Thursday, October 19, 2017

Ontario Trail News 19/10/17 Trailwise - Ontario Trail Activities, Trailhead Canada Itinerary, Member Updates, Meetings and more!

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  • Trailhead Canada Updates • Trail News • Activity Updates 

Trailhead Canada 2017

Working Towards a Framework for a National Trails Strategy

November 22 - November 23
The Years Premier Conference on All Things Trails is

Only 40 Days Away, So Register Now!
 

To Mark Canada's 150Anniversary,

Join Organizations And Representatives From Around The Nation As They Gather In Gatineau And Ottawa To Develop A Framework For A National Trails Strategy.  

Representatives from provincial and national parks and trails organizations, policy makers, granting organizations and trail developers will all be present during the 2-day conference to collaborate on a framework that will align trail priorities and practices at the national level.

Ensure Your Organization's Voice Is Heard by attending the conference and contributing to a truly national framework that will one day lead to a nationally recognized gold standard in trail practice.

Pre Conference Evening Reception

Network with colleagues from around the nation, local leaders and MPs in Canada's capital region (November 21)
 
 

Affordable Travel and Accommodation Options

 
       
 
Register Today and Ensure Your Voice Is Heard
 
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Patrick Connor BA (Hons) C.A.E., S.S.A.
C.E.O., Ontario Trails Council

Our mailing address is:
TrailHeadCanada2017@Gmail.com
 
Eventbrite - Trailhead Canada 2017


Sentiers Prescott Russell Implements
OTC Trail Counts System - Reports to Council


Composition and functioning of the CMEO

 
• Non-profit business structure that offers a great service with the establishment and maintenance of 380km of trails annually in P-R (of which 72km is the P-R Trail)
• Executive Committee of approximately 82 volunteers
• 2306 members
• Active: Fleet of 5 industrial surfacers for trail marking in the winter (value of $ 256,000)
• CMEO is part of OFSC District 1 (Eastern Ontario), which includes the tip territory starting at Kingston-Arnprior to Quebec, a 3900km network.
• District 1 is part of OFSC (Ontario Federation Snowmobile Club) with 31000km 96000+ members
• Centralized Financial Administration in Barrie at OFSC for 1 year
• LOEC no longer sells trail licenses. Sale is strictly online through the OFSC website. Trail permits are MTO (Ontario Ministry of Transportation) permits at $ 190 each and issued to OFSC for administration.
• CMEO receives a very thin operational budget ($ 140,000) to operate under this new business model. 12 jobs in the winter.

What the LOEC and OFSC provide to the UCPR, municipalities and P-R companies.
 
• 12484 active members in Eastern Ontario
• Snowmobiling is recognized as Ontario's # 1 winter tourist recreation experience by the government and the PR Recreational Trail is part of the Interprovincial Trail (TOP Trail "A" from Quebec to Manitoba) integrated into the 30,000 km network. OFSC
• Top trail A connects Quebec to Manitoba. Brings a lot of tourist traffic. People from outside Ontario and the United States.
• The Ottawa / P & R / SD & G / Kingston region is ranked # 2 in Ontario as a 3,900 km snowmobiling area (OFSC District 1)
• In May 2017, the Province of Ontario recognized and honoured the TOP "A" Trail (which the PR Recreational Trail is part of) as "Ontario's Signature Trail" and will be part of a program. promotion as a main tourist destination this winter.
• The P-R Trail is an interprovincial trail during the winter with $ 95 million of economic impact generated in Eastern Ontario, 900 full-time jobs and $ 1.7 billion in Ontario.
• In the winter the trail drives the economy in PR during a typically dead touristic period (more than $ 12 million in annual economic benefits in PR) and a few hundred full-time jobs (dealers, hotels, restaurants, outfitters) who benefit. 
• Impact of 1.7billion in Ontario
• 485 new snowmobiles sold in P-R (value of $ 7,350,000)
• 240 used snowmobiles sold in P-R by dealers (value of $ 1,440,000) 

• 119 full-time jobs in the winter between the 5 dealers, Le Chardo, Motel 1967 and Hammond Golf Club.
• Free marketing hiking signatures in P-R (Tour loops) including the 'French connection' in P-R and SDG as well as the Ontario map of trails and local businesses that appears on the map. http://www.district1ofsc.ca/trailloops.htm
• Provides many health benefits and other recreational opportunities in the winter without charging any users (walking, dog walking, cross-country skis, snowshoes)
• CMEO holds up-to-date signage and brush clearing with each pass of surfacer
• Volunteers clean up during winter cataclysm
• Discover the trail by several snowmobilers outside the region and discover it is a cycle and multi-use trails
• Free marketing with loop towers, ontario map of trails, businesses shown on the map.
• During the winter, it is practically the only major tourist activity accomplished and put in place by a large team of volunteers and some annual employees. In the summer it's Calypso and agro tourism
• OFSC offers $ 15 million per incident
• CMEO has completed some fundraising for community causes annually.
• CMEO gets involved in community activities such as carnivals by identifying trails or territory for certain activities
• Trails help wildlife (Deer, Moose have a hardened trail)
• CMEO and OFSC are lobbying for all agricultural sectors. (Law 101 (presentation at Queens Park), the defense of supply management for agricultural products, Farmers feed cities (during the fall in grain prices) Every major problem affecting agriculture, this one asks for our help directly The focus of economic development is based in part on tourism in P-R. We could better synchronize our strengths and assets to help businesses and attract more people with our unique attractions. The P-R Recreational Trail is an inexpensive natural facility benefiting many different segments of people. It should be considered in the same way as arenas, parks, bullets, soccer etc.


