As previously mentioned, the City of Kawartha Lakes has hired consultants to review the Trails Master Plan which was last done in 2006.
A lot has changed in those 15 years, including our sport. The growth in ATV riders and the introduction of SxS has presented some challenges to everyone from city staff and KATVA to all trail users, both motorized and non-motorized. We know there will likely be a move by local residents during this process to ban ATVs and snowmobiles from the section of rail trail from Thunderbridge Rd to Ken Rei Road in Lindsay as well as the section from Fenelon Falls (Garnet Graham Park) to Northline Rd.
We will be a part of this process and as always we will do our part, but it’s important that you do your part as well. If you follow the link below you will see that there are several ways to participate in the process including a survey, discussion board, question tab and interactive map. Please complete the survey in the very least but also the discussion board as you will soon see that almost every comment in the discussion board is against ATVs already. Please do not waste any time arguing with those who have already posted comments. You will never win an argument against people who are so biased, instead please post your own positive comments about how you enjoy the trails with your family and friends. If you use the trails not only for ATVing but other activities such as walking and cycling please make that known. If you ride an ATV because you can’t enjoy the trails any other way for physical reasons or riding is important to your mental health as it is for some of us, please make that known as well whether it’s through the discussion board or a private email to the consultants and city staff. Their emails are on the page. There is also an interactive map where you can drop pins to mention your favorite parts of the trail. Make sure you make it known how much you enjoy riding into Fenelon Falls on the trail.
Please no matter what be respectful and take the high ground. We have a great working relationship with the municipal staff and have a tremendous respect for them. They have a tough job and will never make everyone happy so let’s show them our respect for what they do for us and their hard work because they have always been respectful dealing with us. Sell them on keeping the trails open to EVERYONE as it should be. Give us something to work with on your behalf to save our use of the trails and possibly open up access to more trails in the future. We will be sending this out to all our members via email and we will post it on our business page for you to share as well.
The KATVA Team.