Hikers want ATVs off remote trails

A group that uses remote New Brunswick trails for hiking and cycling wants the provincial government to reverse its decision to open 155 kilometres of trail to motorized all-terrain vehicles for safety reasons.

Allowing ATVs on the same trails as pedestrians and cyclists is dangerous, says the president of the New Brunswick Trails Council, a non-profit group that has worked for more than a decade to develop a provincewide system of trails for non-motorized use.

"We were looking last week at an accident here in Campbellton where an ATV hit and killed a cyclist on the highway," John Van Horne says. "And there's a lot more room to manoeuvre on the highway than there is on anine-foot-wide stretch of trail."

Premier Bernard Lord's governmentdecided to allowATVs on woods trails last week, apparently giving up on its long and difficult battle to restrict the machines to private property.

The trails are currently being used during the winter by the New Brunswick Federation of Snowmobile Clubs (NBFSC), and include Saint-Quentin to Tide Head, Millville to Newburg, and Fredericton Junction to Oromocto.

Lose key partner

Last April, the trails council lost a key partner because it refused to agree to allow motorized vehiclesaccess to thetrails.

The provincial organization received about 10 per cent of its funding and some marketing from the Trans Canada Trail Foundation, a group trying to build a trail system from Newfoundland to British Columbia.

The national group decided to partner with the New Brunswick ATV Federation instead of the trails group to bring more money into the project.

Jacques Poirier, president of the ATV Federation,is encouraged by the government's decision to open the trails to his members.

He says the trails in question are in isolated areas with no more than 100 users a year, and his organization is looking at ways to minimize any risk to any other people on the trails.

"One of the things that we're looking at is to establish speed limits, and sections where we will have multi-use trails, we will look at a very limited speed limit. We are looking at a maximum speed limit of 50 kilometres an hour on all of our trails."

Poirier says the ATV Federation is paying for maintenance of the trail sections at a cost of $15,000 and $62,000.