Editor: There seems to be some confusion in a recent letter regarding the Quarry Lake Bike Trail project and I would like to help offer some clarity – or at the very least, another perspective.
The letter stated that “in your opinion” this is a bike park, but there isn’t really a subjective definition of bike park. No one is proposing the installation of a chairlift and house-sized jumps.
In any case, a non-cyclist’s opinion of what is or isn’t a bike park is hard to take seriously; your disregard for the needs and concerns of the cycling community nullifies your opinions of various types of terrain. The Quarry Park Bike Trail will not be a trail unto itself. Instead, it will be a fairly basic, short connector to help separate users and enhance safety, so that dog walkers who want to enjoy the natural splendour of the powerline clearcut can do so without the distraction or aggravation of the occasional cyclist.
You insinuated that it’s a money making machine, but it’s important to understand that this will not be a tourism draw, nor will it feature a toll. This is purely for members of the community who do not share your love for the powerline cut, and would like to connect our existing trails in a more enjoyable manner. This trail has almost no slope to it, and no real elevation loss or gain; it is a short connector trail that will help separate users and enhance the safety of all users of this area.
Finally, you suggested that “preservation and protection of our wildlands, natural parks and green areas” have always been core values in this community. They will remain so, and this project speaks directly to those values. This project will move users out of the areas with which you are concerned, and provide a basic experience in a place of low impact to the advantage of wildlife – and people, too.
Projects like this can work to the benefit of both wildlife and humans. And if you believe this not to be the case, I suggest you examine your own presence in the Bow Valley, and consider moving back to Toronto or Québec or the States, and give the bears of the Bow just that much more space.
The concerns of wildlife seem to be the final refuge of the last great NIMBYs, whose profound hypocrisy undermines the very core of their arguments for residence. The vast majority of us do not need to be saved from ourselves. Squeezing “this last bit of human use” from an area sandwiched between a significant traffic artery and a powerline clearcut makes a remarkable amount of big-picture sense. Want the true wilds? Get out into the true wilds. These are not them.
To all councillors, the mayor, and administration: please let Canmore have a balanced community, and enable balanced recreational experiences in areas that make sense for both people and wildlife. Please look at the big picture and move ahead with the Quarry Bike Park Mountain Bike Trail – and give short shrift to innate selfish NIMBYism.
Stefan Bullock,
Canmore
