Ontario Trails - More Trail Activities Receive Access, And Reopening Ontario

 

Ontario Trails is a charity, led by a volunteer board of directors that promotes the use, management, development, and preservation of trails and trail-based activities in Ontario.   From the Ontario Trails Community    President's Meeting Stimulates Discussion on Matters of Mutual Interest Pembroke and Laurentian Valley to allow snowmobiling access   Town of Lindsay Approves ATV Access!   'Let’s give it a try': Kawartha Lakes council approves off-road vehicle route through Lindsay Set Kawartha Lakes as My Local news By Marissa LentzReporter Wed., Oct. 20, 2021timer2 min. read A controversial off-road vehicle route through Lindsay has been approved by Kawartha Lakes council. During council’s regular meeting on Tuesday (Oct. 19), by a recorded vote of five to four, council agreed to go ahead with a two-year pilot program that will begin next May, with a review of the decision taking place after one year. The route will be as follows: Trail Head to Logie Street, Logie Street to King Street, King Street to Lindsay Street, Lindsay Street to Wellington Street, Wellington Street to Victoria Avenue, Victoria Avenue to Elgin Street, Elgin Street to Angeline Street and Angeline Street to Thunderbridge Road. When council first started discussing the subject, Mayor Andy Letham brought forward a motion suggesting the route through Lindsay be denied. “At the end of the day, the majority of residents in Lindsay quite clearly do not want ATVs on their local collector and arterial roads,” Letham said. However, prior to voting on the motion, Coun. Pat Dunn said he wanted to speak against it. “We had about a five per cent response, and 66 per cent of those were against it. So, I disagree that the majority of people in Lindsay are against it. But, the more important factor shouldn’t be all about Lindsay,” he said. “We’ve managed to separate the city. We spent 20 years convincing people in the outlining wards that Lindsay didn’t get special attention and special permission. When people say Lindsay gets everything, boy oh boy this sure sums it up. So, I urge you all to vote against this motion.” While Letham said he didn’t disagree with the majority of comments made by his fellow councillors, he said he did disagree with one comment made by Dunn. “The only comment I disagree with was the continual spin from Coun. Dunn about how we kept doing surveys until we got the answers we want,” Letham said. Before Letham could finish speaking, he was interrupted by Dunn. “Mr. Mayor, point of personal privilege, seeing as you mentioned me by name, you’ve done nothing but sew division in this city since this topic came up,” Dunn said. “You sit there and you play both sides of the coin. You sit there and you say, ‘I’m in favour of it,’ and then you rig the system so it fails. So, if you’re going to centre me out as putting a spin on it, recognize the own spin that you put on it yourself.” When council voted on Letham’s motion, it lost four to five. While Letham and councillors Andrew Veale, Pat O’Reilly and Doug Elmslie voted in favour, councillors Dunn, Kathleen Seymour-Fagan, Ron Ashmore, Tracy Richardson and Emmett Yeo were opposed. When council revoted on Dunn’s motion to go forward with the route through Lindsay, it passed five to four. “If in a year and a half from now — and if I’m still around — it hasn’t worked, I’ll say, ‘no, it’s time to shut the program down.’ But, let’s give it a try,” Dunn said. The meeting can be viewed via YouTube.com/watch?v=4Jaz0aWi-e4. Plans ahead for trails From Jonathan Portinga, Blacksheep Mountain Bike Club This year has been the largest and busiest to date for the Blacksheep Mountain Bike Club in Thunder Bay Currently, Blacksheep’s membership is at over 500 cyclists. Compare those numbers to just under 400 members in 2020 and less than 300 in 2019 and it’s close to double in just two years. The club has also been hard at work creating and maintaining the trail system that lives north of the highway between Balsam Street and Copenhagen Road. It has taken hundreds of volunteer hours to make those trails available to all users. Our trail counter has registered over 30,000 uses this year alone. It’s no surprise that mountain biking in Thunder Bay has seen such large growth. Bike sales have surged 40per cent globally since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Bike shops have been sold out of bikes since last spring and manufacturers all over the world are struggling to keep up. One piece of development that Blacksheep is working on this year is the Skills Park located at Trowbridge Park. We have contracted local trail building company Precambrian to construct the Skills Park this fall. There are four unique jump lines and a pump track. These features are a fantastic way for riders to build skills safely and effectively. The different trails provide a good progression for riders as they develop new skills. This skills park was just one piece in the Trowbridge Master Plan that Blacksheep developed with the city of Thunder Bay. New play structures and a pavilion are part of that plan and will be added next year. The Balsam Connector, that was completed earlier this year, and more trails included in the master plan will have a profound impact on the community in other ways as well. Tourism has seen an increase from out-of-town riders. The trails are multi-use and see plenty of foot traffic alongside the riders. A large trail running race recently utilized some of the Trowbridge trails. The club is all 100 per cent volunteer run and couldn’t have made this much progress without our wonderful community. For anyone with questions regarding the Trowbridge Master Plan we have created a short FAQ page on our website at www.blacksheepmtb.com. One piece of development that Blacksheep is working on this year is the Skills Park located at Trowbridge Park.   