Mclean Creek Area

[canadian bum]

So as all of us wheelers no May Long is a nightmare for our reputation. In fact after every May long that seems to be the only time I hear about the areas we wheel in being trashed and getting bad publicity. And its not even us causing the damage (I hope). Its the "city kids" who go camping once a year to get drunk burn stuff trash the area because well they only use it once a year. So more to the point is there a way we can keep Mclean closed to everyone until after May long? I know we have to wait a little bit longer to wheel in the area but I am willing to sacrifice a few weeks in order to keep the area from shutting down. Let me know what you think. And how we can accomplish this to keep our sport alive.

John

 

[RockDoc]

I've PMed Spencer (Crash_AB). I know he's involved with stewardship of the Ghost/Waiparous area, and hopefully he will post up with some info on who to get in touch with about McLean Creek and how to get involved.

I'm hoping some community service stuff can be organized. This is one good front, another is Search and Rescue service, which I hope Lance will share more on. I'm also curious if there is any organized way to involved with shuttling essential service personnel during blizzards/extreme weather.

 

[canadian bum]

Okay thanks I like the area and would hate to see it get shut down for good.

 

[Crash_AB]

Community Involvement.

Hey Curtis,

It's good to hear of more people getting active. I really can't speak to the SAR or essential personnel opportunity, but I think it's a great idea and worth looking into.

First off, most of my experience is in Calgary and the surrounding region - I have little info on the goings on up north. I would suggest getting in contact with The Northern Alberta Four Wheel Drive Association [NA4WDA, http://www.na4wda.org/index.php]. They will likely have information on local trail projects.

Under the RMLCA banner, we have very recently signed on to construct a bridge over a sensitive water crossing this summer - this is still in the planning and development stages, but there is tons of work to be done. Our mailing list will be an excellent source for info and updates – www.rmlca.ab.ca. There will be a few weekends of fabrication in the local SRD yard here in Calgary, and at least three weekends installing it out in the field.

I had previously mentioned the Ghost Stewardship Monitoring Group’s Trail Inventory project – this is an ongoing volunteer initiative to assess trail conditions in the ghost region and use that information to develop a network of sustainable trail and direct volunteer efforts for trail repair, maintenance, and upgrading via the ab projects website. There will be a training weekend sometime around the 25th of April to equip volunteers with the necessary training to conduct this inventory.

Additionally, the Alberta projects website [soon to be updated] should be an excellent source for information on upcoming projects.


Now, as for the May long weekend, this is a constant debate within our club. Opinions have ranged from shutting the areas down, area wide bans on alcohol, improved checkpoints, additional staff, etc etc. Unfortunately most of these options are beyond our control as the decisions must be made by SRD or similar government officials. Typically the debate heats up in the weeks leading up to the weekend, but I feel that we need to get active and devise a plan a little sooner if we are going to have any real effect. This subject is well suited to our mailing list.

To date, our club’s response has been a clean-up run out from the fisher east trailhead on the weekend immediately following may long. The trail is in rough shape so the wheeling is pretty serious – we typically haul a couple of trucks worth of garbage out as well.

I am not sure how much this helps, but if you have any questions please feel free to contact me.


Cheers,
Spencer aka. Crash_AB

 

[canadian bum]

From what I have heard on other Forums a group of ppl wanting to have Mclean closed over the long weekend had a petition that got shot down by the SRD. I know a clean up is good but you never hear about that on the news all you hear about is how the area got destroyed. So what I'm trying to do is prevent this bad rep for us wheelers.

 

[mano002]

The RMLCA always goes out there on the sunday after the long weekend. There is always a big clean-up on the satruday where they pick up the torched cars, tent-trailers, couches, you name it. On the Sunday we do the fischer east trail and pick up empties and other garbage along the way.

 

[lowenbrau]

There has been a request to SRD to ban alcohol in the foothills for May long as well. Many Provincial parks are already doing it. I'm sure that would solve the worst of the problem. (or at least move them back to the city where they belong)

As much as I like a cold one (or 12) around the campfire, I'd give it up on select long weekends to help curb the lawlessness.