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<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=56 BGCOLOR="#666633" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="00fc8c83.jpg"> <div> Feedback</div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=160 BGCOLOR="#666633" TEXT="#080000"> <div> Anyone who wants to submit a letter to Environment Haliburton! and have it published in this space is entirely welcome. Send your letters to info@</div> <div> environment</div> <div> haliburton.ca We reserve the right to edit for length and content.</div> </td> <td valign="top" height=424 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B><IMG SRC="0a4a55f0.jpg" border=0 width="165" height="95" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <div> <B>You can have the last word!</B><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#663300" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#111111" FACE="Arial" >Drop us a line sometime!</FONT></div> <bR> <div> <I>Web site a 'great and valuable public service'</I></div> <div> Congratulations!  What a wonderful web site your group has put together. Nothing else rivals it for news about Haliburton issues and links to other organizations. Those who spent the time assembling the site have done a great and valuable public service.</div> <div> Thanks!</div> <div> <I><B>Bob MacDermid, Sunderland ON</B></I></div> <div> Editor's Note: Thank-you, Bob!</div> <bR> <div> **************************************************************************************************************</div> <div> <I>Who's monitoring ATV damage, Earthroots rep asks</I></div> <div> Hi. I just read about your group and your recent news release on ATVs in the <I>Highlands Courier</I>. Earthroots has been surveying district MNR (Ministry of Natural Resources) offices to find out how ATV damage is being recorded and monitored and who is enforcing their access in environmentally sensitive areas. What we are finding out is that nobody has a clue. The MNR doesn't even have one staff person responsible for this issue. As ATV sales increase astronomically, we are concerned that the environmental destruction will also escalate unchecked and uninhibited.</div> <bR> <div> Please keep me posted on the work that your group is doing to protect the environment in Haliburton. If there is any thing Earthroots can do to help, please let me know.</div> <bR> <div> Also, you may be interested in our campaign to protect Algonquin wolves.</div> <div> We have created postcards for people to sign, urging the MNR to make the moratorium on hunting and trapping wolves in the townships surrounding the park permanent. If this is something</div> <div> your group supports, I can send you some postcards to get signed.</div> <bR> <div> Thanks,</div> <div> Melissa Tkachyk, M.E.S.</div> <div> Wilderness Campaigner</div> <div> Earthroots</div> <div> 401 Richmond St. West Suite 410</div> <div> Toronto, Ontario</div> <div> M5V 3A8</div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.earthroots.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.earthroots.org"><U>www.earthroots.org</U></A> - Main website</div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.parkalert.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.parkalert.org"><U>www.parkalert.org</U></A> - Park Alert! Campaign</div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.wolvesontario.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.wolvesontario.org"><U>www.wolvesontario.org</U></A> - Wolves Ontario! Project</div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.oakridgesmoraine.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.oakridgesmoraine.com"><U>www.oakridgesmoraine.com</U></A> - Oak Ridges Moraine Campaign</div> <bR> <div> Earthroots is non-profit, grassroots, environmental organization</div> <div> dedicated to protecting wilderness, wildlife and watersheds through research, education and action. Earthroots has 12,000 supporters in Canada.</div> <div> Ontario Parks under threat! Find out more at <A HREF="http://www.parkalert.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.parkalert.org"><U>www.parkalert.org</U></A></div> <bR> <div> **************************************************************************************************************</div> <div> <I>ATVs a 'waste of fossil fuel,' writer says</I></div> <bR> <div> November 21, 2003</div> <bR> <div> Re: a) Rail Trail Master Plan</div> <bR> <div> Hello,</div> <div> Yesterday I read Heather Ross’ excellent letter to the Editor of the <I>Haliburton County Echo</I> regarding the Rail Trail Master Plan and its consideration of ATV users of the trail. Enclosed is a copy of the letter I delivered to Roy Haig, County of Haliburton, regarding the comments on the trail plan. (Yesterday was the deadline.) I thought you would like to know there are others who support your view. Cathy Olliffe also had a great letter in recent weeks regarding the wetland development near Elephant Lake.</div> <bR> <div> Attention: Roy Haig, Engineering Services Mgr, Roads Dept</div> <div> Re: “Rail Trail Master Plan” Comments</div> <bR> <div> Hello,</div> <div> I have reviewed the October/2003 draft of the Rail Trail Master Plan and am very pleased with this initiative. I have used sections of the rail trail in the past on horseback, summer and winter, and have enjoyed it immensely. Recently I have used the rail trails in Victoria County for bicycling as well, and will probably do so in Haliburton County. Below are some comments on the report, and suggestions you may or may not find worthy or of interest. Most are technical; the last few are philosophical and ethical.</div> <bR> <div> 1 “Bridges section, page 14, as well as “Signing,” both under Trail Amenities, section 8.2: I believe it is important to detail serious safety requirements and efforts in the plan and not merely allude to them, as in section 10.2, Risk Management Program (page 18).