A series of public open house sessions were held in April 2001 to gather input on the draft recommendations in the proposed Natural Area Management Plan for Bowmont Natural Environment Park.

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.

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

The City is holding three public open houses regarding the recently drafted Bowmont Park Natural Area Management Plan.

The dates are:

• Saturday, April 7, 10:00am - 2:00pm, with a presentation at 10:30am at the Silver Springs Community Centre, 5720 Silver Ridge Dr. NW
• Monday, April 9, 6:00pm - 9:00pm, with a presentation at 7:00pm at the Bowness Community Centre, 7904 - 43 Ave. NW
• Thursday, April 12, 6:00pm - 9:00pm, with a presentation at 7:00pm at the Varsity Community Centre, 4303 Varsity Dr. NW

Members of the CMBA executive will be there to help answer any of your questions.

The City is beginning the process of creating a Natural Areas Management Plan for Bowmont Park. Over the summer and fall they have been gathering usage information and performing field surveys. In November they will be contacting CMBA to inform us of the dates and times for review meetings that are planned for this fall. Unlike what happened in Nose Hill, CMBA is being involved in the planning from the beginning. We hope that this involvement will result in fair treatment of cyclists and will prevent miss-information from driving policy. Our Zone representative for Bowmont Park is Michael Le Feuvre. He will be attending the review meetings to present CMBA's position and to help provide trail and natural area expertise. If you have any questions, need information or would like to help you can contact Michael at michael_lefeuvre@shaw.ca