Conboy Trail Opening in Lanark County!     Ontario Re-opening Plan Update from Tourism Industry Association of Ontario   Beginning October 25th, 2021, Ontario will be removing capacity limits where proof of vaccination is required. This will include settings like restaurants, bars, sports facilities, casinos, and indoor meeting and event spaces, which will be able to operate at 100% capacity as of October 25. The physical distancing requirement between patrons and the 2m distancing requirement between tables at restaurants and event spaces will also be removed as of Monday.   Other settings/businesses will be permitted to reopen at 100% indoor capacity if they decide to “Opt-in” to the proof of vaccination certificate program. This ‘opt-in’ option is in direct response to TIAO’s latest advocacy and recommendations regarding reopening parity (read our letter here). Businesses that do not “opt-in", face gradual reopening between January and March 2022 when the vaccine passport is gradually rescinded. Businesses and organizations can choose to:  Require patrons to show proof of vaccination in order to lift all indoor capacity and physical distancing requirements in their settings OR  Not require patrons to show proof of vaccination and continue to operate with their current indoor Step 3 capacity and physical distancing limits  Businesses or organization can choose to “opt-in” to the vaccine certificate program on a frequency of their choice including daily (except for religious services, rites, or ceremonies which will be event specific). Businesses who “opt-in” to the vaccine certificate program will also be able to remove the physical distancing requirement.   Active screening is still in place for settings with full capacity, as well as contact tracing. There will be a signage requirement for “opt-in” settings as they will be required to notify patrons that they are participating in the proof of vaccination certificate program (this needs to be made clear at the business’s point of entry).   TIAO thanks the Government of Ontario and especially Premier Ford and Minister Lisa MacLeod for actively considering our feedback on reopening parity across tourism sectors and swiftly responding. TIAO welcomes today’s announcement as a major step forward for tourism’s recovery in Ontario.  Please note, Step 3 outdoor capacity limits remain the same and retail businesses will not be able to “opt-in” to proof of vaccination certificate program – they will remain at Step 3.   Below is the outline for the lifting of measures from Fall 2021 to Spring 2022 with the intention for all regulated measures to be lifted no later than March 28, 2022.   As of October 25th, 2021  Removing capacity limits where proof of vaccination is required, this includes:  Restaurants and bars;  Sports and recreational fitness facilities; waterparks, and physical fitness training;  Casinos, bingo halls, and other gaming establishments; and  Meeting and indoor event spaces  Other settings will be permitted to remove capacity limits if they require (I.e., opt-in to) proof of vaccination, including but not limited to:  Locations where a wedding, funeral, or religious service or rite or ceremony takes place  Personal care services (e.g., barber shops, salons, body art)  Indoor areas of museums, galleries, aquariums, zoos, science centres, landmarks, historic sites, botanical gardens and similar attractions (indoor only)  Indoor areas or amusement parks  Indoor areas of fairs, rural exhibitions, festivals  Indoor tour and guide services  Boat tours  Indoor areas or marinas and boating clubs  Indoor clubhouses at outdoor recreational amenities  Open house events provided by real estate agencies  Indoor areas of photography studios and services  Full regulations regarding ‘opt-in’ settings and requirements are available here.  As of November 11th, 2021  Removing capacity limits in high-risk settings where proof of vaccination is required, this includes:  Food or drink establishments with dance facilities (e.g., night clubs, wedding receptions in meeting and event spaces where there is dancing);  Strip clubs; and  Bathhouses and sex clubs  As of November 15th, 2021 to January 12th, 2022  The provincial government will review the impact of the winter holidays, returning to school in January, etc.   Winter 2021-2022  In the absence of concerning trends, Ontario will initiate gradual lifting of CMOH (Chief Medical Officer of Health) directives, capacity limits in settings where proof of vaccination is not required, and also lift vaccine certificate requirements as follows:  As of January 17th, 2022  Restaurants and bars  Sports and recreational fitness facilities (e.g., gyms) and waterparks  Casinos, bingo halls, etc.  As of February 7th, 2022  Night clubs  Strip clubs  Bathhouses and sex clubs  As of March 28th, 2022  Meeting and event spaces  Sporting events  Concerts, theatres and cinemas  Racing venues  Commercial and film productions with studio audiences   March 28th, 2022 and onwards   All remaining public health and workplace safety measures in businesses and organizations lifted, including masking  Revoke public health Emergency Orders under the Reopening Ontario Act  Release guidance for specific settings if appropriate  Ontario will continue monitor key public health and health system indicators to identify changes that pose risk to Ontarians.   