GSMG wrote:Dear Joe,
Thank-you for your e-mail of Sept 29, 2011.
On Oct 20, 2011, the Ghost Stewardship Monitoring Group (GSMG) had its most recent meeting and reviewed your letter. We acknowledged your concerns, and generally agreed with your sentiments about the lack of a sustainable OHV trail system. The Ghost Stewardship Monitoring Group has recently prepared an internal review and in it we have made numerous observations confirming your sentiments and anticipating the frustration you are expressing.
Recreational trail development and construction is not currently a budgeted item for Government of Alberta. ASRD has clearly indicated it has no monies that it can devote to trails in the Ghost Public Land Use Zone. To that end, the committee has created trail criteria, proposal guidelines, and proposal evaluation processes for groups that are looking to develop durable trails in the Ghost. Since creating those processes, seven proposals have been reviewed by the GSMG, and six of those projects have been recommended to ASRD, all of those are now underway or have been implemented. This is, however, just a very small step towards providing a sensible and sustainable trail system in the Ghost.
We do take your letter and your sentiments very seriously. Please understand that the Government and this Committee currently not able to create your recreational opportunity for you. What the GSMG has done is to create project guidelines, and users can choose to apply to create trails within those guidelines. The one key message that we would ask you to take away from this communication it is that there is indeed a way to improve the trails and create the recreational opportunity you are seeking; it requires users like yourself to secure funding either from your recreational community or lobby Government to fund such projects.
We urge users such as you to become part of the process and join or form clubs to undertake trail projects. The GSMG are not experts on what your recreational community wants for trails. We need your input to develop a superior and effective trail system in the Ghost. As a registered society, you can fundraise, apply for grants, more effectively lobby governmental agencies and or access various other sources of funding to help develop the Ghost motorized trail system
In response to your comments regarding the Sierra Club information in the media, we are reluctant to comment on their numbers or sources of information other than these are not the numbers that the GSMG uses. When making management recommendations on motorized recreation in the Ghost, we utilize the best available science often provided directly by ASRD and do not pander to perceived conditions in the region.
Finally, we will offer to have one of our committee members meet with you and or your club to explain the trail criteria and trail proposal process to ensure you understand our guidelines and how you might follow them to help us develop a sustainable OHV trail network in the Ghost.
On behalf of the Ghost Stewardship Monitoring Group,
Peter Straub, Vice-Chair
pstraub@gmail.com
CC:to
Martin Buckley, Chair
martin.buckley@mdbighorn.ca
Les Bon-Benard, Past Chair
les.bon-bernard@shaw.ca
Roger Meyer, ASRD Land Manager
roger.meyer@gov.ab.ca