Goals of this petition:

1. For Metro Vancouver/Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve (MV/LSCR)  to commit to a modern, collaborative, transparent and mutually respectful relationship with the Mountain Biking (MTB) Community.
   
   
2. For MV/LSCR to create an application process to sanction trails, utilizing something akin to the Trail Environment Screening Tool developed by Shushwap Trail Alliance which has been incredibly successful in recreation line creation across the province, so it can fulfil its duty as a land manager in this capacity.
   
   
3. For MV/LSCR to acknowledge the need for new sanctioned trails and to commit to the creation of new mountain biking and mixed use for the reasons outlined below in this petition. This approach should be collaborative not only with the community and NSMBA but also First Nations and adjacent land managers.

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Contents:

• Acknowledgements/Disclaimer
• Introduction
• History between MV/LSCR and the MTB community
• Why MV/LSCR should support the creation of new trails and this petition
• Conclusion
• Contact Emails
• Appendix A - Recent Articles

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Acknowledgements/Disclaimers:

• This petition is the stance of the community, NOT that of the North Shore Mountain Biking Association (NSMBA).
  
  
• We recognize the trails are on the unceded territories of the Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh), xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), and Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) Nations.
  
  
• We acknowledge that MV/LSCR is the administrative body for the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve and therefore it is they who has the final say in the creation of any sanctioned trails on their lands as land managers for the public.
  
  
• We acknowledge that Metro Vancouver is one of 4 land managers on Seymour (also B.C. Parks, DNV, Rec Sites & Trails B.C.).
  
  
• We acknowledge that not all trails are built in a sustainable manner where impacts on soil degradation, erosion, flora and fauna or waterbodies/watercourses are mitigated in a way that is acceptable for the context of land management pertaining to the LSCR and their sustainability requirements.

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Introduction:
The MTB community is calling on Metro Vancouver’s Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve to have a more transparent and progressive approach to its sanctioned trail management process that falls in line with other nearby municipalities and lands managers; the LSCR being the body responsible for trails on MV lands on Mount Seymour.

This approach should encourage and allow the sport to continue to grow in a sustainable and safe manner that benefits all trail use communities as well as land managers/administrators that also retains the region's position as one of the most iconic areas for mountain biking globally.

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The history between MV/LSCR and the MTB Community:
Over the last 2 decades the MTB community in the Vancouver area has experienced what could only be called adversarial behavior from the LSCR. Two events in particular have caused the community to have significant mistrust in MV/LSCR despite numerous other small instances adding to that over time as well.

CBC trail:
CBC trail, built in the late 90s, has been called the “Poster Child” trail of the NSMBA and even has notoriety globally as one of THE most influential “North Shore” style mountain biking trails.

Around 2014 LSCR stopped issuing trail maintenance permits for the NSMBA to do work on CBC trail. The denial of trail maintenance permits led to the trail's deterioration, which in turn caused environmental harm, including significant erosion. Over the following years, MV/LSCR decommissioned many wood stunts on the trail that they had previously expressed liability concerns about using the excuse that the trail was falling into a state of disrepair and becoming unsafe. 

This was after the community, sponsors, and taxpayers contributed tens of thousands of dollars annually in maintenance and upkeep for years prior to this decision. This move by LSCR/Metro Vancouver saw riders and builders forced to other areas around that part of the mountain to be able to continue to pursue their pastime.

Fast forward to 2018 and the community saw CBC added to LSCR’s “Trails Strategic Plan”.  On page 57 of the report one can read through the analysis of CBC trail provided by LEES+ Associates. Much of the analysis put forward in the report is poor and/or out of context such as comparing CBC trail traffic counter numbers to much lower elevation predominantly pedestrian paths or asserting the “[speeds of mountain bikers on CBC trail don’t make it friendly for multi use]” while many other trails on Mount Seymour are much higher speed trails and have been designated as multi use trails (Neds for example). These examples along with many more questionable comments and analysis are scattered throughout the whole report.

In 2022 MV/LSCR received praise from IMBA Canada for rebuilding CBC, with no mention that mismanagement by MV/LSCR was the reason the trail needed to be rebuilt in the first place, using taxpayer dollars when that could have been mostly avoided by keeping the local community and NSMBA involved.

2016-2017 Online Trail Use Survey data being disregarded:
From 2016 to 2017 Metro Vancouver through LEES+ Associates, a local “Landscaping Architecture and Planning firm” canvassed 1077 trail users over 40 days total in that year period in person at various access points in the LSCR as well as put out an online survey to gather information as well.

