OHV Stakeholder Meeting – February 7th, 7:00PM - Hi-Line Polaris Wetaskiwin, Conference Room

Subject: Alberta Government’s draft amendment to BAN OHV in the Castle Area.

On January 20th, the Alberta Government announced it’s draft with intention to BAN all OHV access (Summer & Winter) to all trails & backroads including the 1300km presently maintained by local clubs in the Castle area. The Crowsnest Pass Quad Squad, Hillcrest Fish and Game, and many users, stakeholders and associations in Alberta - are all concerned about this proposed draft management plan which proposes to phase out OHV use.

Castle, represents 1 of the 5 large major areas for OHV trail riding in Alberta. This Alberta Government, put forth an amendment draft to the 2014 South Saskatchewan Regional Plan, and seemingly without balanced stakeholder consultation and economic impact study performed to date – has reversed the inclusion of OHV access from the original SSRP.

As this amendment follows the intentions of the numerous Environmental Lobby Groups pushing for banning of OHV along the Rocky Mountains, we believe that we need to stand together to support Responsible OHV use and trails to prevent the loss of our recreation in these areas.

We are hosting an OHV Stakeholder Meeting, in which we will be providing:
1) Background Presentation and Information details on this issue.
2) Participate in the Live broadcast of the QuadSquad Town Hall meeting. (see attached)
3) Take your input, concerns and recommendations on these issues to send a strong message to the Government requesting consultation with the stakeholders and affected users. We will use your input to provide a consolidated list to send to the Alberta Government.
4) Contact information & Petition information to have your voice heard.

We believe that the Government has not given this topic proper allowances for input into the draft management plan, allowing only 60 days to do so which means that this draft may come into the actual plan on March 20th, 2017. We need to act quickly to have our voices heard.

We have chairs for 60, room for 100. Please bring a foldup chair if coming in groups. To ensure room, please RSVP to one of us below, and please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions. Meeting will start at 7pm sharp, with Live broadcast beginning at 7:30pm. Use side door if arriving after 7.00pm. Meeting Address: Hi-line Polaris 4715-39 Ave, Wetaskiwin.
Hope to see you on the 7th !

Regards
Garett Schmidt

Garett Schmidt – gschmidt@cw-industrial.com 780 690 0372
Jerry Mohr – centralsledsales@telus.net 780 678 5699
Marco Vanderburg – marcov@hilinecnh.com 780 361 6603

News Links & Info to read:

http://passherald.ca/archives/170125/index1.htm
http://castleparks.ca/a-letter-to-the-editor/
http://www.aohva.com/pdf/AOHVA-Media-Release-Jan-26,-2017-.pdf
http://www.cohv.ca/press-releases/canadians-spent-6-9-billion-on-direct-activities-involving-atvs-and-rovs-in-2015/
https://talkaep.alberta.ca/CastleManagementPlan
https://www.landuse.alberta.ca/RegionalPlans/SouthSaskatchewanRegion/SSRPConsultation/Pages/default.aspx