New West Bragg Creek Trails Master Plan
The trails in West Bragg Creek have never been as popular as during the past 2 years. The pandemic has really shown us how important trails are to our mental and physical well-being.
Bragg Creek Trails Association (BCTA) is feeling the effects of this added demand and recognizes the impact this notoriety is having on our community, both good and bad.
Having Calgary at our front door and Kananaskis Country at our back door makes it seem like our living room is always full of guests. This really started with the flood in 2013 that left much of K-Country closed to recreation. At that time, the trails in West Bragg Creek remained virtually intact and easily accessible so it wasn’t long before the word was out. The rest is history as they say. As visitor numbers have steadily increased each year since then, the Alberta Government working with BCTA tried to flex to meet the demand. The construction of a new 465 stall parking lot in the Provincial Recreation Area was necessitated by the parking “free for all” that resembled Chinook Mall on a weekend.
To deal with these added pressures on the trail system, associated infrastructure and the environment, BCTA as a stakeholder in this multi-use public land use zone, is now partnering with Alberta Environment and Parks (AEP) to develop the West Bragg Creek Trails Master Plan. This plan builds on the previous 10 year plan but now focuses more on managing what we have already built rather than looking at a lot of new trail construction. We have included the input of other stakeholder groups in putting together the first draft of the plan. This preliminary draft recently went through phase 1 of public consultation where we received 855 comments and had 364 pin drops on the interactive maps provided. We are now in the process of compiling the data we have received. Plan priorities are outlined in the Terms of Reference where the planning committee was challenged to answer the questions “What has changed?” and “What’s new?” and “How can we better manage these first 2 questions?”
Taking pressure off of the WBC trailhead by improving access from Highway 66 is an example of objectives laid out by the plan. By adding strategic link trails to complete loops would also serve to make underused areas more accessible from other sites. The planning committee also looked at where illegal trail building activities are occurring in order to determine if a sanctioned trail would meet the criteria laid out in the terms of reference. Other management initiatives are aimed at reducing conflicts between different user groups while still managing the trails as multi-use trails. Incorporating strong environment stewardship principles has been a common theme as each recommendation is evaluated.
Once the revised plan is completed, another round of public consultation will occur in late Spring or early Summer. This process will be broadly advertised for comment. Approval by Alberta Environment and Parks as the land manager will only occur once they are satisfied that a sustainable plan has been achieved that checks off all the boxes in the Terms of Reference.
info@braggcreektrails.org
https://braggcreektrails.org