</div> <bR> <div> Trail amenities should include speed bumps or other physical impediments that require a vehicle to slow down and to stop, with adequate signage for stopping and reduced speeds. At bridges, it is imperative that vehicles stop before crossing, particularly when mixing motorized uses with pedestrians and horses. ATVs, snowmobiles and other, loud, motorized vehicles would not hear other users. It is critical for everyone’s safety that they stop before crossing bridges. Signs should request that users stop a t both ends of a bridge, before entry and at the other end, to ensure reduced speed and safe crossing. Horses are often very fearful of loud machinery and fast moving objects, and are often nervous on bridges which often echo and don’t have as solid a foot-fall as the earth, and which have a sense of confinement. Bridges should have strong, secure railings that are high enough and solid enough to prevent falling over or through them. There should be explanatory signs at both ends of the bridge for users to pay particular caution around horses and pedestrians. </div> <bR> <div> Ideally the motorized vehicles would pass first, quietly, leaving the far end clear for horses to pass in peace once the motorized have left the area. Explanatory signs like this should be placed at all entry points to the trail for the safety of all who use them. Courtesy and knowledge about horses are not universal. Also regarding signage, posted and maintained speeds should be kept slow. I do not believe 50 km per hour is a slow enough speed when mixing vehicles and pedestrians and bicycles and horses, and hopefully one day, skiers. Many roads in subdivisions with wide roads have 40 km per hour limits. Why, on a narrow rail trail miles from facilities and access in the event of accident, would we consider 50 km per hour appropriate? Speed bumps, well-signed of course, should be installed at intervals along lengthy stretches where temptation for motorized vehicles to speed is most likely to occur. Set a appropriate distances, they will more than likely be forced to travel slower between the bumps.</div> <bR> <div> 2. Section 10.1 under “Prohibited Trail Use”</div> <div> Along with several of the people whose comments were reported at the back of the plan document, I disagree vehemently that Cross Country Skiing, Snowshoeing and Dog Sledding are not permitted. It is hypocritical to be concerned about mixing motorized use with non-motorized use in winter but to ignore it in summer when there will likely be many more users with a variety of means to use the rail trail. ATVs and motorized bikes can kill or injure a pedestrian or horseback rider as easily in summer as a snowmobiler can in winter. The rail trail is going to be wide enough at 4 metres to accommodate varied uses if safety is paramount. If snowmobilers, ATVers and motor bikers want to speed, we have roads for that purpose. A remote trail with little access to emergency services is not the place to mix speeding vehicles with pedestrians. Perhaps snowmobilers were the first in line when it came to rights of the rail trail. Howver, for fair long-term planning, it is not equitable to allow only one user-group for an entire season. The rail trail is beautiful in winter for horseback riding and cross country skiing. With responsible snowmobilers, slow, safe speeds and a wide rail trail, why should snowmobilers be granted exclusive rights for posterity? The “existing agreement” granting snowmobilers sole access needs to be terminated, or phased out, within the next five years so that cooperative use can be implemented. The Rail Trail Plan should have given more information about this agreement with specifics about length of term and parties involved. If it was documented, perhaps it could have or should have been cross-referenced in section 10.1 (page 17) as to where the details could be found in the plan. In the meantime, surely a 3 to 6 km trail for cross country skiers could be designated at a few entry points along the rail trail. Even if they could not complete the entire trail, some access would be fair. Skiers, who operate solely on their own human energy, do not have the distance ability of mechanized vehicles.</div> <bR> <div> 3. General Recommendations, section 11.0 (page 23)</div> <div> Under “Taking ownership” activities, “fencing and gating” should read “fencing, gating and speed bumps.” As mentioned in #1 above, speed bumps need to be installed with indicative signing at all bridges, blind corners, steep hills and long expanses, where lethal vehicle-pedestrian-horse collisions are most likely to occur.</div> <bR> <div> 4. Philosophical and Ethical Considerations of Motorized versus non-motorized uses.</div> <div> Liability, healthcare costs, emergency services, long-term community reputation and spin-off tourism are important factors to consider when weighing trail use by motorized vehicles versus pedestrians, cross-country skiers, horseback riders and bicyclists. Proponents of motorized use may argue that their sports consume more dollars. Directly, this may be so. Motorized machinery is much more expensive than most non-motorized methods of transportation. Gasoline and oil are certainly expensive and regular costs. But food, shelter, clothing and entertainment dollars for one tourist over another is basically the same despite their method of traversing the trails. When costs to the community are reviewed, however, motorized sports are more of a burden to our health care system and environment. Every developed trail has the potential to become another “road” – one more path into the wilderness, removing the integrity of true wilderness. The ability to enjoy and access the wilderness on safe footing without fear of being run over is removed. Emergency services are used much more frequently for accidents involving snowmobiles, ATVs and other motorized “pleasure craft” than non-motorized sports like walking and bicycling. Accidents mean higher costs to the community and the provincial healthcare system. Environmentally, motorized pleasure vehicles are a 100 per cent waste of fossil fuel. If they were solar powered or operated on rechargeable batteries, our primary concerns would be speed, noise, responsible driving and safety of pedestrians. But in a world where ozone depletion, smog and carbon monoxide are serious environmental issues in the country and around the globe, encouraging sports that are 100 per cent waste of fossil fuel is indicative of an embarrassingly self-absorbed culture. Does Haliburton want to link itself to that ethos? If so, then ban all wants to become a part of an enlightened way of living where North Americans are not planning on remaining the waste gluttons and environment hogs of the planet, here is an opportunity. Open the trail for all groups 12 months a year, or ban ATV use in summer entirely. We already have roads for speeding. Place restrictions on motorized vehicles that use the trails: Limit size of engine and gasoline consumption of vehicles, and speed on the trails. Phase out 100 per cent control by the snowmobile sector. Why should motorized users have 100 per cent control in winter but not lose any access in summer?</div> <div> Sincerely,</div> <div> Shirley McCormick,</div> <div> Minden ON.</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>