Feds pump brakes on St. John's mountain bike trail expansion
CBC
The elaborate mountain bike trail system that runs through the White Hills in the east end of St. John's might go unnoticed by many.
But the fact volunteers were trying to add to the growing network wasn't missed by the federal government, which sat down with the Avalon Mountain Bike Association earlier this year and asked them to stop.
"Basically it was a cease and desist on all new construction," said AMBA's president, Lachlan Roe-Bose.
"We said we'd keep them in the loop on anything that we wanted to do maintenance-wise."
With new trail-building plans now on hold, the not-for-profit group is focusing its attention on maintenance of existing trails.
Mountain bikers began building the trails in the White Hills in the summer of 1997.
Chris Jerrett, the owner of Freeride Mountain Sports in St. John's, led the volunteers back then and is still on site today overseeing the work on the more than 17 kilometres of developed trails.
"Now we have this spectacular network of trails and a mission of conservation that everybody wants to get behind," he said while taking a break during a weekly build.
The bikers who use the trails also maintain them — hiking in to get to the trails with tools in hand — once a week when the weather allows.
It's laborious work as the builders lug large rocks around and move tons of soil and dirt to make the trail.
"We got a massive increase in usage during the pandemic, and that has stuck," Boe-Rose said. "What's happened is [the trails] are degrading faster than we can really keep up with."
The land sits between the back of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans building and the RCMP's headquarters. It belongs to the federal government and is overseen by Public Services and Procurement Canada.
Earlier this year, AMBA met with Helena Jaczek, minister of the department at the time, before a federal cabinet shuffle.
Boe-Rose said the group has gotten lots of support from provincial and federal politicians, but the two sides still need an agreement.
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