Tread Lightly Canada

[Corey Kruchkowski]

Feel free to put words in our mouths here. 

Tell them you want to help promote and foster sustainable motorized backcountry use, within the guidelines of the Land Use Framework, by stewarding areas your group has historical and intimate knowledge of.

[dunl]

I'm not being aggressive. The fact remains that you will be marginalized if you choose to not become involved with a process that the government has already begun. Believe it.

Initially I went to SRD with the names of 60+ adults that my 4x4 club speaks for. I also had lists of the various industry contacts my club has. We attended every open house they had in our area. We put our names in to be stakeholders in the Land Use Framework. We met with them and went over maps for months. Over 400 emails poured in from our email campaign last month, from every corner of the province. The SRD knows who we are, what we want, and are including us in this process.

Like I am saying - I don't necessarily have a problem with your program - but the time for action is now, and if you have problems vocalizing your intent as an organization and cannot show a large membership base, any history of responsible backcountry use or promotion, or even a support base TODAY, how can you expect the government to take you seriously?

I just got back from the meeting in Innisfail, and I'm very glad I went.  As President of the Red Deer Jeep Packrats, I now have a standing invitation to drop into the Rocky Mountain SRD office to meet with them, discuss past history and issues, and go over maps in order to make suggestions and have discussions on the direction they will be taking in the Clearwater area.  We don't necessarily agree on every issue, but THEY want US to come and meet with THEM.  That, to me, is time well spent.

[Corey Kruchkowski]

I just got back from the meeting in Innisfail, and I'm very glad I went.  As President of the Red Deer Jeep Packrats, I now have a standing invitation to drop into the Rocky Mountain SRD office to meet with them, discuss past history and issues, and go over maps in order to make suggestions and have discussions on the direction they will be taking in the Clearwater area.  We don't necessarily agree on every issue, but THEY want US to come and meet with THEM.  That, to me, is time well spent.

That is awesome, very cool. This is how it starts for your club.

[dunl]

That is awesome, very cool. This is how it starts for your club.

Hopefully.  There's some bad history between the jeeps and SRD in the Rocky area, so both sides are wary. However, both Robert (the guy I talked to) and myself weren't involved in it, although we know of it.  That will hopefully get us past and moving forward.

[01sahara]

I just got back from the meeting in Innisfail, and I'm very glad I went.  As President of the Red Deer Jeep Packrats, I now have a standing invitation to drop into the Rocky Mountain SRD office to meet with them, discuss past history and issues, and go over maps in order to make suggestions and have discussions on the direction they will be taking in the Clearwater area.  We don't necessarily agree on every issue, but THEY want US to come and meet with THEM.  That, to me, is time well spent.

Great job! Thats how it starts.  Pick a small project SRD wants accoplisehd and build. Working to gether on a project helps to build comunication and gives the ASRD staff something to talk up to the supperiors. You lead and some of us from down south will come up to help. 

[dunl]

Great job! Thats how it starts.  Pick a small project SRD wants accoplisehd and build. Working to gether on a project helps to build comunication and gives the ASRD staff something to talk up to the supperiors. You lead and some of us from down south will come up to help. 

We'd appreciate that Blair.  Seeing as you guys have pretty much lost most of your area, Clearwater county is the next closest thing.

Unfortunately, the same holds true for May Long trouble.....

[Jeepchick78]

Corey.. my response to everyone's questions (not just yours) has now been taken out of text and turned into something negative. The point was missed, and now gone

 .. I am fully aware of our 'situation' and what SRD is doing.  But thank you for the reminder and push to get others to follow suit  in what so many of us have been doing for years. TLC is not my first, nor my last venture. If you consider yourself truly involved.. Id think you knew who was speaking and just how much I have done and continue to do for you as well as others.


I question you and your level of understanding on issues outside your area when you question my passion or dedication.... however... should you need help in applying for TFA's, organizing and or developing projects in your area, or ever need help seaking out volunteers or applying for grants, I would be willing to help you and your club.
 
Myself and a few others have been working very well with SRD in this area. In doing so we have learned a lot and developed positive and personal relationships with many people. Not only that, but as volunteers, we have been successful in every project we have taken on.
 
If you like, there is a website available (for FREE) that provides users/volunteers with information on how they can become more involved and who is doing what... that website is www.abprojects.org.

With hard work, dedication and donations from people who just want to help, that simple website has proven to be one of the most useful tools (to some) to get information about what projects are being done in Alberta, as well as who is doing those projects and why.

