For over a year the Oak Ridge Trail Association (ORTA) has been developing a management plan for the Seaton Hiking Trail. The Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) and the Ontario Realty Corp (ORC) have been involved as stakeholder and land owner respectively.

I approached Harold Sellers, the Executive Director of ORTA, early in the process about including mountain biking as a permitted use. He didn’t see any reason not to and up until recently I understood that this was to be included in the plan. Two weeks ago I got word that this was not the way the TRCA and ORC were leaning. The rumour is they are quite adamant that mountain biking be excluded as a use. I was told that “generally it is felt that the trail is not appropriate for mountain biking both because of design (stairs, steep slopes, etc..) as well as location (proximity to the river, wet areas, sensitive habitat, etc…)”

The problem with this is that non-mountain bikers are making decisions about what kinds of experiences we’d like to have while riding. Attempts to turn this into a decision about environmental impact won’t be successful. There is ample evidence that indicates mountain biking and hiking impacts are effectively equivalent. If the trail allows hiking it can allow mountain biking.

We will have a chance to influence this however. On May 19th there will be a meeting between the TRCA, ORC, ORTA, and the cycling community. The DMBA will be at this meeting including myself and other directors. Our plan is to represent ourselves as an organized group with a single voice rather than having multiple people talk over each other at cross purposes. This is the benefit of having an organization like the DMBA to advocate on the sport’s behalf and was the main driver in the formation of the club.

The DMBA intends to include the local High School mountain bike coaches because they use the trail for practices. We also intend to include the local shops since a trail available to mountain biking so close to town would be beneficial to their business, plus some of their shop teams use that trail as well.

If you are a Pickering or Ajax resident, use the trail currently or in the past you are more than welcome to attend, but don’t feel obligated to. The DMBA was formed for this purpose, to represent your interests in matters such as this.

The meeting details:
Tuesday May 19th, 7pm
The Main Committee Room at The City of Pickering Municipal Offices
One The Esplanade
Pickering, Ontario