Less than one month after local volunteers, the Squamish Lillooet Regional District (SLRD) and the District of Squamish (DOS) completed an effort to upgrade sections of the heavily used Ray Peters Trail, a dirt biker "shredded significant stretches of the new trail."
Squamish Trails Society (STS) president Bob Brant discovered the damage late Wednesday (June 29) sent an email to Mayor Greg Gardner, trails coordinator Todd Pope and two councillors expressing his disgust over the destruction and the dirt biking community as a whole.
"You may be aware that the Squamish Trails Society, the SLRD and DOS recently spent $15,000 upgrading two sections of the Ray Peters Trail," Brant wrote.
"I just finished riding the RPT. You can imagine my anger, disgust and disappointment when encountering dirt bike tire ruts shredding significant stretches of the new trail from the power line road (off Squamish Valley Road) to where it joins the old highway.
"Clearly this idiot couldn't ride and didn't care [about] the damage being done."
It cost $15,000 to upgrade the two sections of the trail and according to Brant's email, the money was hard to come by.
"Dollars for STS to contribute to such community trail upgrades do not come easily," he wrote. "We are a volunteer organization passionate about our community and trails.
"Year after year we contribute to such upgrades to soon after have ignorant dirt bikers rip up the improved trails. If the district chooses to not do anything about this issue, motivation to voluntarily undertake community trail work seems futile at the very least."
When speaking with The Chief on Thursday (June 30), Brant said this type of incident happens far too frequently.
"Last year we upgraded the RPT stretch parallel to the highway and within two weeks the same thing had happened," he said.
"So when I saw this happened last night it pushed a button for me - enough was enough."
He said the district needs to send a clear message to local dirt bikers that this "type of conduct is not acceptable and will not be tolerated" in the community.
The email was forwarded to Ted Tempany from Dream Wizards Events, who contributed $7,500 to the upgrades, who said he was quite disturbed by the incident.
Tempany then forwarded the email to Squamish Dirt Bike Association (SDBA) president Ed Alder, who has worked hard to collaborate with local trail building organizations such as Squamish Off Road Cycling Association (SORCA) and STS, and was upset about the situation.
After apologizing profusely for the actions one "malicious individual," Alder promised to repair the damage to the best of his ability at 6:30 a.m. Thursday morning, which he did.
"It's absolutely devastating," he said on Thursday (June 30) morning after fixing the trail and meeting with Brant.
"We're [SDBA] the voice of responsible riders, but it goes so far beyond the saying 'a bad apple can ruin the whole bunch,'" he said. "It's on the same scale as the Vancouver Stanley Cup riots - it destroys the reputation of the entire group."
Alder emphasized the need for dirt bikers to be aware of Squamish's trail network regulations, and not treat it like the "Wild West."
"If you're fresh to the valley, you need to be in touch with the SDBA. That's the bottom line," he said.
"You can't just expect to ride every trail you stumble upon. Even when you think you're in the Wild West up in Brackendale, you are not. "
He said most dirt bikers who use the wrong trails are uninformed, and more education is clearly needed.
Historically, dirt bikers and mountain bikers were often in conflict, but SDBA and SORCA have collaborated well over the past few years, putting up "non-motorized by agreement" signs on some trails. Both also contribute to the replacement of integral trail connectors such as the Carpenter Son's Bridge, which was replaced last year.
Brant said he believes SDBA does a great job educating, but thinks "there are niches and pockets of people who aren't involved in that circle."
"We need to widen the awareness and I believe it's a limited number of people who are causing these problems."
Alder said he plans to install the signs around the Ray Peters Trail in the next few days.
Brant said there was also a dirt bike hit-and-run incident during a Brackendale School outing on the Ray Peters Trail on Monday. An RCMP official confirmed an incident was reported, but was unclear about the details.
