Related Reading - Saving the Trans Canada Trail in Nova Scotia

ATV use to continue on trails
Published on February 3, 2011

Leanne Delong/Digby 
Despite a report last week that the Trans-Canada Trail organization will no longer fund or promote trails allowing ATVs, it appears trails in Digby and southwestern Nova Scotia will not be affected.
The Trans-Canada Trail organization will instate new guidelines April 1 to promote ‘greenways’—trails designed for non-motorized use such as walking, hiking, cycling and cross-country skiing.
These guidelines stem from concerns about motorized vehicles affecting other trail users and the cost of maintaining trails, said national trails director Tim Hoskin.
Rick Jacques of the Annapolis Valley Trails Coalition said the change by the national organization doesn’t cause him concern.
“We do things a little different here in Nova Scotia. We have a community development model, so each community develops the trail in their area.”
Phase two of the Trans-Canada Trail, which is the entire western Nova Scotia loop, has not been formally recognized as a Trans-Canada Trail and will remain open to motorized vehicles.
“Basically, it’s business as usual,” Jacques said.
Community groups building trails in Nova Scotia last year received $113,000 in funding and most trails allow motorized vehicles.
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NS Trails Federation - Trans Canada Trail Policy Update
From the Journal of the Annapolis Valley Trails Coalition – July 1, 2011

The Trans Canada Trail (TCT) was founded with a vision for a trail, stretching from coast to coast to coast, for the enjoyment of hikers/walkers, cyclists, horseback riders, canoeists, cross-country skiers and snowmobilers. In around 2000, the TCT accepted many regional and provincial trail partners to allow summer motorized users to assist with the development and maintenance on select sections of TCT. In spring 2009, the TCT Board reaffirmed its original vision, approving the Greenways Vision and Core Principles which states the organization’s commitment to developing, as a priority, a greenway trail that promotes non-motorized uses in summer, and skiing and snowmobiling in winter to form the foundation of a Master Plan. All plans and strategies focus on maximizing greenway trail moving forward to 2017.

While NS Trails fully promotes this policy reaffirmation, it also remains committed to the historical community trail development model and the Memorandum of Understanding between NS Trails, The TCT, and The Province of NS, to “accept the broader spectrum of uses as promoted in the province of Nova Scotia”. NS Trails goal is to continue to create a positive climate for all member trail groups to develop and manage safe and sustainable trails in Nova Scotia. NS Trails and the TCT Committee will support the development of any trail using the provincial community based Trail Development Model whereby each individual community is given the opportunity to decide what trail uses are to be allowed on the trail. Generally, through an established and transparent community consultation process, communities and trailbuilders have successfully built great community managed trails throughout Nova Scotia.

NS Trails recognizes and values the dedication and commitment of community trail volunteers involved in planning, developing or managing their community trails, based on the communities decided trail uses. The volunteer trail builders and managers are every trails’ most important “partner”. Without volunteer trail builders there would certainly be no trail. In the past, motorized users have taken on the challenge of building trail in remote areas of the province. Many of the gap sections of TCT still to be connected are in remote areas. Finding a new volunteer base of community trail volunteers willing to construct TCT in these remote areas is expected to be a challenge. NS Trails believes in greenways and in a community's choice to build the type of sustainable trail that fits with their community vision. After all, it is the community that builds the trail and manages it after it is built.

Other Points Worth Repeating….

• NS Trails has been appointed as lead provincial partner for development and promotion of the TCT in Nova Scotia since 1999. NS Trails supports both the TCT's mandate along with our provincial community development model.
• NS Trails community group members building TCT in Nova Scotia received $113,000 dollars in TCT funding last year. The majority, but not all of those trails included summer motorized.
• Phase One of The Trans Canada Trail in Nova Scotia will be approximately 770 kilometers when complete by 2017. Approximately 400 kilometers has been completed to date. Completed TCT in NS includes both non-motorized and summer motorized trails.
• A large percentage of the TCT route in Nova Scotia is registered as summer motorized and is grandfathered.
• No trail built or registered before December, 2009 will lose its TCT designation.

