Face
Well-known member
Update:
At the December 15th Board Meeting, GRCA staff announced that they will be bringing forward a new Recreational Trails Strategy for open house public consultation in February and March. Open house style consultation generally does not include a broad forum public meeting, and generally restricts feedback to written comments filled in and left at the meeting, for staff to consolidate and summarize later.
This short study is being done despite the fact that as part of the preparation of the Forest Management Plan 2018 - 2038 (FMP), outside consultants undertook a year-long public consultation study that had a strong focus on recreational use, resulted in a 70 page synopsis report appended to the FMP, and incorporated recommendations into the FMP that endorsed multi-use recreation and put forward only 2 reasons to close trails (1 temporary). Staff are now trying to justify the need for a new strategy by saying the FMP was only about ecology, and any recommendations related to trails were only related to ecological concerns. The more important question is whether staff are trying to bring forward a policy (after the fact) to support the closures implemented through the Operational Recovery Plan and the "unofficial trails" report because they are being called to account, and these closures don't actually comply with the approved policies of the FMP?
Because of the GRCA's failure to adequately address the concerns raised through presentations at the October 20th Board meeting, and their continuing efforts to restrict recreational access to the Forest, Great Pine Trail Riders (GPTR) has filed an application for a Judicial Review of these GRCA activities with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
For those who don't know, GPTR is the OFTR affiliated club that ran the Great Pine and Mini Pine events in the Ganny prior to Covid, and as part of prep for these events, maintained the motorized accessible single-track trails in the forest. Going back even further, people from GPTR and Oshawa Competition Motorcycle Club (OCMC) were largely responsible for the original creation and ongoing maintenance of the single-track. So if you thought that the $190/year you pay the GRCA for your motorized pass paid for single-track maintenance, think again. The Operational Recovery Plan put out by GRCA staff even states "Single track trails for any use are currently challenging and near impossible for the GRCA to create and manage".
If you want to help out, as well as writing to your local MPP, if you're an OFTR member, please add GPTR as a secondary or tertiary club when you renew your OFTR membership. The extra $30 will help with the expenses of this fight, and increased membership numbers will show the Courts that there is broad support behind this action.
At the December 15th Board Meeting, GRCA staff announced that they will be bringing forward a new Recreational Trails Strategy for open house public consultation in February and March. Open house style consultation generally does not include a broad forum public meeting, and generally restricts feedback to written comments filled in and left at the meeting, for staff to consolidate and summarize later.
This short study is being done despite the fact that as part of the preparation of the Forest Management Plan 2018 - 2038 (FMP), outside consultants undertook a year-long public consultation study that had a strong focus on recreational use, resulted in a 70 page synopsis report appended to the FMP, and incorporated recommendations into the FMP that endorsed multi-use recreation and put forward only 2 reasons to close trails (1 temporary). Staff are now trying to justify the need for a new strategy by saying the FMP was only about ecology, and any recommendations related to trails were only related to ecological concerns. The more important question is whether staff are trying to bring forward a policy (after the fact) to support the closures implemented through the Operational Recovery Plan and the "unofficial trails" report because they are being called to account, and these closures don't actually comply with the approved policies of the FMP?
Because of the GRCA's failure to adequately address the concerns raised through presentations at the October 20th Board meeting, and their continuing efforts to restrict recreational access to the Forest, Great Pine Trail Riders (GPTR) has filed an application for a Judicial Review of these GRCA activities with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
For those who don't know, GPTR is the OFTR affiliated club that ran the Great Pine and Mini Pine events in the Ganny prior to Covid, and as part of prep for these events, maintained the motorized accessible single-track trails in the forest. Going back even further, people from GPTR and Oshawa Competition Motorcycle Club (OCMC) were largely responsible for the original creation and ongoing maintenance of the single-track. So if you thought that the $190/year you pay the GRCA for your motorized pass paid for single-track maintenance, think again. The Operational Recovery Plan put out by GRCA staff even states "Single track trails for any use are currently challenging and near impossible for the GRCA to create and manage".
If you want to help out, as well as writing to your local MPP, if you're an OFTR member, please add GPTR as a secondary or tertiary club when you renew your OFTR membership. The extra $30 will help with the expenses of this fight, and increased membership numbers will show the Courts that there is broad support behind this action.
