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> 4) In event of fire is the standard pract --Apple-Mail-3C2799B7-9AA5-4C8A-BC5F-8F570A0E325B Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Donna, and all, Very much agree with what Donna has written. For several years, I was invol= ved with a forest services committee in the Ottawa area. There was an ATV-s= nowmobile club that continuously lobbied to claim access to almost all of th= e large municipal managed forest. The leaders of the club attended every me= eting and I expect they themselves were well meaning and no doubt ethical wi= th their own use of the trails, but unfortunately, they had no true control o= ver other members or non-member ATVers who also used the trails. In my time= spent at the forest, I saw a boardwalk through a bog destroyed by ATVers wh= o drove large machines onto it, breaking slats and causing it to flip over f= or its entire length. A neat little rustic x-country ski shelter was burnt= up by a party fire made with old junk such as foam mattresses hauled into t= he woods by ATV. Several ATVers pretty much destroyed the wetland area just= below the dam on a small lake funded by Ducks Unlimited by driving back and= forth through it doing "mud crawls" (look that up if you don't know the ter= m). A hiking trail intended as a "pedestrian-only nature walk" around the s= ame lake was ripped all to hell by ATVers who just *had* to go there instea= d of staying on the dozens of ATV-permitted forest trails. A colony of fair= ly rare Walking Ferns was destroyed by ATVs that used the rock face they gre= w from as a place to try rock-face climbing and also as a detour to bypass a= barrier that blocked off a pedestrian trail. ATV barriers were repeatedly j= erked loose from pedestrian trailheads by people using 4x4s and chains and/o= r winches. I could go on at length, but what's the point? I have tried to= be open to the idea of ATV use on public lands, but it is difficult to feel= any degree of support after seeing incredible acts of destruction, not just= in Ontario, but in Nova Scotia, and most certainly down in the southwest US= where ATVs proliferate by the thousands. No matter where I have travelled,= if there is an area of natural trails intended to be restricted to non-moto= rized use - there will I find barriers torn down and senseless habitat destr= uction. I just can't feel much optimism that things will be different in No= va Scotia. And, much like Donna, the rail line through the Valley goes past my place to= o. ATVers already use this section of trail and the noise on weekends in sp= ring and autumn, and often many weekdays in summer, is absolutely appalling a= t times. I rarely walk on that trail with my dogs as the ATVs come racing t= hrough too fast and it is hard to crush off into the dense brush on either s= ide of the trail to get out of their way. In the earthier sections of trail= , after a rain, the mud is churned up as deep as my ankles. All in all, it m= akes the trail quite useless for pedestrians or bicycles. Oh well. If this= is what people want, I guess this is what we will get. Bev Wigney On 2016-01-24, at 10:33 AM, Donna Crossland <dcrossland@eastlink.ca> wrote: > Sadly, there is a minority among the ATV groups who have carelessly litter= ed remote locations, and far worse, can fish out previously hard-to-get to r= emote streams with healthy trout populations. Fires have been carelessly st= arted that led to wildfires (e.g., one that I have noted on the =E2=80=98fir= e roads=E2=80=99 recently, which we taxpayers must pay to put out. There is= no =E2=80=98let it burn=E2=80=99 policy in place, as NS is too small for th= is concept which is more appropriate for other ecosystems such as the vast b= oreal). =20 >=20 > =20 --Apple-Mail-3C2799B7-9AA5-4C8A-BC5F-8F570A0E325B Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/html; charset=utf-8 <html><head></head><body bgcolor=3D"#FFFFFF"><div>Donna, and all,</div><div>= <br></div><div>Very much agree with what Donna has written. For severa= l years, I was involved with a forest services committee in the Ottawa area.= There was an ATV-snowmobile club that continuously lobbied to claim a= ccess to almost all of the large municipal managed forest. The leaders= of the club attended every meeting and I expect they themselves were well m= eaning and no doubt ethical with their own use of the trails, but unfortunat= ely, they had no true control over other members or non-member ATVers who al= so used the trails. In my time spent at the forest, I saw a boardwalk t= hrough a bog destroyed by ATVers who drove large machines onto it, breaking s= lats and causing it to flip over for its entire length. A neat little= rustic x-country ski shelter was burnt up by a party fire made with old jun= k such as foam mattresses hauled into the woods by ATV. Several ATVers= pretty much destroyed the wetland area just below the dam on a small lake f= unded by Ducks Unlimited by driving back and forth through it doing "mud cra= wls" (look that up if you don't know the term). A hiking trail intende= d as a "pedestrian-only nature walk" around the same lake was ripped a= ll to hell by ATVers who just *had* to go there instead of staying on the do= zens of ATV-permitted forest trails. A colony of fairly rare Walking Fe= rns was destroyed by ATVs that used the rock face they grew from as a place t= o try rock-face climbing and also as a detour to bypass a barrier that block= ed off a pedestrian trail. ATV barriers were repeatedly jerked loose f= rom pedestrian trailheads by people using 4x4s and chains and/or winches. &n= bsp; I could go on at length, but what's the point? I have tried to be= open to the idea of ATV use on public lands, but it is difficult to feel an= y degree of support after seeing incredible acts of destruction, not just in= Ontario, but in Nova Scotia, and most certainly down in the southwest US wh= ere ATVs proliferate by the thousands. No matter where I have travelle= d, if there is an area of natural trails intended to be restricted to non-mo= torized use - there will I find barriers torn down and senseless habitat des= truction. I just can't feel much optimism that things will be differen= t in Nova Scotia.</div><div><br></div><div>And, much like Donna, the rail li= ne through the Val