 
Capital Received by the P-R Recreational Trail  

• Oct 2004 .... At the creation of the recreational trail of P-R, beyond $ 10,000 in permanent signage was given (post of irons, signaling km and half km, stop, pre-stop etc.)
• Spring 2009: 4000 trees were donated to be transplanted to the recreational trail. CMEO did all the lobbying to get this project and bring it into action
• Nov 2010: $ 2,000 in recreational trail signage through Ontario Federation Snowmobile Club (OFSC) and National Trail Coalition
• March 2013: $ 80,664.95 was donated for recreational trail bridges through a grant
• Summer 2017: CMEO contacted Valoris sent people to help clean the gardens and other tasks.

CMEO has applied for a lot of grants but they have not been selected ...
 

 
Ontario Trails Council - Thanks Bob Payne and Ontario Nature!


Ontario Trails Council Comments on Bill 100 Impacts - 1 year on.





Page 2

Tracking land use issue impacts from Bill 100? - call OTC - 613-484-1140



Dear Stakeholders,

For those who are able to attend, please note that next week’s meeting will be held in the following location:

OCTOBER 24TH
Town of Whitby Council Chambers 575 Rossland Road East Whitby, ON L1N 2M8

Best,

Claire Basinski, B. ES, MCIP, RPP
Project Manager
Transportation | Planning & Advisory Services




Dear Stakeholders,
Thank you very much to those of you who were able to attend the technical agency meeting yesterday and / or the public session. We very much appreciated the input received and the discussion that took place.
For those who were not able to attend – and those that attended – we have consolidated the materials presented and would appreciate it if you would take some time to review them and provide your input. The materials presented yesterday include:
  1. A presentation which provides an overview of some of the key elements of the study process, an overview of the proposed network including recommended facility types as well as suggested recommendations in the areas of engineering, encouragement, education, enforcement and evaluation; and
  2. Mapping of the proposed cycling network for the County and each of the local area municipalities which illustrates the route alignment as well as the proposed facility types.
Please use the link below to access the materials presented:
https://ftp.pbworld.com/GetFile.aspx?fn=1544590748.zip
More specifically, we are looking for the following comments:
  1. Draft Cycling Facilities:
    1. Are there any missing existing or proposed routes that you think should be included as part of the network?
    2. Are there any routes that are shown that are not the correct alignment?
    3. Are there any proposed routes or facilities that you do not think are appropriate considering the context of the roadway or surrounding areas?
  2. Potential Priorities:
    1. Are there routes that are identified as part of the network that are identified in your current capital plans?
    2. Are there routes that are identified that you think are significant priorities for the county or municipalities to further cycling?
  3. Suggested Recommendations:
    1. Do you think that the recommendations identified are realistic for the County and its partners?
    2. Are there any that are missing that you think should be considered?
If you have any questions about the materials provided or issues accessing the documents please do not hesitate to contact either of the undersigned below. We would ask that you provide your comments by October 27th, 2017 in order for us to incorporate them into the development of the cycling strategy report.
Best Regards,
 
Chris Traini
County Engineer
County of Middlesex
T: 519-434-7321 ext. 2264
E: ctraini@middlesex.ca
Jay Cranstone
Senior Landscape Architect
WSP Canada Group Ltd.
T: 519-904-1755
E:cranstonej@mmm.ca
 


Ontario Trails Website - Login Functionality is back!

ontario trails login

Over 400 people have signed up over the years for this web page functionality. With so much of the available OTC information on trails really being front page facing, this back end material didn't offer much value added.

However OTC does have specifically targeted information that is based on our most frequent requests, so we've synthesized the important stuff into key links and access locations to assist your desire as a trail community to learn more.

Pleased review your login and link. Many of you may want to turn on the login functionality given the renewed access to information. Or if you have turned it off and you wish to be removed from this service let us know.
 

Ontario Trails simplifies your Membership Connection!Over the years the Ontario Trails Council has worked to provide services that give you value and results for your membership support. We are constantly working to improve services and your ability to easily provide feedback on our efforts.

In March the OTC Board endorsed moving to a more automated system of membership management, deciding to use the platform Memberplanet. More information on this can be found at Memberplanet.

The OTC is working to implement this system.  The ways to Memberplanet should make membership management easier include:

1) Account information accuracy
2) On-line membership renewal
3) Contact status updates
4) Group news

The membership planet platform provides all of these, including invoicing and receipt generation functions. So if you have an A/P department to report too, this should make your paper trail readily available to you!

When you start the process you'll be directed to this window. We are working on updating existing members to the database. So if you are an existing member, just bookmark this information for reference. We'll send you reminders about renewing at renewal time, in late November each year.



 

Ontario Trails All Year Long! 
Add an Ontario Trail Logo to your website! 
Ontario Trails WeekOntario Trail DayOntario Trail Count
Watch for it on our social media, our facebook page and in our twitter feed.

Tell us all about your trail event and join us as we celebrate Ontario's Trails!
1. Log in Your Event  - Event spreadsheet.
2. Add your event to our event calendar -  add it here.
3. Post your personalized decal on your Trail - we have one for every group on our list. (see #5 below)
elliot lake trails survey
4. Add your trail user survey to any of your trail pages - we've made one for our members and regions. Get your decal here - 
We've checked the links, if something isn't working simply give us a call - 613-484-1140. We'll be adding these links to the various relevant trail pages in your regions and RTO's/DMO's over the upcoming year!
 

5. Send us your Trails video - we'll be posting content on-line at https://goo.gl/Fy2bIL and we'd be happy to add to our trails tube - https://www.youtube.com/user/ontrails
Missing? You may want to talk to us about OTC Membership. 613-484-1140 We'd be happy to connect with you.

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