The mountain biking community saw this as a great opportunity to contribute information for the management of trails in the LSCR’s jurisdiction and shared the online link around various community pages hoping to have our voices heard.

However in their resulting report LEES+ Associates deemed that only the in-person “Public Intercept” statistics were valid and that the online data was not “statistically valid” to be used in the Trails Strategic Plan thus omitting much of the input from the community for the sake of trail planning going forward. (See page 30 of the 2018 LSCR's "Trails Strategic Plan".)

Fast forward to today:
The existence of unsanctioned trails on LSCR lands on Mount Seymour has without a doubt been driven in a large part by short sighted policy decisions by individuals who have shown not only inability to interpret data presented to them in context but who also have conveyed a clear bias against the MTB community.

The constant flip-flopping of sanctioning then removing sanctioned status from many trails over the last decades along with the sudden removal of trail permits with no warning on trails that have seen hundreds of thousands of dollars and thousands of hours of community investment sets a poor tone. 

On top of that alluding to liability as a justification to decommission trails/parts of trails where the the Province of B.C.’s Occupiers Land Act indicates that mountain biking trail features would have no more liability than a staircase would is just another bad taste in the communities mouth. 

Because of this many long time builders, ex-NSMBA board members and community figures repeatedly have expressed a feeling that MV/LSCR’s decisions are often “my way or the highway” with little to no room for any discussion and at this point have a “why bother nothing good will come of it” mentality when the mention of collaboration with the MV/LSCR comes up. 

In the words of a community member who has been involved at many levels over the years as the sport grew from its infancy here “LSCR has been an absentee land manager who has abdicated their responsibility via neglect and is now trying a heavy handed approach” as we’ve witnessed in the last weeks to claw back control over something they could and should have managed better in the first place. If they had not been so set on disregarding and disrespecting the wishes of the community repeatedly for decades perhaps they wouldn’t find themselves faced with such disregard and disrespect in turn.

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Why MV/LSCR should support new MTB and Multi use sanctioned trails and aim to collaborate more amicably with the MTB community:

1) Increase in activity and population by all user groups:
The population in the Metro Vancouver area has increased from just over 2,000,000 to 2,700,000 (26%) since 2004 and North Vancouver (District and City Combined) has increased from 127,600 to 146,200 (15%) over the period from 2006 to 2021 . This is with the District of North Vancouver aiming to add 5200 new units alone in the next year or so which would be equivalent to the population increase of 15-30 years previously. 

Other municipalities and land administrators seeing population growth with a large and active mountain biking community such as nearby Squamish have opted to be progressive and work with the community, independent builders, mountain bike clubs, developers and the province to ensure that new trails that are necessary to sustain the growth of the sport - particularly post pandemic boom - is sustainable and done in a way that cuts down on unsanctioned trail building. Even land managers in historically conservative West Vancouver have seen that the healthy collaboration with the community is key to moving forward given recent work on Cypress Mountain.

2) Better collaboration would allow for the sharing of resources between MV/LSCR, NSMBA and the community:
In many of its public reports the MV/LSCR has articulated a stance that conveys a tone where it is the only source of finances, manpower and advocacy for trails in their jurisdiction. With a more collaborative approach they could draw on decades of expertise in the area as North Vancouver area has builders who have knowledge and skills unparalleled globally with various ones winning awards within the global MTB community for their work. Instead of pushing these people out MV/LSCR should be working with them to draw on their expertise if their intent is to actually provide the highest quality of trails in terms of sustainability.  

To that effect some existing unsanctioned trails have higher build quality in terms of sustainability and maintenance than good numbers of trails that are sanctioned in the area. Instead of just decommissioning these trails MV/LSCR should look to identify if there’s a cause driving a need for a trail in those areas and if so what if any tweaks they might need to be turned into recreation lines that meet the MV/LSCR’s sustainability standards which im sure builders would happily comply with to keep trails from being decommissioned.

3) Inability of LSCR to address trail maintenance or rebuilds in a timely or fiscally responsible manner:
Existing sanctioned trails have never been built by MV/LSCR. The community and NSMBA have shown themselves to be much more responsive with trail maintenance needs and rebuilds than LSCR has ever been, not to mention LSCR also does not have the manpower nor the expertise to build or maintain trails at a rate required with the traffic that trails get here. 

