The problem of all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) in public parks is a growing one in Powell River, according to users of Paradise Valley Exhibition Park, but a representative of Powell River Therapeutic Riding Association (PRTRA) said she would prefer riders be more respectful than be banned from the area.
According to PRTRA, there have been a few encounters within the park between clients on horses and riders on ATVs, or quads, in the past month to six weeks, an issue that was raised at a Powell River Regional District (PRRD) regular meeting on Thursday, March 24.
“What’s most important to us is the safety of our riders, staff and horses,” said Nellie Valentine, PRTRA president. “The noise from ATVs and horses don’t mix.”
Valentine confirmed there are not any signs posted at the entrances to the park prohibiting motorized vehicles, despite it being illegal.
Most of the association’s horse rides stay within the confines of the park, but sometimes they do venture out into the trails on the other side of McLeod Road, near to the park lands, said Valentine.
For the most part, when her riders have met ATVs on the trails, riders have been very respectful, said Valentine.
“We are looking for the same level of respect from people who ride inside the park,” she added. “We are not looking to police the park, just ensure it’s safe for everyone.”
According to Alan Rebane, president of Paradise Valley Exhibition Park Society (PEPS), the body responsible for managing the regional park, riding quads inside the regional district park is against the PRRD’s bylaws.
“It’s a safety issue for us,” said Rebane.
With the park being used by the therapeutic riding association to help children and adults with physical and mental disabilities the “last thing we want is for those horses to be spooked,” he said.
Rebane confirmed the problem is not frequent and he has only heard complaints about ATVs in the park during the winter. He said he thought ATVs may be cutting through the park to get to the trails that lead off of McLeod Road.
Little can be done to stop riders from entering the park, short of putting up fences and gates, something Rebane said he is hesitant to do.
Rebane added that one potential remedy could come from the province’s recently enacted law to regulate quads and other off-road vehicles on Crown land. Paradise Valley park is part of a Crown land tenure.
The Off-Road Vehicle Act requires mandatory registration of off-road vehicles, such as quads, snowmobiles and dirt bikes, and the display of a licence plate or sticker for identification purposes. The act gives enforcement officers the ability to ticket, inspect and seize vehicles.
Since it was enacted this winter, few tickets have been issued, only 27 in total province-wide, and those came from northern BC, none inside PRRD.
According to a spokesperson for Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations, the reason so few tickets have been issued is the government is focusing on education and ticketing only in “blatant infractions or those that pose significant impact to public safety, health or the environment.”
While reporting riders to the province might seem like a solution, it would require the public to step up in policing the parks, said Rebane.
Pat Walsh, president of Powell River Outdoor Recreation Users Group Trails Society, an umbrella group that exists to promote communication and problem solving between the various groups that use Powell River’s over 200 trails, said he suggests posting signs could be a first step toward solving the problem.
Walsh said a similar situation is happening in Millennium Park. Trail-maintenance volunteers recently blocked off quad access to the park in several locations.
He said that while Powell River ATV Riders, a member group of ORUG, helped lay gravel on the Triple Bypass loop inside the park last year, the members of that club now know that Millennium Park is not somewhere to take an ATV.
“Yet, there are some people who don’t get that,” said Walsh. “The first thing to do is get some signs up and do the public education.”
