Id already posted this on the SOTA site, but since it also impacts PACA members... PACA, SOTA, Crown Land Management and representatives from Sather Ranch Ltd. sat down for a bit this morning to discuss trails, fences, land-use etc. Turns out that Sather Ranch and Co. aren’t too fond of fetching their cattle out of the Pleasant Valley Trailer Park as well as other urban locations. Seems as though the one thing that none of us building on the east slopes have considered is that our trails lead cattle around here, there and everywhere. Somehow we had always assumed that the cows knew where they were going, and none of our trails had any effect on them. In reality, it appears that cattle follow newly built singletrack quite readily (kinda’ like humans). Furthermore, the ranchers have a specific cattle rotation in mind each summer, one that finds them attempting to drive the cattle in what roughly amounts to a massive oval route from the mid-valley, up to the alpine, back down to the valley. This route takes most of the spring / summer / fall to complete. Unfortunately, all of the trail-building is finding the cattle following trails that lead them back down to the valley prematurely. Talk at this morning’s meeting frequently came around to decommissioning some of the trails, re-erecting fencing and generally looking at bringing some kinda’ sanity back to the Mice’s trail network In the Mice, all of those crazy rock-face trails that lead down from High Pony / Rainbow… turns out that they act as dandy cattle diversion routes. Historically, the area’s original cattle and game trails ran north-south. These were later inherited by dirt-bike riders and then mountain-bikers. Mountain bikers have a fascination with creating vertically interconnecting trails between the north-south routes - and these (many) connectors are a good part of the problem at hand. The Crown rep’ and the Sather Ranch representatives would like us to cool off on any new trail-building in the Mice and on Campbell Mt; full stop. Personally, I don’t see that being a problem. Both riding areas have more than enough in the way of trails. PACA is working on a full Section 57 of the entire Three Blind Mice area, SOTA is signing a land-use agreement with the Crown for the Carmi area again this year (and for five additional years). SOTA already has excellent trail maintenance agreements in place for Skaha Prov. Parks (just submitted the work-plan for 2014 to the regional office). The final piece of the eastern slope pie will be to sit down with the Wiltse Brothers and come to an agreement for trails / trail-access on their excellent property overlooking the city. I’m to meet with them next week to gain permission for a project that Big Barry and I are keen to conduct April 4th on their property, so that should be a bit of a door-opener. Until additional land-use agreements are signed, those of us who are working with land-management groups urge you to put down the shovel for a bit, at least until PACA / SOTA come to some legal agreements with the appropriate parties. In the meantime, PACA still has access and rights to work trails in the 300 acre section that they’ve signed on with through the City of Penticton. As soon as the snow melts and things dry up a bit, SOTA will be working sanctioned projects up Carmi, and both groups might wish to work together in the Skaha Prov. Park trail network - which we signed & sanctioned with Park rangers 2012 through 2013. I have several jobs already lined up and “ok’d” by park rangers for this spring, including a reroute of a section of WARD1, 4X4 sign-posts hiked into position, dug in and signage erected, a whack of weed-eating on Sauerkraut and a small bridge installed on ‘The Fox’. Andrew
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 05:28:23 +0000
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