Part of what the RVC executive does is to act as the point of contact between riders and the owners/managers of the land. When these conversations go really well, you probably don’t hear about them very much. Sometimes these conversations don’t go well, and in the past we have had trail closures. Closures are painful outcome for everyone. Riders feel the loss of their favorite local trails. The club is impacted, as we rely on a good reputation (rather than deep pockets) to accomplish our goal of growing the community in the area. The land owners and managers have gone through stress and disappointment by the time that their decision is made.
Let’s talk about what we can do to avoid this ^^^.
RVC doesn’t own land – not a single acre. We don’t pay for access either – we don’t have the resources. We use land with permission. Whether we are asking the Province, the city, or most often individual private owners we are clear that riders will be respectful of the land, and leave no trace other than our tracks. Experience tells us that this is an easy promise to make on your behalf and we know that close to 100% of our members live by this.
Unfortunately – we need to ask for your help today. Over the last few weeks we’ve been contacted several times by several land owners in Penniac expressing concern over what they are seeing on the land. So, we committed to passing along a few messages about respectful land use. These themes aren’t limited to Penniac either – leave no trace should apply to anywhere you ride.
Trailside garbage
- While the RVC trails are very clean overall, there are a few pieces of garbage that we’ve seen which are dead giveaways that a careless rider has been through:
- spent C02 cartridges
- punctured inner tubes (yes – believe it or not – we’ve seen these thrown into the bush)
- granola bar wrappers (particularly those from the organic isle or the sports nutrition isle at the bike shop)
- energy gel wrappers
- empty cans of local craft beer
- None of these items are acceptable to find on a trail. Please help us by packing these things out if you happen to find them while on your ride.
Campfires
Fires are a special case when thinking about ‘Leave No Trace’ principles. Because they represent an obvious risk to property, campfires tend to cause a lot of concern with landowners. You will find other locations around our trail network where fires have happened. Some landowners have their own fire pits, but that doesn’t mean that they’re available for riders to use. Please don’t light fires on private land.
Wet-sensitive trails
Wet weather – and especially during the late fall and early spring – can make some trails soft and prone to real damage from ruts. Landowners generally don’t want their trails getting rutted and muddy during soft periods and we don’t want that either. RVC will share updates via our social channels when weather conditions create the potential for damage to wet-sensitive trails but newly built trails in the early spring are particularly vulnerable. Please respect temporary closures when you hear about them.
Developing new trails (or changing existing trails)
There are some maintenance tasks that everyone should feel enabled to do while out on the trails. Picking up errant beer cans and moving deadfall off to the side is helpful and greatly appreciated. If you have ideas about more substantial improvements at an RVC trailhead – like adding features to a trail, widening it out by cutting a few trees, or adding a new trail of your own – please get in touch with us. We may be able to help you by approaching the landowner, or we may be aware of good reasons to keep the trail the way it is. RVC gets work accomplished through volunteers who have ideas and the energy to back them up. We’ve learned over the years that the riding community gets further ahead through coordination and a sustainable approach.
You can help
Next time you’re out for a ride – ‘Leave No Trace‘. Do that, and we are all set!
