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Back in my
misspent youth, the boys and I used to grab a couple of rifles and
a sack of beer and go off hillbillying into the woods in a four-by-four.
What can I say? We had only one TV channel.
Anyway, I was pretty much Alison Sprigg's worst nightmare. Alison
is with the Land Conservancy of B.C., one of the key players in
the capital region's Sea-to-Sea Green/Blue Belt strategy, which
would preserve an unbroken corridor of forest and water running
from Saltspring Island to East Sooke.
I was pretty much Lori Hryniuk's nightmare, too. She's with the
Island Rock Crawlers, a group of four-wheel drive vehicle users
fighting to maintain access to a shrinking land base. Their arguments
for open access aren't helped by yahoos who go around shooting up
their empties in the bush.
Behind both Alison's and Lori's concerns is the relentlessly increasing
pressure on the outdoors, particularly where it collides with urban
sprawl.
There's been a lot of attention given recently to the Rock Crawlers'
interest in the Harbourview lands, which are included in 1,400 hectares
of Sooke Hills property that TLC wants to buy from an investment
company. It's a vitally important purchase for TLC, the final piece
of the Sea-to-Sea puzzle.
If the $5.3-million sale goes through by the Feb. 9 deadline, the
land goes to CRD Parks and the strategy works. If the deal dies,
so does the whole Sea-to-Sea dream.
The problem for the Rock Crawlers and others is that closure of
Harbourview to four-by-fours, dirt bikes and the like shuts them
out of yet another back-country area. (Although privately owned,
the area has long been used like public property.) They argue that
they deserve access to parks, just like hikers and other users.
Share the land.
Agreed, say others-just not in the Sea-to-Sea lands, where motorized
vehicles threaten the ecological integrity that is at the heart
of the proposal. Even responsible family fun can grow to the point
where it is cumulatively unsustainable.
"The vision is to create a protected corridor of wild lands on the
western edge of the region as a sanctuary for native plants and
animals that are being displaced by development," says Spriggs.
But the idea will only work if enough land is protected to support
a diverse but interconnected eco-system, enough to withstand the
nibbling at the edges caused by urban encroachment. "When parks
are too small, they become islands of extinction."
Which takes us to the broader question of access, and how a growing
number of people-hunters, hikers, mountain bikers, anglers, campers,
four-wheelers-can share a shrinking wilderness. The Harbourview
fuss is but a single example of a much larger problem across North
America.
"It is more and more becoming one of the cutting edge issues in
the West," says Larry Finfer of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management
in Washington, D.C.
Population growth, demand for new types of recreation, and new technology—“more
types of vehicles that can go more places”—are putting
pressure on the more than 264 million acres governed by his department.
About 1,500 new off-highway vehicles are bought every day in the
U.S.
The bureau last week released a draft of a strategy meant to come
to grips with the use of such vehicles on public property.
“Obviously there has been environmental damage related to off-highway
vehicles,” says Finfer. “But on the other hand, in many
cases the responsible use of off-highway vehicles poses a minimal
risk to the environment.”
Responsible use, there's the key. How do you provide access to the
good guys while keeping out me, my hunting irons, and the Lucky
Lager? The Rock Crawlers may be responsible, but plenty of others
are not. The bush alongside Harbourview and its skid roads is scarred
in places where motorized vehicles have churned their way into the
woods. Unless you give them somewhere to go, a no trespassing sign
isn't going to keep the yahoos from continuing to make a mess.
Hryniuk would like to see parks where user groups are involved in
the stewardship, and can be a moderating influence that helps the
yahoos see the light.
“We are not trying to gain access into every park,” she
says. “We would just like to have certain designated areas.”
She points to Alberta as one jurisdiction that makes room for off-highway
vehicles in parks. With the exception of the Hartland mountain-bike
trails, nothing like that exists in regional parks down here. But
up in the Cowichan Valley the regional district is looking at buying
500 acres for use as an outdoor recreation park.
"It started with the motocross club looking for land," says Joe
Allan, a Cowichan Valley Regional District director. But as word
spread, other groups jumped on board: four-wheeler, dog trial types,
model airplane owners, mountain bikers....
The taxpayer funds hockey rinks, swimming pools, soccer fields,
softball diamonds, why not an area for these guys? They pay taxes,
too.
"The outdoor recreation sector is the forgotten sector," says Allan.
The biggest roadblock is lack of land. On southern Vancouver Island,
the E&N grants left little property in public hands. Much of the
treed area we assume to be held by the Crown is actually owned by
forest companies.
That leaves us negotiating with private owners, as the Victoria
Motorcycle Club did with TimberWest near Jordan River, and as the
Island Rock Crawlers are trying to do in the Butler/Boneyard area
near Sooke. The latter was closed this summer amid complaints that
it was being used for bush parties, garbage dumping and torching
of stolen cars.
Sharing the land won't work everywhere. It's hard to envision a
happy meeting of the Sea-to-Sea Greenbelt vision and dirt bikes
and four-by-fours.
But the latter still need somewhere to go. Should it really be that
hard to designate another area for the off-highway types? Why do
some forms of recreation get better treatment than others?
Besides, co-operation beats regulation, particularly once you get
off the pavement and the rules get harder to enforce. Far better
for everyone if there's a managed area where they can keep a lid
on yahoos like me.
Jack
Knox, jknox@times-colonist.com
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