Alexander Mackenzie Heritage Trail Stakeholders!

[DaveB]

This will be of interest to many of you, especially those that went on the previous Mackenzie Trail trek, or have been through with other 4x4s...

When we went through last time from Anahim Lake/Dean River Road, there was some uncertaintly as to whether the current group of stakeholders would allow us access to the trail.

In a recent meeting, this has been addressed and the appropriate government bodies now consider us, the Roverlanders, the 4WDABC and the NCOAS to be part of the group of trail stakeholders in the future.

Here is the report of that meeting from Bryan Boyes of the NCOAS:

Report on Vanderhoof Land and Resource Management Plan (LRMP) access plan for the Roverlanders

On June 4, 2005 the Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management held a stakeholder meeting for the Vanderhoof LRMP in regards to access concerns. There were many people representing numerous different interests in the area, all with important concerns. One of the groups contacted to be involved in this process was the North Caribou Offroad Adventurers Society (NCOAS). As one of the three representatives from the NCOAS who attended this important meeting, I am writing this short report for the Roverlanders of BC, who also use this area at least once a year.

A short background of the issue that we as four wheel drive users of the area have and why we have been included in this important process occurring or going to occur throughout British Columbia is as follows. In the Vanderhoof forest district, which is the zone for this particular LRMP, there is a large section of the Alexander Mackenzie Heritage trail, part of which we as four wheelers use to access other areas of the Vanderhoof forest district and points along the trail itself that we have an interest in exploring. The people in charge of coordinating this LRMP heard that we were using this area and hence were invited to participate in the LRMP access plan and give input. This is important because by doing this they have acknowledged us as a user group with valid interests in the area and that we want to continue to use it.

The most important thing achieved from this meeting was to make it known to the LRMP committee that motorized vehicle groups like ourselves use the Alexander Mackenzie Heritage trail. They are working on the access portion of the LRMP, and did not know that motorized groups used the trail. The next step is planning of the next meeting for the access portion of the Vanderhoof LRMP. This next meeting, on November 26, 2005, will be where the proposed access management plan for this area will be presented. Also at this meeting everybody’s direct concerns will be addressed and hopefully satisfied. This is the meeting where the final plan will start to take shape and all user groups will be giving what they want to see happen in the area for access. This is going to be a very critical meeting for us as we will need to be there in order to be able to continue to access the area in our present capacity.

In talking to the people in charge of this meeting we presented a couple of ideas in order to maintain our ability to use the area. One of these ideas was to let them know times when we would be in the area. By doing this they would be able monitor what impact, if any, we would be having on the area and then they could then relay this information back to us, which we could use accordingly.

Another idea we presented was possible help with trail maintenance. Presently we the NCOAS and the Roverlanders are the only groups really doing maintenance on certain sections of the trail. The forest service told us that they have liability coverage for volunteer groups who do maintenance within their districts and that we could be covered if we take on maintaining the trail while we are using it.

We have also proposed to the LRMP people that we take them into the areas that we use in the district so they can see what it is we do. Also it would be an opportunity for them to see the area as they have not seen the majority of the area themselves. This is an excellent opportunity for us to show them what we are all about and they were very impressed we offered and are going to take us up on the offer.

The people in charge of the LRMP process in the area are willing to hear any concerns you may have as a user group regarding these areas. If you would like to get in touch with them here is their contact information:

Primary contact (ground work)

Romona Blackwell
Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management
3rd Floor — 1011 Fourth Avenue
Prince George BC V2L 3H9
Tel: (250)565-6290
Fax: (250)565-6629
Email: romona.blackwell[at]gov.bc.ca

Traci Leys-Schirok
Vanderhoof LRMP Chair
Ministry of Sustainable Resource Management
3rd Floor — 1011 Fourth Avenue
Prince George BC V2L 3H9
Tel: (250)565-4471
Email: Traci.LeysSchirok[at]gov.bc.ca


If any of your members would like a copy of any of the documents we received at the meeting please feel free to contact either of the two people above. You can also contact me if you have any further questions or want more information or would like copies of documents we received. My contact information is as follows:

Bryan Boyes
VP NCOAS
4236 Churchill Rd
Prince George BC V2K 1C3
Email: rednecktoy[at]gmail.com