Caribou closures will affect Tumbler Ridge sledding, but not in the way you might expect says Ridge Rider Snowmobile Club President Justin Kruse.
“In all reality, we didn’t get hit hard,” says Kruse. “The Pine Pass really got hit bad, and I think it’s going to push people here.”
Which means that the already busy riding areas—like Core Lodge—are going to get even busier over the next few years. “We’re going to run into issues with staging areas, parking, roads ploughed, signage, communication…all that stuff.”
Fortunately, says Kruse, the Provincial Government will be helping, at least somewhat, with helping the club deal with the expected influx of new riders. “There are enhancement funds coming from the Provincial Government,” says Kruse. “We don’t have a dollar amount set, but it’s looking like it could be fairly substantial.”
The closures are part of a deal announced between the Federal and Provincial Government and the West Moberly and Saulteau First Nations. The agreement is designed to protect southern mountain caribou in Northeastern BC, while considering the social and economic well-being of communities and stakeholders in the region.
The agreement was signed on February 21, 2020 as First Nations representatives and stakeholders gathered in Vancouver to celebrate the signing of the amended Partnership Agreement.
The number of caribou in British Columbia has dropped over the last century from about 40,000 animals to about 15,000. Southern mountain caribou populations now total fewer than 3,100. The population of the central group of southern mountain caribou is about 230.
As part of the agreement, the 2,689-hectare Klin-se-za Provincial Park will be expanded by 30,800 hectares, to about the size of Gwillim Provincial Park.
The agreement also places interim protections on another 550,000 hectares in the mountainous area west stretching from south of Tumbler Ridge to north of Chetwynd.
Since then, snowmobilers had been waiting for the announcement of which areas would be closed to sledding. The proposed closure announcement finally came out near the end of December.
Over the last few months, Kruse has been studying the maps to see what sort of impact the closures will have, as well as meeting with the Government. “There are no new closures in the Core Lodge area,” he says. “There are some closures on far east of mine site.”
Ironically, of all the areas that are going to benefit from the closures, this area will—hopefully—see the most improvements. “The closures should actually benefit the Core Lodge area,” he says. “The club has been fighting with the government to get a Partnership Agreement in place there. All the areas that are left open are supposed to be under a Partnership Agreement, so we should be able to move forward with shelters and grooming in that area.”
While there are no closures in the Core Lodge area, the Bullmoose riding area has been hit the hardest, though what form that takes is still up for discussion. “It is a Special Management Area,” says Kruse. “The implications of that are not 100 percent written in stone yet, but it’s probably going to be open or closed on a day-to-day basis, based on live collar data. Riders are going to need a permit to ride in the area when it’s open. If you do join the snowmobile club, you’ll get a permit as part of your membership. If you don’t, you’re on your own to get it.”
While the form that takes is still being hammered out, Kruse suspects there is probably going to be a website that people are going to have to log into to see if it’s open or closed that day. “The onus will be on whoever is riding out there to know if it is open or closed. The Conservation Officers are going to be out there,” he says.
“Bullmoose is the biggest hit we took. We’re still going to have to wait to see what happens with that. It is a really good family riding area; it’s not quite as busy as the core lodge, which is insane on weekends.”
While there are only a few closures in the Wolverine area, that riding area has been impacted with the Wolverine Forest Service Road being decommissioned. “We lost a little area on the southwest end of Albright Ridge. That’s high alpine riding and, while it does get used, it isn’t that much. But you have to cross the river to get there; it’s impossible to groom and you can barely ride into there. I’ve seen someone get up there, but they had to spend four hours shovelling.” Rogers Pass into the Wolverine remains open, but it a fairly technical ride.
Those are the three main riding areas around Tumbler Ridge. He says another relatively popular area—mostly with folks coming in from Grande Prairie—is the Red Deer area. “We lost a bit of riding on the far east side by Belcourt Lake, but it’s pretty negligible,” he says. “I think there’s some room for improvement with the Partnership Agreement. There’s a lot of riding available out there.”
As well, some folks like riding in the Murray River area. “All the stuff on the upper Murray remains open,” he says, other than the places that have always been closed, like Monkman Park. “Basically everything on the west side of the continental divide is closed, too.”
Rogers Pass to access Wolverine remains open.
He says that compared to Chetwynd and Mackenzie, Tumbler Ridge escaped relatively unscathed. “I’m not happy with what’s happening. Bullmoose is a big hit for family riding. But it could have been a lot worse. Look what happened to the Pine Pass. They lost a lot of riding areas. They didn’t get designated access routes. We did. The biggest hit Tumbler Ridge has taken for snowmobiling was the deactivation of the Wolverine Forest Service Road.”
Trent is the publisher of Tumbler RidgeLines.
