IMBA heads East; Hurricanes and all….
This past week IMBA’s resident trail specialist, Daniel Scott, got the opportunity to travel to Nova Scotia to work with a local mountain bike club, Annapolis Valley Mountain Bike Association.
Situated along the southern shore of the Bay of Fundy, the Annapolis Valley is the “bread basket” of Nova Scotia. Two escarpments border this beautiful rural landscape which is home to farmlands, vineyards and a keen mountain bike community.
IMBA was initially asked to visit with the AVMBA regarding a proposed management plan for one of the gems of the area, Cape Split. This stunning geographic feature is slated to become a new provincial park. With this new proposed management plan was a section stating that “no wheeled vehicles” were to being permitted to use this new Park. That included motorized & non-motorized vehicles as well as potentially strollers, etc… Flags immediately went up within the AVMBA and a meeting with the Department of Natural Resources was arranged.
Members of the AVMBA, IMBA Canada, the DNR and a few other key concerned locals met to discuss this situation and after a good two hours a new understanding was reached with the following points:
- a need to review the Cape Split “no wheeled” vehicles clause
- a need to review and revise the proposed trail resurfacing plan with a more sustainable alternative that would accommodate multiple user types wishing to witness the spectacular vista that Cape Split provides
- an understanding that the province needs a mountain bike lobbying group with which to work for better understanding the wants and needs of mountain bikers in Nova Scotia
- opportunities are available in many of the nearly 200 pieces of Crown Land under the DNR’s supervision for mountain bike specific trail systems
All in all, everyone was super constructive and eager to reach a positive agreement that was beneficial to everyone involved. A big thank you to DNR for hosting the meeting and to everyone for their support in this matter!
The visit did not however end with just the Cape Split meetings. AVMBA & IMBA decided to host a weekend trail building workshop with two separate build sites. Saturday saw a whole whack of folk from all over southern Nova Scotia brave the 40 degree weather to help build a new bridge on one of the locally owned, private trail networks.
We had folk come from as far away as Halifax to help build the new bridge and the end product is truly impressive. It was a tough build with lots of wood to haul into the trail but everyone had at it with great intensity, matched only by the crazy heat!
Sunday was a rather different situation as hurricane Bill hit Nova Scotia. A dedicated handful of AVMBA members met at the Links Trail System to tackle a rock armouring project. In spite of the torrential rains, the group of volunteers worked hard to establish the footprint for a new rock causeway along the top of one of the waterfalls within the trail network.
These guys were hardcore! Working in water, around water, with water coming down on us and they didn’t complain once. In fact, the crew spent most of their time laughing or smiling about the build conditions. Great work guys!
I would like to thank Glenn & Angela for providing me with amazing accommodations during my visit to the Annapolis Valley. Your hospitality was truly amazing as is your support of IMBA Canada and mountain biking in Nova Scotia! Also, thanks to Barry and other members of the AVMBA for the guided tours of local trails. You guys are doing some great work and I look forward to revisiting the trails in a few years to see how they are progressed. Keep it up!