I hope you will take that information and use it as well.


In saying that, Im not overly willing to visit this topic again, sorry.


Amanda

[Corey Kruchkowski]

Corey.. my response to everyone's questions (not just yours) has now been taken out of text and turned into something negative. The point was missed, and now gone

 .. I am fully aware of our 'situation' and what SRD is doing.  But thank you for the reminder and push to get others to follow suit  in what so many of us have been doing for years. TLC is not my first, nor my last venture. If you consider yourself truly involved.. Id think you knew who was speaking and just how much I have done and continue to do for you as well as others.


I question you and your level of understanding on issues outside your area when you question my passion or dedication.... however... should you need help in applying for TFA's, organizing and or developing projects in your area, or ever need help seaking out volunteers or applying for grants, I would be willing to help you and your club.
 
Myself and a few others have been working very well with SRD in this area. In doing so we have learned a lot and developed positive and personal relationships with many people. Not only that, but as volunteers, we have been successful in every project we have taken on.
 
If you like, there is a website available (for FREE) that provides users/volunteers with information on how they can become more involved and who is doing what... that website is www.abprojects.org.

With hard work, dedication and donations from people who just want to help, that simple website has proven to be one of the most useful tools (to some) to get information about what projects are being done in Alberta, as well as who is doing those projects and why.

I hope you will take that information and use it as well.


In saying that, Im not overly willing to visit this topic again, sorry.


Amanda

I'm not questioning your dedication. I'm questioning the need for the Tread Lightly organization. Nothing personal, relax.

[Hi Lo Silver]

Sorry to hear that Amanda.

Well they said they had about 110 total visitors to the meeting.  Indeed, they "took names", but mainly for mailouts, however it does get the name into the system. There was a lot of literature there, much of which is not available online.  I had the contact person and information pointed out to me to obtain more copies if necessary.

However, and this is more pertinent, a discussion "broke out" about the Bill, the Plan, The Stewardship group, how things are progressing (and aren't) and where the blockages are. This involved some fairly high level staff from SRD, but there were two of us from different 4x4 groups (Gunther was the other fellow) doing mostly listening, one guy from mostly a quad group doing most of the talking and a lady who didn't reveal her affiliation, but who made a few poignant points. 

I provided some input, but it became clear that being more active in providing input that we are willing to play "Win-Win" and do reclamation as well as trail maintenance etc. etc. will go a long ways toward creating goodwill with the other groups who have a knee-jerk reaction to anything to do with opening more trails due to founded and unfounded concerns.  Addressing and allaying those concerns will go a *long* way towards getting their "yes".  Perhaps that is where TLC may play a role, who knows.

Oh and before I forget, while other areas started before Ghost and while it is not "official", Ghost is way ahead and is pretty much becoming the example upon which much of the rest of the provinces' areas will be patterned.  Don't forget also that Alberta is leading in this initiative as well. Let's get it together and do this as right as we can because the impact goes way beyond us. (And we could get the blame if it goes horribly wrong!!)

'Nuff for now, I'm too tired to make sense anymore! 

Please tell me you weren't the person that came into the conversation midway and kept answering the cell phone, as well as making calls without moving away from the group.
 

Anyway, that person from ASRD was Rick Blackwood, Todd the guy with the name label was a government spokesman who brought over and introduced a single track user. I pretty much had visited with Rick for a while prior to them coming over. Said what I wanted to say and heard more of the  things that still didn't convince me to jump onto the wagon of stewardship projects. Lack of trust for anything new. Everything is way too slow moving in trails being added, with all the different organizations being formed and no one of them moving along with any great speed. If I had kids I'd probably be more involved still if there was a future for kids and kids kids because that's about the time they might end up adding one trail. (or not) 

[Corey Kruchkowski]

Please tell me you weren't the person that came into the conversation midway and kept answering the cell phone, as well as making calls without moving away from the group.
 

Anyway, that person from ASRD was Rick Blackwood, Todd the guy with the name label was a government spokesman who brought over and introduced a single track user. I pretty much had visited with Rick for a while prior to them coming over. Said what I wanted to say and heard more of the  things that still didn't convince me to jump onto the wagon of stewardship projects. Lack of trust for anything new. Everything is way too slow moving in trails being added, with all the different organizations being formed and no one of them moving along with any great speed. If I had kids I'd probably be more involved still if there was a future for kids and kids kids because that's about the time they might end up adding one trail. (or not) 

Hopefully you drink beer Gunther. I'd like to have one, or five, with you at ACE.