4) Trail maintenance involvement by user group:
The mountain biking community is by far the most active and prominent in terms of hours and manpower in the investment towards maintaining, and building, trails. What other community groups have trail maintenance days within MV/LSCR where they help maintain the infrastructure they use? Furthermore the NSMBA works hard to create an avenue for the handful of other user group members to get involved in any maintenance work.

5) Reduction in rogue trail creation/use:
Creation of new well built, community minded sanctioned trails mitigates the allure for individuals to construct and use unsanctioned trails, particularly in areas where there are no sanctioned trails that allow access between various parts of the trail network. Especially when many of those “rogue areas” have been hosting trails for a decade or more at this point.

6) Less stress on North Shore Rescue/First Responders:
Rogue trails existing in abundance cause stress for search and rescue (SAR) efforts should something happen to any type of trail users. Properly marked and built trails that comply with standards and traverse areas where user groups are recreating mitigate life-threatening incidents if they’re easier for SAR to access.

7) Mountain Biking Economic impact:
The economic impact of mountain biking is massive compared to other 3 season trail use like hiking, dog walking and trail running and has been for decades.

• Mountain biking visitor spending in Squamish soars to $26 million in 2023: SORCA report
• SEA TO SKY MOUNTAIN BIKING TRAILS GENERATE $10.3 MILLION (2007)

8) E-MTB’s creating ease of access to higher elevation trails:
The boom in E-MTB use has caused an increase in traffic on trails at higher elevations as they’re now easier to access for users who might previously not had the time and/or fitness to do so. These trails benefit from more access routes for the reason mentioned in point 3 above.

9) The community has expressed interest and desire for new trails:
Recent user surveys have indicated a strong desire for more new trails as seen in the 2024 NSMBA community survey. 

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In conclusion:
MV/LSCR collaborating with the community and all other related bodies - that is NSMBA, independant builders, First Nations and adjacent land managers and stakeholders - in a more transparent way than they have over the last 2 decades would benefit all parties involved.

The mountain biking community that utilizes MV/LSCR lands extends well beyond Metro Vancouver. This community will continue to grow as will all user groups and given congestion on main routes and in parking areas during peak months it is clear that the capacity of the trail network and supporting infrastructure is stretched thin. 

Since LSCR is not an elected body and thus has been able to utilize poor or out of context statistics to justify regressive land management decisions without requirement to answer to the public over the years it seems that calling on elected officials that preside over LSCR decision makers to get involved is the only way to elicit change since nothing else that has been attempted previously has worked. 

Please sign this petition and better yet send an email after you do so to any/all of the following groups or individuals below with your thoughts. Even the smallest standalone message in support of this petition will go far!

(Note: Change.org always prompts for donations and that they are optional and do not directly support the cause of this petition other than by supporting the platform it is hosted on.)


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Contact Emails:
For any email you send, cc the LSCR's email: lscr@metrovancouver.org

Heidi Walsh, Director of Watershed and Environmental Management email: 
Heidi.walsh@metrovancouver.org

Metro Vancouver Water Committee Members emails:

Brad West (C) – Port Coquitlam​​ email: westb@portcoquitlam.ca

Mark Sager (VC) – West Vancouver email: mark@westvancouver.ca

P​aul Albrecht– Langley City email: palbrecht@langleycity.ca

Don Bell – North Vancouver City email: dbell@cnv.org

Laura Cassidy – scəẃaθən məsteyəxʷ ​(Tsawwassen First Nation) email: lcassidy@tsawwassenfirstnation.com

Alicia Guichon – Delta email: aguichon@delta.ca

Craig Hodge – Coquitlam email: chodge@coquitlam.ca

Joe Keithley – Burnab​y email: joe.keithley@burnaby.ca

Mike Little – North Vancouver District email: mayor@dnv.org

Nicole MacDonald – Pitt Meadows email: NMacDonald@pittmeadows.ca

Peter Meiszner – Vancouver email: CLRmeiszner@vancouver.ca ​

Rob Rindt – Langley Township​ email: rrindt@tol.ca

Rob Stutt – Surrey​ email: rob.stutt@surrey.ca

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Appendix A - Recent Articles:
NSMB - Seymour Trail Closures Announced
Editorial: The blame is shared in North Shore mountain bike trail conflicts

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I would also like to say a big thank you to the community members who I pestered over the last week and a bit while assembling all of this information for the petition. Your tolerance of my constant prodding to verify things during my research was much appreciated.

Also to Deniz Merdano @blackbird_works for the photo