To learn more about Ontario’s plan to reopen, please visit Ontario Releases Plan to Safely Reopen Ontario and Manage COVID-19 for the Long-Term | Ontario Newsroom    Copyright © 2021 Tourism Industry Association of Ontario, All rights reserved.   This email was sent by: Tourism Industry Association of Ontario 207 Queen’s Quay West, Suite 405 Toronto, Ontario, M5J 1A7         Ontario Announces Tourism Recovery Grant Program   Bear Hunting Season   Trail Surveys The OTC is interested in what you think! We have written many types of surveys and are pleased to provide links to them on this page. From such important topics as Trail Trade Specialist to Member Services we want you to help us help you! Click the title below to be redirected to the survey of your choice. Trail Maintenance - how do you maintain your trails? Help Us Help You - website improvement Upload Your Trail - add your trail to the website Upload Your Event - add your trail event to the website Trail Reform Now - legislative and insurance reform support Trail Trades Specialist- tell us what you'd like to see in a trail trades course Member Services - are you happy as an OTC member with the services you get? Strategic Planning 1: - tell us what you'd like the OTC to do Strategic Planning 2: Financial Sustainability - as a charity we can always use new ideas to sustain ourselves Strategic Planning 3: - Effectiveness - how effective are we? Customer Satisfaction - as a member of the public what do you think of the OTC? Economic Impact of Recreational Trail (ON) - for the Eco Dev/Tourism, Trail Planning office Insurance Issues - tell us about your ability to get coverage Trails of 1812 - is your community celebrating our bi-centennial On-Road Cycling Lane Petition - Norm Miller MPP - download the form here - (no web link available) Trail Priorities - what do you want OTC to do for Trails? Save the Prescott Russell Rail Trail - encourage the communities to save this trail! Voyageur Trail User Survey - if you've used this trail they'd like your feedback Trail Access for Horses - are you able to ride your horse where you want? Do you use trail Counters? - tell us how you count your trail traffic?          Does anyone know of similar benches with a Canadian Distributor? Do you know of any park benches that are suitable for elders? Higher seats with armrests? Place for a walker? If you do please email execdir@ontariotrails.ca Ontario Trails - staying open in difficult times - if your membership is due we could use your renewal! Upcoming meetings include: Risk Management Committee - October 26, 2021 Trails Tourism Committee - November 18, 2021 National Roundtable on Trail Risk Management - November 25, 2021 OTC Executive Meeting Dec. 2, 2021 OTC Board Meeting Dec. 9, 2021 We thank members for renewing or supporting the OTC through membership.  Town of Midland Over past months we have -  provided content to the Ministry of Heritage, Sport, Tourism, and Culture Industries, supported a survey on Lyme Disease for Queen's University, put time and effort into trail categorization for trail use, supported our partner Marmak and the RFAM tool, supported a University of Waterloo Outdoor Recreation Impacts, supported and distributed the Black Sheep Mountain Bike Club Rider Survey, updated a variety of COVID related pages on the OTC website, engaged members and the trail using public on etiquette, provided consulting advice to Avon Trail, Renfrew County, the OFSC, and others, been strong with groups on public safety, facilitated work on Hastings Destination Trails Inc., added a signage page, produced a webinar video or two, and, hosted a series of webinars with our partners, and supported students with the University of Waterloo and the City of Waterloo to do trail work For all the latest on trails and trail news follow: Ontario Trails Ontario ATV Trails Ontario Hiking Trails Ontario Climbing Trails Ontario Cycling Trails Ontario Dirt Bike Trails Ontario Horse Trails Ontario Water Trails Toronto Trails Trailhead North Trails of 1812 Niagara Trails Committee Hamilton Burlington Trails Canadian Trails Federation To find your trail listing go to Ontario Trails To help trail users find trails on their mobile share Ontario Trails Map Standing by the public safety order is very difficult to do when you and your members are in the business of promoting the outdoors. Certainly being firm on Stay Home doesn't win you popularity contests with many users. And users affect our memberships. If people don't like your message membership suffers. This is what we are trying to do, the right thing overall, and we need you to look past the current messages to having OTC around in 6 months and then a year from now. We will be sending an email asking for your renewal. Based on our projections memberships should facilitate a 0 deficit, continuation of office supports and the type of education and advocacy that has seen the development of Ontario Trail Categorization, website maintenance, our response to COVID, our online training through Algonquin College, as well as our future plans for training, economic and tourism development committee, AND most importantly our Health Unit and Trails messaging process. OTC is interested in assuring that there is balance in trail use as we work to re-open full public access, with safe user practice, to the trails and trail activities you love. Support us today.  Please renew. By electronic transfer, PayPal - select your membership rate and Go! or a call with your credit card. 613-484-1140 Thanks!