Nose Hill Park FAQ

Calgary Parks and Recreation has instituted a review process to develop management options for trails in Nose Hill Park. They invited stakeholder groups to participate in a number of workshops that reviewed all of the trails in the park. CMBA spent significant time in late 1998, working with representatives of Parks and Recreation to understand the process that they would be applying. Since the Undesignated Trails Policy, which was adopted by City Council, clearly identifies a process for management and evaluation of trails in natural areas we felt it appropriate that this should form the basis of the Nose Hill Process.

Initially, in both written communications and meetings they agreed that the process identified in the Undesignated Trails Policy would be utilized to review all trails. If the review process recommended a management process for a particular trail that was inconsistent with past City Policy then changes to the policy would be brought forward to City Council.

Unfortunately, Parks and Recreation reneged and instead applied a biased, unscientific, unrepresentative process to the evaluation. They did this while still stating that the process defined in the Undesignated Trails Policy was being followed. While the process laid out in the Undesignated Trails Policy called for review of trails on a trail by trail basis Parks and Recreation banned all cycling on the escarpment without consultation.

While Parks and Recreation refer to the present evaluation as a process of consultation there is no consultation happening. The banning of cyclists from trails that they have had traditional access to without allowing cyclists and other Park users to have input is not consultation. Because of this CMBA refused to participate in and lend credence to this pseudo-consultative process.

The following FAQs provide a brief background of the issues and CMBA's present position.

• What is the MAC?
• What is the Nose Hill Natural Areas Management Plan?
• What is the Cycling Policy on Undesignated Trails?
• What is Parks and Recreation doing now?
• What are the guiding principles?
• What is CMBA's position?

What is the MAC?

MAC stands for the Nose Hill Management Advisory Committee. This group was created by City Council to provide input to Council on issues affecting Nose Hill. It is composed of representatives from a number of stakeholder groups. CMBA is not officially a member of the MAC but some existing members of the MAC are supporters of multi-use for undesignated trails in Nose Hill Park.

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What is the Nose Hill Natural Areas Management Plan?

This plan was approved by City Council in 1995. It provides a comprehensive plan for sustained management of Nose Hill as a natural area. The plan states that City Parks and Recreation should identify alternative sites for mountain bike use and develop management guidelines with the goal of limiting bicycle use on Nose Hill to the perimeter pathway (not yet developed) and emergency vehicle access routes. However, based on substantial input from bicyclists City Council placed a moratorium on these limitations until the perimeter pathway was constructed and bicycle users and the affected general public were consulted.

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What is the Cycling Policy on Undesignated Trails?

After substantial public input this policy was approved by City Council in the spring of 1998. It provides policy for managing all undesignated trails located in natural areas in Calgary. Key guiding principles that have significance to Nose Hill are:

• Except in special circumstances, trails within the City's natural areas should be multi-use.
• A full range of management options should be applied on a trail by trail basis with trail closure being the last and most severe option. All applied management options should apply equally to all users.
• Decision-making should involve significant public input.
• Protection of the environmental asset will take priority over human use.
• Council be requested to reconsider their previous motion of (1995 June 8) with respect to bicycle use on Nose Hill, and approve the trail management principles articulated in the 1994 Nose Hill Park Natural Area Management Plan, in conjunction with this policy.

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What is Parks and Recreation doing now?

City Parks and Recreation has performed an inventory of undesignated trails in Nose Hill Park and has identified "management options for discussion". They have also developed a methodology and a set of guiding principles to structure the stakeholder input process. Since January 1999 they have been holding stakeholder meetings under the auspices of the MAC to evaluate management options. As stated earlier CMBA was invited to participate but declined due to the lack of consultation afforded cyclists by the process.

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What are the guiding principles?

The guiding principles, for the evaluation process, were used by Parks & Recreation to create a starting point for discussion and define what trails and topics were subject to discussion. They were:

• Restrict all park users to designated trails and pathways. Designated trails are defined as "Developed or undeveloped paths that have been formally identified in policy or site operations as an agreed upon route".
• Bicycles shall be restricted to:
  • Surfaced trails on all sloped areas.
  • The majority of the top of the hill.
  • The majority of the gravel pit. (The unrestricted use of bicycles in the gravel pit, is to be monitored and, if necessary, restrictions may need to be introduced after public consultation)
• Trails will be available for users except where defined by bylaws or City of Calgary policy documents in extenuating circumstances where types of use have to be separated for environmental preservation and/or personal safety reasons.
• Protection of the environmental asset will take priority over human use, with the greatest emphasis being placed on protecting the most environmentally significant areas.
• Public safety requirements will be recognized.
• Public education will be the primary means of achieving proper trail use.
• The creation of new undesignated trails will be discouraged.
• Trail closure to all users will be employed only after careful consideration of all other recognized management options.
• Any requirements for amendment(s) to existing Council approved policy will be considered in the context of the Cycling Policy for Undesignated Trails in Parkland.
• The public will be encouraged to participate in the education and trail maintenance components in implementing the management options.

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What is CMBA's position?

CMBA is a strong supporter of the Cycling Policy for Undesignated Trails and was instrumental in shaping the policy. We believe that the guiding principles of the policy provide a strong framework for gaining public consensus concerning trail use in Nose Hill. However, we believe that the principles are not being applied appropriately in the present review of management options. In particular, the guiding principles that are being proposed identify, a priori, that bicycle access to trails on the sloped areas in Nose Hill will be banned. This conflicts directly with the concepts in the Cycling Policy for Undesignated Trails that identify that management options should be applied on a trail by trail basis and that all trails should be multi-use (except where extenuating circumstances make this impractical).

Given the significant scientific studies that have identified that mountain bicycles and hikers have the same environmental impact, there is no justification to ban bicycles from the sloped areas without also banning hikers, walkers and runners. If there is a significant environmental impact, we support the fair and even application of management options to solve the problem. We do not support broad scale banning of bicycles while allowing other users that have the same impact unfettered use.

All of the above mentioned policies and Council approvals identify consultation as a key part of the decision making process yet the City removed, without justification, the ability for meaningful consultation on the trails that are of interest to bicyclists.

CMBA's short term goal is to have fairness applied to the evaluation process by giving bicycles full access to all of the trails on Nose Hill that are identified as being acceptable for pedestrian use. Any trails that have had a management option that limits pedestrian access should also apply to cyclists.

Over the long term CMBA believes that each trail on Nose Hill should be evaluated on an ongoing basis. Trail management decisions should be made in consultation with the public with regard to protecting the natural character of the area while promoting citizen's outdoor recreational activities. Furthermore, all management intrusions should be scientifically based and should not discriminate against valid user groups.

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