• The TCT will continue to fund registered summer motorized trail in 2011. This may include up to 50% of signage, bridge and engineering costs.
• TCT will fund non greenway trail development only if it is identified as a “priority gap” or pinch-point where no other route is an option.
• NS Trails has continued to lobby for the TCT designation of Nova Scotia’s “The Western Loop.” NS Trails recognizes its commitment to the development of “The Western Loop” by way of the MOU signed in 2008 with the TCT and the Province.

NS Trails has been working closely the past two years with our community trail groups and the TCT to find an acceptable balance between the two development models. We will continue to work to find an acceptable balance of trail development strategies and
protocols between the Trans Canada Trail, and our existing, and future partnerships here in Nova Scotia.
Blaise MacEachern
Chair, NSTrails TCT Committee
bmaceachern@ns.sympatico.ca
www.novascotiatrails.
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Rails officially become trails through the Valley
November 17, 2011 – The Digby Courier (originally published November 3 as Trail openings in Digby)

 “This is no longer an abandoned rail bed,” said Mike Trinacity of Sport Nova Scotia. “Now we can tell people we have a great outdoor recreation facility here.”

Trinacity was speaking on Wednesday, Oct. 26 in Jordantown at the opening ceremonies for a string of new Digby County trails: the Missing Link trail from Jordantown to Weymouth, the Story Book trail in Weymouth and the Sentier de Clare trail through Clare.

Two dozen people including politicians, ATVers, trail advocates and volunteers gathered for speeches at the trail head just off the Jordantown Road in Jordantown. Rick Jacques, coordinator for the Annapolis Valley Trail Coalition, and Rod LeFort, of  the Weymouth Waerfront Development Committee, cut an alder branch to open the trail.

The opening marks the launch of the Annapolis Valley Trail System (AVTS) and indicates that the trails meet the multi-use trail construction standards as established by the Department of Natural Resources, said Trinacity.

“We are moving from the construction phase to focus on maintenance and now we can shift to promotion and marketing,” he said. “Now we can say this is a great trail.”

There is still work to be done on signage, speed limits and rules of the trail, plus other enhancements like picnic tables, gazebos and interpretation panels.

Various trail groups and municipalities opened a total of 18 trails covering nearly 200 km of the former Dominion Atlantic Railway and CN rail lines in Kings, Annapolis and Digby Counties on Oct. 26.

The trails have a total of 55 new bridges, 1000 culverts, 100 gates and 10,000 neighbours.
Trinacity said in terms of dollars, the AVTS is now the third largest recreation facility in the Valley after the Kings Mutual Century Centre and the Fundy Y Complex.

The trail work thus far has cost a total of $5 million dollars; $2 million for the Missing Link and Story Brook trails and $700,000 for the Sentier de Clare trail.

The 70 km of trail in Digby County are open to all user groups including ATVs. Some of the sections in and around Kentville do not allow ATV access.

The Bear River to Sissiboo Trail Association has been developing the trails from the Bear River to the Sissiboo, in Weymouth. They plan to finish work next year on the Basin Sunset Cove in Smith’s Cove and the Scallop Trail in Digby.

Rod LeFort says they plan to make the Story Book trail in Weymouth into a loop ending back in the village at a proposed playground.

The section in Annapolis County from Paradise to Bear River is still in the planning phase. According to a press release the big river crossings at Moose River, Bear River and Sissiboo River “will require major infrastructure or alternate routes to cross or bypass”.

The plan is to eventually connect Yarmouth to Halifax and Middleton to Bridgewater.
jriley@digbycourier.ca
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Smoke and mirrors in the Valley
Chronicle Herald November 10, 2011

The good news of the Annapolis Valley Trails Coalition ( “Valley trail system finally complete," Nov. 3) is fantasy. The Valley trail “system" is both incomplete and a mess.

It started out well in 2002 when Trans Canada Trail donated 225 kilometres of DAR aban­doned rail corridor, worth $10 million, to the people of Nova Scotia. AVTC chair Bob Suffron states, “It was a dream of a lot of folks when the rail line was abandoned." It was. We dreamed of the TCT running through our communities and near our homes as the train had, an asset to tourism and health, preserving the corridor. That dream died.

The Valley TCT fell victim to a provincial policy of motorized trails, a policy resisted for obvi­ous reasons: Up to 40 per cent of the population live or work with­in one kilometre of the corridor.