[WhiteOut]

Question for Amanda.  Does TLC have the support of the US branch of Tread Lightly?  If you do, there should be significant resources that can be drawn from.  From what I understand the US organization has a large member base, large scale resources and deep pockets.  If you do not have the ability to draw from these resources and are simply trying to start it up here, there is probably no point at this time.

[JohnB]

Bull - why are interest groups being sought out right now?

The Government is really good at making it "appear" they care about your input and then doing whatever they please......

[Corey Kruchkowski]

Ayup that was me and that was my wife on the phone who wanted to try to hear the conversation, but who took our 4 year old son to the restaurant because he would have totally annihilated the conversation (certainly much  more so than the cellphone).  I apologize for the interruptions. Won't happen again. Thank god birthdays only come once a year. Yes, we went to the meeting on my wife's birthday.

At least you showed up, expressed your opinion and explored your options. Kudos for that. Who else did?  How many of the 110 people or so were others from our interest group? Who here talks the talk, but won't walk the walk? Actions speak much louder than words.

This meeting was about the LAW which will affect other LAWS which is intended to give the plans teeth. We've seen government plans and programs that are flash-in-the-pan things and this may turn out to be that in enough time, but I don't think so, not after major changes are made to the various acts.  This takes long-term vision, not short-term instant gratification thinking. Alas, I realize long-term isn't very common in our society at this point.

I understand people's frustration with the process etc., but how long did it take for people like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King to make changes?  It's still going on in places!

Does that mean that they should have given up? 
Does that mean that people who don't have kids should give up on kids in general? 
If they had given up like some people on this board are obviously doing, would anything have changed?
Isn't it much more productive to try to grease those sticking spots and keep things moving than to just say the machine seized?
Isn't what we are fighting for worth it?

I see problems, I see issues and I see that this may or may not take a while.  Not participating in the process pretty much says "Ok, C'mon and close my trails, I give up".  Now if the nay-sayers were creating a strong, focused group opposing this legislation, that would be a different matter, not that I think you'd have much success with that. 

The process has been going on for much longer than I've been an active offroader and I admit, I didn't do my due-diligence, I did a bunch of putting my head into the sand and I've avoided playing the political game most of my life.  I have come to the realization that my strategy has been wholly ineffective and I'm trying to learn the ins and outs on the fast-track.

I'm extremely disappointed at the attendance at these last two functions.  From all the hot air going around, I expected more.  Perhaps I can find a group to join who actually walks the walk so that I can come up to speed and be more useful and effective sooner rather than later and hopefully leave a legacy for my son.

CJA or TNT would be happy to have you I am sure.

[dunl]

From what I was told last night, SRD right now is willing to work with groups.  However, there is always the possibility that someone higher up who doesn't like jeeps, atv's, etc will jump in and say "No. Cut them out of the process and block all access for xxxxxx." That cuts off the guys you are working with.

Then I was told that unfortunately, a LOT of what happend in the south areas around Calgary was political, and made because of political decisions instead of due process.  And once it is done, it is VERY hard to reverse.

So yeah...Calgary area is screwed right now.  And will be for a while, but THANK GOD for people like Blair and the others who have been trying to reforge a relationship with SRD.  It might take a long while, but if they weren't working right now, it would take even longer.

So yeah, we'll be trying to influence things up here in a positive way instead of trying to reverse the process.  But just because things happened south, it doesn't mean the rest of us in the province should give up.

[Corey Kruchkowski]

From what I was told last night, SRD right now is willing to work with groups.  However, there is always the possibility that someone higher up who doesn't like jeeps, atv's, etc will jump in and say "No. Cut them out of the process and block all access for xxxxxx." That cuts off the guys you are working with.

Then I was told that unfortunately, a LOT of what happend in the south areas around Calgary was political, and made because of political decisions instead of due process.  And once it is done, it is VERY hard to reverse.

So yeah...Calgary area is screwed right now.  And will be for a while, but THANK GOD for people like Blair and the others who have been trying to reforge a relationship with SRD.  It might take a long while, but if they weren't working right now, it would take even longer.

So yeah, we'll be trying to influence things up here in a positive way instead of trying to reverse the process.  But just because things happened south, it doesn't mean the rest of us in the province should give up.

Well put. My local SRD guys pimp us around all the time - they love TNT.