA attended a meeting of the "Kananaskis Country Trail Users Group" on Wednesday, March 9th in Calgary. This is a group that originated during the past couple of years due to proposed cutbacks in winter ski trail grooming and downed tree removal on XC trails in Kananaskis and the user fees that were proposed to rectify the issue. The group is currently mainly made up of seniors groups and XC ski clubs with some snowmobile and equestrian representation. There has no been any cycling representation up until this time.

The interesting point is that both K Country and Provincial employees attend these (quarterly) meetings, so this user group has obtained the attention of the land managers. CMBA has had involvement with K Country trails personnel through the Friends of Kananaskis for the past few years, but not at any formal planning or input meetings on a regular basis. As with CMBA's involvement with Nose Hill and Bowmont Parks in Calgary, it is often valuable to participate in these stakeholder or user group forums. If we aren't at the table to participate in groups like this, often, decisions may be made that affect us as cyclists for which we have not had any input. We would be essentially leaving our fate as trail users in the hands of others. This is not necessarily a wise decision.

A summary of this meeting follows.

Users of K Country trails are 80% hikers, but bicycles and XC skiers are second and third.

Funding is a major issue, as expected. Priorities for spending existing funds are safety and meeting any regulations that are in place. The next level of spending is to upgrade existing facilities and trails, as opposed to building new facilities. The K Country user group is attempting to lobby the Provincial government to reinvest more money into Kananaskis as user numbers continue to increase but funding has not.

Summer trail projects that are planned for this summer (2005) that affect cycling include a Prairie Creek bridge, Skogan Pass drainage, Cox Hill and some Jumping Pound trails.

When asked about what limits the Friends of Kananaskis summer trail maintenance efforts, the response was a lack of Volunteer Crew Leaders and to some extent a lack of K Country employees to support the volunteers. (As well as some money issues, I'm sure). There isn't a lack of volunteer labour. In that respect, there is a two-day Crew Leader Training course to be held May 28 - 29 at Camp Chief Hector. Cost will be minimal ~ $15.

Some additional information, regarding carpooling, is that there are plans for a formal 229 car, car-pool parking lot at the Stoney Trail and Trans Canada intersection, where the old Mecca Cafe used to be.

Next meeting of the K Country Trail Users Group is Wednesday, June 15th typically during the work day, in the morning, in downtown Calgary. If anyone is interested in representing CMBA as a cycling representative that these meetings, please contact us.

Once again, this is something we (CMBA), as cyclists should be at the table. Otherwise, we cannot complain about what happens in our best riding area.

Their website is www.kananaskistrailusers.org

Bob Scott

 
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