Ganaraska Forest Closed - due to storm damage | GTAMotorcycle.com

Ganaraska Forest Closed - due to storm damage

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xrljoel

Well-known member
Just a heads up.

I know there's a handful of people here who go to the forest. From their home page:

Attention: Ganaraska Forest, Ganaraska Forest Centre and all Conservation Areas are CLOSED!

The weather system that swept through Southern Ontario on Saturday afternoon has resulted in significant damage to trees in the Ganaraska Forest and road closures due to downed hydro lines at the Ganaraska Forest Centre. As a result, the Ganaraska Forest, Ganaraska Forest Centre and all Conservation Areas have been closed while staff evaluate the damage.

Welcome | GRCA

www.ganaraskaforestcentre.ca www.ganaraskaforestcentre.ca

I went up to the forest on Monday and there were a lot of trees down across the trails. Some large ones across main access trails. *I didn't know it was closed when I went as I'm local and rode from home.
 
To bad and the grca is doing everything in it's power to keep the trails closed as long as possible. Wonder if it will reopen to dirt bikes this year.

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Scuba Steve said:
To bad and the grca is doing everything in it's power to keep the trails closed as long as possible. Wonder if it will reopen to dirt bikes this year.

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I'm going to give them some slack. Historically, the user groups committee had a good, cooperative working relationship with the forest management and I don't see any indication that has changed.

I expect the managers are most concerned with any electricity transmission corridors in the forest and downed trees across the access roads and PERHAPS the east-west connecting trail. The rest of the trail system has been cleared/maintained by users, at least it traditionally has been.
 
xrljoel said:
I'm going to give them some slack. Historically, the user groups committee had a good, cooperative working relationship with the forest management and I don't see any indication that has changed.

I expect the managers are most concerned with any electricity transmission corridors in the forest and downed trees across the access roads and PERHAPS the east-west connecting trail. The rest of the trail system has been cleared/maintained by users, at least it traditionally has been.
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I know at least one group of volunteers has approached them and been told to pound salt. They will do the clearing and when they get around to it.

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Scuba Steve said:
I know at least one group of volunteers has approached them and been told to pound salt. They will do the clearing and when they get around to it.

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So what happens to folks that have ponied up for memberships this year? I'm lucky that mine expires June 2022.
 
I don't think people know how bad it really is? Volunteers are great and hopefully will be used in some capacity but to open it up to everyone to go in and start cutting and clearing is dangerous and if a few trees get dropped on people or a bad accident the forest could be opened to legal issues.
It is not the whole forest but some areas are very bad. Picture from Boundary parking entrance. This will be a big cleanup.
ganny.jpg
 
I met some of the clean up crew recently when I was at Trail Tours. One guy said he wouldn’t be surprised if it took 2 years to clean everything up as it’s that bad.
 
I read their updates online and it's not really clear what they're cleaning up.

Are they making sure the access roads are open or are they looking at potential hazards throughout the forest? I would think the lumber company would be looking after the blow-down in the woods and damaged trees are just a fact of life in the forest. There are and will always be hazards in the woods that don't become apparent until gravity wins.

From my perspective, it's starting to look like a bureaucratic make-work project, focused on protecting official turf as opposed of actual effective management and maintenance of an asset.
 
xrljoel said:
I read their updates online and it's not really clear what they're cleaning up.

Are they making sure the access roads are open or are they looking at potential hazards throughout the forest? I would think the lumber company would be looking after the blow-down in the woods and damaged trees are just a fact of life in the forest. There are and will always be hazards in the woods that don't become apparent until gravity wins.

From my perspective, it's starting to look like a bureaucratic make-work project, focused on protecting official turf as opposed of actual effective management and maintenance of an asset.
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The guy I spoke to said it’s a mix of a few things, bureaucracy is one part to do with the various orgs and surrounding councils. The other is that the damage is so widespread and it’s actually dangerous. There’s a lot of growth knocked down that’s suspended in other canopy and it’s making things slow going. It’s the worst damage he’s ever seen and he’s been there a while.

Edit: we asked why lumber companies weren’t making out like bandits there due to high prices on the market but he said a lot of the fallen lumber is stressed and unusable for structural use.
 
Update.

TL: DR They expect some trails to open to motorized vehicles after Sept 30 but not all and it sounds like day passes will not be available this year.

todaysnorthumberland.ca

GRCA - Update on Ganaraska Forest Closure - Today's Northumberland - Your Source For What's Happening Locally and Beyond

Due to ongoing safety concerns, and evolving salvage and harvesting locations in the Ganaraska Forest, the Ganaraska Region Conservation Authority (GRCA) will be limiting trail access to Forest users with current and extended memberships only for the September 30th opening and until further...
todaysnorthumberland.ca todaysnorthumberland.ca
 
I actually just did a half day with trailtours today. I can confirm that they mention that Ganaraska forest is closed and that we wouldn't be going in there
 
With the forest open, I went for a ride. Not good! Only a small portion of the forest is accessible and where you can ride is very limited. You can see lots of damage and the clean-up along the roads. Some of the single tracks were blocked with clean-up debris or fallen trees. The forest staff was at the parking lot checking passes and telling you where you can and can not ride. They also said if you are caught on any trial that you know you should not be on you will be charged. The fire roads were open and were being shared with ATV's side-by-side, bikes and horses. The forest staff said that none of the single tracks have been cleared. With some, I could see lots of fallen trees blocking them. Currently, they have eight crews and four forest companies working on clean-up. It's going to take time.
 
