Feb 2000
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A Network of Recreational Trails Excerpts from a talk to the Waterfront Working Group in Kingston By Bill Bowick
Editor's notes:
The idea that we are going to have a trail in Canada that will go from
coast to coast, and that this rail will cut through our Land O'Lakes,
is just beginning to dawn on our residents. However, Bill Bowick, who
with his wife Rosemarie, resides in Sharbot Lake, has been actively
engaged in the planning for the Ontario portion of this trail for a
number of years. Bill's trail career started with the organizing of the
Trans Canada Trail Voyageur event for Ontario in 1995. He went on to
serve two years as chair of the Ontario Trails Council's (OTC) Trans
Canada Trail committee and is currently president of the OTC. Bill is a
retired Nortel engineer with degrees in engineering and mathematics
from the University of Waterloo.
In a talk to the Annual General Meeting of the Waterfront Working Group
in Kingston on February 7, 2000, Bill described how the notion of
multi-use trails (walking, cycling, skiing, snowmobiling, horseback)
has evolved in Ontario and how that evolution is related to the Trans
Canada Trail. He goes on to talk about how trails might connect
communities in a geographic sense and also serve as a link between
communities of interest. He eloquently sets out the idea that shared
use of trails could be a constructive force in our society --a vision
that has appeal for a number of people.
Bill comes from Smiths Falls and has cottaged on Eagle Lake all his
life. He has deep roots in North Frontenac. His maternal grandfather,
John Gray was raised on a farm in the Parham/Eagle Lake area and his
maternal grandmother, Emily Bradshaw, taught in the Bradshaw School
near Tichborne. One of his great great grandfathers ran a blacksmith
shop in Godfrey. His sister Joanne Goodfellow lives in Tichborne where
she and her husband Bud (now deceased) operated the general store.
D. BrisonA Network of Recreational Trails: Excerpts from a talk
to the Waterfront Working Group in Kingston
By Bill Bowick
When planning first started on the Trans Canada Trail
route across Ontario, the folks involved took a map and marked on all
the existing trails of which they were aware. There were the Rideau and
Bruce Trails, of course. And there were parts of the Ganaraska and the
Lynn Valley. The Hastings Heritage Trail was also becoming a reality
and there were a few others. The interesting thing was that all these
trails had a more or less North-South orientation. The challenge was to
find an East-West route. So, without realizing it, we were already
launched on the model of the Trans Canada Trail forming a backbone and
other trails branching off it. As publicity grew
around the dream that was the Trans Canada Trail, we got more and more
calls from people in places like Cornwall and Owen Sound and Cochrane
saying "This is great. How do I become part of it? My town is not on
the Trail." And so evolved the concept of a provincial network - the
Trillium Trail Network - which would provide, at its core, a route for
the Trans Canada Trail. But we still had this model of a spine and
branches.
Now that we've matured a bit, we are starting to realize that driving a
backbone across the country might be a good strategy for getting
prairie grain to European markets but not so sound for recreational
trails. The vision has great appeal and has had since the beginning. We
like to think we could go coast to coast but how many people would
actually do it - by any mode of transportation?
A more logical development process might be a series of loops that are
then connected together. The first time I met Doug Knapp, a number of
years ago, he talked of his vision of a loop from Kingston to Smiths
Falls, to Perth, to Sharbot Lake, back to Kingston - a trip that could
be done in a reasonable time by snowmobile, bicycle, horseback or even
on foot. Cindy Cassidy and the group working west of here are planning
loops off the Hastings Heritage Trail, which will circle back to the
Trans Canada. I believe that the ability to cycle around Lake Ontario
is getting closer and closer to reality.
Ultimately, I think Ontario will have a true network of recreational
trails - not just a backbone and spines. But in the mean time, the
Ontario Trails Council is committed to getting the Trans Canada Trail
across the province. It will not be all five uses initially. And it
will not all be useable when the trail is formally inaugurated this
September. But we have made a declaration that the Ontario Trails
Council will not consider the job done until you can go from Quebec to
Manitoba using any one of the five core uses - walking, cycling,
skiing, snowmobiling or horseback. I don't believe any other province
has made this level of commitment.
The theme of tonight's meeting is "Linking to Other Trails" so in
conclusion, I'd like to say a few words about trails as connectors. The
Ontario Trails Council, along with the city of Owen Sound is sponsoring
the first National Trails Conference in June of this year. The theme of
the conference is "Communities Connecting". There is an intentional
double meaning in the words - connecting communities in the geographic
sense and connecting communities of interest.
My grade six teacher was a great believer in memory work. We memorized
the books of the Bible. We memorized the counties and county towns of
Ontario. We learned geography by memorizing the boundaries of every
geographic entity. And we memorized the names of all the towns on the
main lines of both the CNR and the CPR from coast to coast. Kids have
it easier today in at least one respect; the list of towns is a lot
shorter. Why have a town if the train doesn't stop to let people on and
off?
One of my great great grandfathers ran a blacksmith shop in Godfrey.
Not only do I not know the location of his shop; I'm frequently south
of Verona when I ask myself if I passed through Godfrey.
And the trend continues. We have come to think of the neighboring town
as something you must drive through, or around, on your way to the
city. We think of the next city as a place you fly over on business
trips or major vacations. Recreational trails make it reasonable to
think of the next town as a neighbour rather than an obstacle, as a
destination rather than a place on the way.
Well designed and managed trails make it possible for a twelve year
old, or a sixty year old, to cycle to the next town in safety. At one
time, villages up the spine of Frontenac County shared a community of
interest by virtue of being on or near the K&P. Now they share
little more than electoral boundaries. Restoring the K&P as a path
for social interaction will do much to restore the sense of community
that is essential to both social and financial well-being.
The linking of cultures within our society is harder to define but no
less real. Today, the only contact many city people have with farms is
through the super market - where all the meat is wrapped in plastic.
There is little understanding of the farmer's priorities and less
sympathy for his problems. Many farmers, on the other hand, do business
in the city but have very little social contact. They consciously (and
understandably) avoid the real problems of living in an urban
environment. The result is sub-cultures with little knowledge of each
other and even less appreciation. Trails that link urban communities
with the country can provide a forum in which we see each other as
people rather than interest groups. We can begin to appreciate
differences rather than object to them.
And then there is the connectedness that comes with the idea of shared
use. When a group is allowed to isolate itself, everyone else starts to
look like the enemy. When groups have an incentive for getting
together, they learn to be mutually supportive. Hence, skiers who have
little contact with snowmobilers see them as a menace. Those who do
have contact see them as great trailblazers and a vital safety link.
It's nice to walk in pastoral silence but when I get in trouble, I'm
looking for a cyclist or an equestrian or an ATV to go for help.
Trails are not just a way of supporting a multiplicity of uses; they
are an agent for developing mutual support and commonality of purpose.
User groups can learn to respect each other and when they do, they set
aside the focus on differences in favour of a focus on shared values -
a love of the out-doors, a concern for the environment, and a love for
and fascination with these long skinny corridors of green.
