The OHV community is not happy with the GAMP map that was released before May Long weekend. Emotions are running very high for most of us and absolutely true for myself. I ‘got it’ from both ends as I bike and 4x4. It leaves me very frustrated. But that is no excuse for my recent commentary on a public forum. I have no beef with SW Tim as he too has his opinions and thoughts as well as his own action plan. I do not agree with him as I stand for OHV use and Tim stands for Multi use which would include horses. Personally, I think that horses, hikers, climbers and mountain bikers should also be able to enjoy the backcountry experience but my focus is on the groups that got hammered with an unreal plan which we all know as GAMP. The bike and quad communities are well represented politically; the 4x4 community is not. So, I think that getting 52kms of trail may push me more towards fighting for our fair share of the trails and that is why I do not care what the horse groups do as they too are very well represented and certainly do not need any support from the OHV communities.
I know the Trans Alta/Bar C area very well. This is where the majority of close single-track is located. I was also reminded by another user that we have also 4 wheeled this area extensively.
This is why we need to speak up against the Lazy H proposal. Before GAMP was formalized, the entire SOUTH side of Trans Alta’s road was open to OHV use. There are approx 500kms of single-track and 60kms of 4x4 trails in that area. (Frenchy has stated there is one trail, he is wrong. I have seen at least 5 different cut lines on the east side of the valley and another 4 cut lines on the far west side of the valley). GAMP came out and COMPLETELY closed that entire area to OHV use. The horse that were always there sharing the trails with us were unaffected. The beauty for them is they will now be ‘alone’ in this huge area. I obviously have a problem with an area that big being closed to everyone but horses. Yes, I know it can be flavored to include hikers and mountain bikers but in 5 years I have never seen nor heard of those groups in that area. So, In May GAMP closes this area and in JUNE an outfitter applies to lease 47ha of this land to be converted to an RV/camp park for 200 units. This would be a profit seeking expansion by a PRIVATE company on what used to be PUBLIC land. So, I do not care what Lazy H has said to Tim (SW) and I do not care about anyone that says we should work with the horse groups, they do not need us as they obviously made out better than every OHV user in the Ghost area. WE need to worry about us! Lip service regarding the OHV community trying to lease land is ridiculous. They kicked us out of 95% of the Ghost area because our activity is unsustainable and you think we can lease back this land???
In summation:
Sorry to Tim if my post upset you in any way.
Trans Alta/ Bar C area used to be wide open to OHV use.
GAMP shut down the entire area to OHV before May Long
An existing outfitter wants to lease the land that the government kicked us out of to turn public land into private horse use for PROFIT.
So, I will not apologize for speaking out against such a travesty of justice for the OHV communities. I do not support Lazy H in their proposal and NO ONE else should either!
And as for researching the area, do you guys not get it???
The area was open to all OHV use before GAMP and now it is closed and the outfitter wants to lease it which will make it impossible for us to ever get it back. And do you think this is the only outfitter that will do this? i don't as i see more applications in our future including the closed Hunter Valley area. So wake up, who cares what a map shows, its what is true, there are 500kms of singletrack and 60kms of 4x4 trail in that area that is closed now and soon to be leased to PRIVATE companies to make money.
And Frenchy, you really don't know that area or you would know of the many cutlines and staging area by the river by the blue bridge for 4x4's and bikes. And Wolf359, remember the boulder climbs and cutlines we did 2-3 yrs ago, they are in that area. Thsi is not an arguement about trails that are/ are not there, it is an arguement against private companies taking public land. Believe me, there are many trails.
Tom