I apologize, it’s been a while since I’ve been active on GTAM. Way back, the on-street motorcycle parking fees fight got me involved, now the Ganaraska issue is the cause that’s bringing me back.

So what’s happening – the short version:

The Forest re-opened on September 30th with less than 7% of the total amount of trails open. That included no single-track. Even though much of the forest and trails are still closed, existing annual memberships that were purchased with the expectation of using the whole of the Forest (as allowed by use), were extended to expire 1 year later. So if you purchased in July 2021, and your membership ran until July 2022, it now runs to July 2023, but with no commitment to when and how much of the forest will be open by that time.

GRCA staff are using the May 21st storm as an “opportunity to improve recreational trail systems”, and by “improve”, they mean “result in the permanent closure of certain Forest areas, access points and trails to recreational users”.

Open as of 2022 11 27.JPG

Their new mapping shows a new category in the legend called GFC Recreational Boundary, which is smaller than the lands that were open prior to the storm.


West Forest Closures.JPG
The lands in red and purple in the West Forest are being permanently closed to all recreational use

East Forest Closures.JPG
The lands in red in the East forest are being permanently closed to all recreational use. The lands in purple are now “passive” use, i.e. no motorized, and anyone without at least a G1 or M1 licence (including anyone under 16) can’t ride in the remainder of the East Forest.

The reopening protocols also stated that “the only access points into the Ganaraska Forest are parking lots P2 (West Forest) and P5 (East Forest).” “There is no off-road vehicle/dirt bike municipal road access to the Ganaraska Forest. All ORV and dirt bikes must be trailered to official access points.” “There is no trail connection between the West Forest, Central Forest and East Forest.”

And if you think that’s bad, it gets worse! Staff have admitted that “Single track trails for any use are currently challenging and near impossible for the GRCA to create and manage”. Lately, staff have identified “the existence of unofficial trails” as a problem, and are “developing a plan to implement restructuring”. Even before this plan is developed their immediate response includes “GRCA has removed all unofficial trails from current GRCA mapping” and “all trails infringing on GRCA neighbourhoods, do not meet GRCA standards or are unauthorized by municipal rules will be blocked and/or signed as closed”. “GRCA standards”, whatever they are, have not been published. Coincidentally, small woodland creatures have been reporting that the old Honda and OFTR single trail markers are being removed. It will be interesting to see how much, if any, single-track is opened when the Forest re-opens at the beginning of May.

None of this has been taken by staff to the GRCA Board for approval, even though the Forest Management Plan, which sets the long term management and strategic direction for the forest through to 2038, specifically states “road and trail closures will only be implemented when and if there are public safety concerns between harvest operations and users. Other trail closures will only occur when ecological attributes of the forest are being significantly impacted by continued trail use.”
 
 
So what’s been happening to fight this?

A Facebook Members Action Group has been started Ganaraska Members Action Group | Facebook . The Group has launched a petition, which now has over 1500 signatures Sign the Petition .

The Action Group (5:45 in the video) and I (24:38 in the video) both made deputations to the October 20th GRCA Board Meeting. Those deputations resulted in a motion (38:50 in the video) to “receive the two presentations, and that all questions from those presentations be brought forward as the staff report whether it be at this meeting, or at the following meeting.” That motion was carried.
. The staff reports follow in this video. You can judge for yourself if you think the issues were answered at that meeting.

I also made a deputation (5:00 in the video) to the Township of Alnwick/Haldimand, one of the municipalities that appoints members to the Board of the GRCA, whose job it is to act on behalf of the appointing municipality at the Board. Approving the GRCA 2023 preliminary budget and municipal levy was on the Council agenda, so I felt it important for the Township to be aware of what’s happening with the Forest, and its implications on the budget.

GRCA staff’s response to the October 20th direction to report back to the following Board meeting, and to my Deputation to Alnwick/Haldmand can be seen in the video of the November 17th Board meeting (starting at 4:05 in the video).
 
If you think this is important, I would encourage you to join the Facebook group and sign the Petition. It would also be extremely helpful if you could write to:

David Piccini, Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, and MPP for Northumberland-Peterborough South
david.piccini@pc.ola.org

Graydon Smith, Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry, and MPP for Parry Sound, Muskoka
Graydon.Smith@pc.ola.org

Steve Clark, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, and MPP for Leeds, Grenville, Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes
Steve.Clark@pc.ola.org

And your local MPP - Current MPPs

If you live in one of the seven municipalities which appoint members to the GRCA Board Board Of Directors/Governance | GRCA , it would be great if you could write to that member and your Ward Councillor.

Communications have already started, and the more people they hear from, the more importance they will give to our concerns.
 
Face said:
If you think this is important, I would encourage you to join the Facebook group and sign the Petition. It would also be extremely helpful if you could write to:

David Piccini, Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, and MPP for Northumberland-Peterborough South
david.piccini@pc.ola.org

Graydon Smith, Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry, and MPP for Parry Sound, Muskoka
Graydon.Smith@pc.ola.org

Steve Clark, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, and MPP for Leeds, Grenville, Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes
Steve.Clark@pc.ola.org

And your local MPP - Current MPPs

If you live in one of the seven municipalities which appoint members to the GRCA Board Board Of Directors/Governance | GRCA , it would be great if you could write to that member and your Ward Councillor.

Communications have already started, and the more people they hear from, the more importance they will give to our concerns.
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Thank you for providing these updates. I was really hoping to be able to return to the forest this year.
 
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