ATVs and their impact on canoeing country

Kanu Links

ATVs and Their Impact on Canoeing Country

Background

ATV have arrived here about 20 years ago and have somewhat matured into affordable and reliable technology. They are 4-wheel drive vehicles, with large and soft knobby tires so they grip well on varied terrain. They are both a plaything and a work horse: even though they have small engines, many still use 2-cycle engines, have no effective pollution controls and release significantly more pollution per mile travelled than your family car. Add to that the high torque that the engine/transmission generates, and you will realize that this thing can chew up the ground really well. A skilled and careful operator can minimize such damage. But on some types of terrain, such as hills and in wet areas, damaging the soil and vegetation is unavoidable. Even though there are careful riders, there are plenty of yahoos amongst the ATV community that don't care. The industry is not helping either, with their commercials that advocate boisterous freedom as the ATVs criss-cross the wilderness. Last not least, where one vehicle may have nearly no impact, repeated travel over the same spot will start the damage.

Here's what I have witnessed in the fall of 2000, by walking the 1 km portage from Cox to Triangle Lake. This area is located in the Kawarthas, an area which is about 2 hours drive NE from Toronto and has recently received protection from Ontario's Living Legacy Land Use Strategy, possibly to become a Provincial Park. The good folks from the MNR and the Kawartha advisory board will set the strategy on the use of this park in the next months. They will have to decide how they want to curb the advancing destruction wrought by these machines. The intensive use of ATVs in the area is relatively new, and the damage has just started and unless ATV use there is stopped, the damage to the environment will deepen and multiply.

Originally, the two lakes were connected by a single portage trail , no wider than 20 to 50 cm on the ground and bushes cropped back by occasional trail clearing to create an unobstructed path that would allow the passing of a 3 ft wide canoe. The soil was typically undisturbed, and the canopy not broken.

A snowmobile trail appeared as these machines became popular (maybe in the late 60's) and left its imprint on the land: a 6 ft wide swath with vegetation often clipped back on its width. Damage to the ground was rare, because the machines run for most of the season on snow and ice. A typical sign of snow mobile use are the scratch marks left on rock surfaces - unsightly but of little consequence to the environment- and the garbage that some of these folks leave in the bush. (picture of abandoned sled). Not wanting to create a stir, canoeist noticed and lived with it.

I have noticed the first signs of ATV use about 15 years ago, when the single trail started to deteriorate on the uphill sections, with the tell-tale evidence of tire tracks. In the last few years, many ATVs now use the area and have changed it drastically. Here's how:

Trails multiply: the once single trail has grown several side trail, as shown on the map clipping on the right. You will need to click on it to bring out the details. The track was generated by walking all trails with a GPS and overlaying that track onto a topo map. The old portage is one of the lines, starting where the text intersects the shoreline of Cox Lake near the top of the image, and terminating on the shore of Triangle Lake at the bottom. The ATV trail continues further along the red line to the west but was not walked and thus is not shown.
There is an additional impact on portaging canoeists: he is confused as to where the real portage is located and becomes frustrated as he sorts out the mess.

note about the map image: Extract of the data set ORRVILLE_31E05 at 1:50,000
ŠHer Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada
Reproduced with the permission of Natural Resources Canada

	Trails widen: As the ATV is about 4 ft wide, the trail becomes a double set of ruts, much wider that the original path. In addition, as ATV drivers perceive obstacles, they go around them and thus create a new tracks, each time chewing into the soil and vegetation. Consequently, what used to be a single path is now a myriad of parallel trails.
	The surface of the path itself is destroyed and so is the adjacent soil and vegetation. Aside from the damage to the environment, canoeists portaging a boat is now having trouble getting safe footing.
	As the ATVs frequent the portages on grades, the once simple path starts to channel run-off water and the path turns into a creek bed. This results in severe erosion which over time changes the land drastically. For the canoeist, there is risk of injury from falls when the heavy gear is carried across such portages.
	The ATV folks destroy the nature as they try to rectify problems. There are attempts at smoothening out a rocky uphill section with concrete. At the shore of Triangle Lake, leading west and then up the hill, in order to facilitate the new trail, vegetation was eradicated and large rocks were moved. Did these folks get a work permit from the MNR? Even if they applied, I doubt that anyone charged to be the steward of this land would sanction such a travesty.
	Some ATV folks consider it their right to establish a camp in the woods, and thus bring destruction of nature and heavy-duty garbage.
	Wetlands suffer. Take a look and see how the shore of Cox Lake is chewed up by ATV tracks. I'd think even ATV users bemoan this. How come no one has laid charges yet - if this was private land, the owner would be furious! Why does the ATV community not put a stop to such abuse?

You have seen the damage that ATVs will do, so think. We all value nature, that's why we are out there in the first place.Something has to change:

ATV users need to rethink the unrestricted use of the machines.
The ATV organizations have to establish an ethic that will preserve the woods rather than destroy them.
The ATV industry has to be pressured to manufacture less damaging machines.
The MNR, as the steward of our lands, has to recognize the threat and must establish tools that allows them to regulate the use of ATVs on crownland.
( Is there light at the end of the tunnel: the Draft Recommendation of August 2001 prohibit the use of ATVs for recreational purposes in this area! See here for info on the draft recommendations and canoist's response)
Parks management will have to protect their land from ATV damage.
And the soft-shoed public - naturalists, skiers, hikers and canoeists - must speak up and stop this rape of the land.

If you are curious and would like to read more, here are the links to some of the players:

ATV Ontario, a roof organization for ATV users

MNR (Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources), meant to enforce sustainable use of our public lands

MOE (Ontario's Ministry of the Environment), responsible for stopping pollution

Some ATV Manufacturers

Honda

Bombardier

Polaris

FON (Federation of Ontario Naturalists), active to protect nature, such as forests and wetlands

CPAWS (Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, with its Ontario chapter called the Wildlands League), dedicated to stop destructive use of wetlands, forests and our special ecosystems

WCA (Wilderness Canoe Association), a paddling club that aims to preserve the wilderness experience

PS: to see the damage that is done by ATV's to cross country ski trails, look at the observations made in the Sudbury area.

Back to Erhard's Canoe Pages