On July 13th Fredericton’s city council unanimously passed the final park plans for Odell park and Killarney Lake park after considerable debate. Both plans contain a future for mountain biking in Fredericton, so long as the trails are designed sustainably and riders consider themselves as responsible partners in park stewardship and use.

This is a remarkable development if you consider where we were as a riding community a few short months ago. Riders approached the consultations on these plans from a vulnerable position. City Councillors were on record calling for a ban on mountain biking in Odell park and organized community groups were actively campaigning to portray the cycling community as reckless vandals in the park responsible for irreversible damage to old growth forests. Mountain biking stories in the local media focused on conflict.

Earlier drafts of the plan called for the immediate and summary decommissioning of all existing single track. For many of us who learned to love riding in Odell park it was an unexpected and hurtful punch that left us wondering how this happened. That narrative flies in the face of what we knew about our fellow riders. You care for the environment, you share the trails, and you benefit the larger community. We had to set the record straight.

Riders were not happy and so RVC set to work on your behalf this spring. You spoke up to the City — and they listened. The door opened for the club to meet with park staff and contribute constructive ideas about how the trail network could transition to sustainable outcomes. We spoke about ways to minimize environmental impact and maximize the benefit to Fredericton’s outdoor community. We worked with staff to improve the draft plan, keeping it focused on conserving Odell park’s forest, while securing access for the next generation of mountain bike riders. We saw our suggestions reflected in the plan passed by City Council.

The hard work of compromise and collaboration is yet to come. We and the City recognize the need for good-faith implementation on all sides as being the key to long-term success. The Park Plans provide a conceptual framework for ongoing collaboration to guide action on the ground.

Our understanding is that a secondary plan will be developed that will address trails in Odell. There will be the opportunity for further dialogue as the secondary plan is developed. RVC expects the city will assemble a multidisciplinary team of ecology experts, trail builders, hikers, runners, and park staff to inform decisions about which existing trails get improved, which get rerouted away from sensitive areas, and which get retired and returned to the forest. The same team will help design new single-track that replaces what is retired. We are excited to see that start. RVC will approach the discussion with an open mind, with an expectation that trails may change but riding will remain a part of the park. We’ll bring evidence and experience to the discussion and we’ll expect no less from the other groups that will participate in the process. We know that the potential impacts of mountain biking can be effectively managed.

It’s not certain what changes will come but we could imagine and support:

• Better signage, better seasonal debris clean-up, and more visible signs of management.
• Trails being re-routed out of riparian areas and watercourse crossings installed.
• Seasonal closures for all user-groups when soils are wet and prone to erosion.
• Sections of trail being designated for foot traffic only
• New names for trails that we are familiar with.
• In some cases, trails with significant conservation issues being decommissioned and returned to the forest to regenerate.
• New trails, purpose-built, and ready for riding bikes.

If there are trails that need to be decommissioned and regenerated, the plan speaks to a principle that new trail building will follow the same pace.

RVC will need your support for what comes next. We’ll rely on you to supply ideas, and to show up and volunteer when the time comes to move dirt or plant trees. If you’re not already an RVC member we need you to join. Most of all, we all need to act as ambassadors for the sport every time we mount our bikes in Odell park. There will be a lot of expectations to exceed over the next year. The club will be in touch with park staff and we’ll report back with more specifics about the roll-out of this plan.

You provided input and the City listened. This is a win.