It runs beside homes, through a theme park, a marsh body, his­toric Annapolis Royal, bed and breakfasts of Smith’s Cove, across roads and driveways. It bisects farms. It crosses Highway 1 at angles unsafe and illegal for off-highway vehicles.

The trail groups, one per coun­ty, faltered. They lost workers who had volunteered to build the TCT, but declined to build motor­ized trails. Adjacent homeowners who protested were ignored, stick-handled or pressured by midnight riders, civil servants, and MLAs. Ministers and head bureaucrats from Health Promo­tion and Protection (HPP) and Natural Resources departments kept their arms around the shoulders of the now-motorized trail groups whose “right to ride" trumped the right of homeown­ers to sleep. No one said, “Maybe we need to rethink. Maybe there are more appropriate places for OHVs to ride."

Instead, the government propped up the trail groups, providing expertise on how to push through a bad idea. In 2007, Kentville’s HPP office created AVTC to “guide" the five groups building motorized trails.

AVTC got money and clout, plus a full-time “trails co-ordinator" to run interference, from HPP’s budget, with token sums from local councils so persuaded.

In Nova Scotia, money flowed through ACOA, B-Fit and stimu­lus funds — all with the fiction of building healthy “shared" trails. Riding through the smoke and mirrors were the machines — noisy and emitting carcino­gens, with posted speeds up to 50 km/h within community limits.

Walkers and cyclists persist, but are at risk.

Trails deteriorate where ATVs ride, chewing up the surface, creating ruts and berms. They cost four times as much as walk­ing/ cycling trails to maintain. So we have ruts, berms and pud­dles. Enforcement officers are gone — little as they could do at 2 a.m. TCT says it will not desig­nate a new trail if ATVs are al­lowed. And if it did, why would anyone donate?

As for snowmobiles, a Quebec case awarded damages to home­owners beside a TCT trail which allowed them. AVTC does not want a TCT Greenway. It wants motorized trails. With funds drying up, and the TCT garrotted with nary a peep, a stark choice has been made.

What we still could have is an Evangeline Greenway. We could have walkable communities for our health and magnets for cy­cling tourism. So why can’t we?

Because we have the Annapolis Valley Trails Coalition from Health Promotion and Protec­tion. 

Submitted by Bob Connell, John Hawkins, Barbara Bishop, members of the executive, Nova Scotians Promoting Active Transportation on Community Trails (www.nspacts.ca)

Court reserves ATV ruling
November 2, 2011 - 4:40am By IAN FAIRCLOUGH Staff Reporter

A Nova Scotia Supreme Court justice has reserved his decision on a ruling that could return tranquillity to the residents of Paradise.

The Paradise Active Healthy Living Society took the provincial government to court after the province changed its mind about barring motorized vehicles from an old rail line that runs though the Annapolis County community.

The ban was in place when the section of trail opened to public use in January 2008 but 10 months later, the government took down the barricades and opened the trail to ATVs, machines that residents say are dirty and noisy.

The society says a lobbying effort by all-terrain vehicle enthusiasts through the provincial office of Heath Protection and Promotion, other bureaucrats and politicians led to the change.

In submissions to the Supreme Court in Halifax on Tuesday, the society’s lawyer, Dale Dunlop, said three local people were upset when the barricades went up and that led to the lobbying effort that resulted in the trail becoming accessible to motorized vehicles.

Dunlop said the proper process was followed in obtaining the non-motorized designation but wasn’t adhered to when the decision was reversed.

He asked Justice Richard Coughlan to reinstate the ban that prevented ATVs from using the trail and suggested he should do so because the process giving ATVs access to the trail was flawed.
Because the Crown owns the land the trail is on, the province can do whatever it wants with the land, Alex Cameron, the province’s lawyer, told the court.

He likened the situation to a group "looking over a fence" and dictating what the Crown can do on its own land.

Lynn Moar lives beside the trail and was at the Halifax court for the hearing. She and her husband bought their house, which is only 23 metres from the trail, in late 2007 because she knew the ban on motorized vehicles was coming.

Since the ban was lifted, she said they can’t enjoy their yard because of the noise.
( ifairclough@herald.ca)
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