Let’s leave Mt. Richards bike free
Thank you Robert Barron for bringing the CTSS [Cowichan Trail Stewardship Society] proposal for Mt. Richards to the public’s attention in the Citizen of March 2, 2023.
As a regular hiker on all of our local mountains, I very much hope that North Cowichan council, in considering this huge change to the much smaller Mt. Richards, will weigh the interests of those of us enjoying the mountain as is. The fairly recent arrival of mountain biking in the Cowichan Valley is well taken care of on Tzouhalem, Maple and Prevost. It doesn’t take much imagination to know who could be most negatively impacted by a fast moving bike!
I am not against mountain biking in general — just the big ‘sell’ — pushing NC to change the face of Mt. Richards forever. The CTSS maintains that, along with mountain biking, their ‘infrastructure’ proposals (branded gateways, staging areas, bike wash stations, water access, to name a few) would/could become an ‘economic driver’ for Crofton. Doubtful.
The proposal would have the main trail head at the top of Robert Road in Crofton (very popular with dog walkers and families with kids) be the access point. There are only about six parking spots at present plus they want a ‘bike skills park’ there? Where? I would think large trees would have to come down to accommodate both. Residents of Robert Road and beyond — think Kaspa Road!
Perhaps it isn’t generally known that there are trails on Mt. Richards, some built/cleared by bikers (in spite of that being against the current Master Plan for Mt. Richards). However, due to the small numbers of bikers (so far) we live together harmoniously. Let’s leave it that way.
R. Taylor
Duncan