On Thursday, reporting on Monday's North Van District council meeting, the Vancouver Province reported that the District is planning on "removing up to 41 kilometres of unauthorized trails..."   Looking at a trail map of Fromme makes it pretty clear that this would leave almost no trails on the mountain at all.

As soon as I saw the text from the article I got in contact with Susan Rogers, a planner for the District, who had this to say; "The Province article did not accurately reflect the discussions on Monday evening.   There was no recommendation to remove 41 kilometres of recreational trails in the Fromme Mtn. area.  What we are collectively trying to achieve is a balance of recreation and environmental management on the mountain, as per the vision statement, which the public helped to create back in April 2004 with all stakeholders and residents.
 
For clarification, the meeting on Monday was never intended as a final decision making meeting. It was an opportunity for staff to update Council on the key study directions to date.
 
The 41 km represents all trails between Capilano and Lynn Headwaters Park, including all types of trails, both hiking and mtn. biking. The statistic was simply stated to give some context."

Hopefully this was just a case of sloppy journalism on the part of the Province's Kent Spencer.  It is clear that the District plans to decommission some trails and while rumours have been circulating the District remains tight lipped about actual recommendations.  In fact District staff recently destroyed Dangerous Dan's trail "Watchumacalit" which they contend was built after a moratorium on new trail construction was enacted.  If Dan's quote from the article is correct it seems like he's given up the fight - a surprising development considering what he's accomplished as a rider and trail builder and even a cancer survivor.  Dan is not known as a quitter and hopefully he'll join us in the effort to preserve the best trails in the world. 

Cam McRae

This article appeared in The Vancouver Province newspaper on Thursday Feb. 2nd, 2005.