By Judie Steeves
Vernon Morning Star (BC, Canada)
New legislation to protect sensitive alpine areas in the
Okanagan comes into effect July 1, and will prohibit motor vehicles above 1,700
metres (5,577 feet) in elevation, except on existing roads or trails.
Snowmobiles are excluded from the regulation.
Rapid growth in the popularity of All-Terrain Vehicles
(ATVs) and some of the highest density of roads in the province with easy
access to alpine areas are given as reasons for the new legislation, which will
apply to 11 percent of the region's alpine terrain.
Similar legislation prohibiting motor vehicles from high
elevation areas is already in place in parts of the Thompson, Kootenay,
Caribou, Skeena, Omenica and Peace Regions of
the province.
Bans on motor vehicles in alpine elevations in the Omenica
and Peace are larger in area than the Okanagan regulation, but they don't have
the same high levels of access, road and trail density, or off-road
recreational use that the Okanagan does.
It's the first time such a ban has covered an entire region
in B.C.
It's being considered a pilot for determining whether such a
move will work to reduce off-road damage to vulnerable alpine vegetation in
areas of higher access and recreational use.
Because of the very short season for plants to grow at high
elevations, between snowmelt in spring or early summer, and snowfall in autumn,
they are especially susceptible to death rather than just damage from tires.
The new rules were approved by the provincial legislature
during the spring sitting and have been included in this year's hunting and
trapping regulation synopsis.
They received general support from such stakeholder groups
as the B.C. Wildlife Federation, the Guide Outfitters' Association of B.C., the
B.C. Trappers' Association, the B.C. Cattlemen's Association, the Quad Riders'
ATV Association of B.C., the Southern Interior Stockmen's Association and B.C. Parks.
The definition of road includes those with a paved surface,
marked ski trails, those used for logging or mining, those used to access
fences, power lines, wind generators or communication towers or "a trail on
which there is no vegetation except on a strip that, if present, can be
straddled by a four-wheel vehicle."
