Perfect time for outdoor recreation is right now
Spring is absolutely the best time of year in the Okanagan for many reasons: lots of sunshine, green hillsides, lush flowers in every meadow and few if any wildfires.
On average, June is the wettest month with 44 millimetres (1.7 inches) of precipitation but online sources say the average is only six days with rain and the temperature hovers around 24C. May, by comparison, is 20 C with six days of rain while July is 28 C with five days of rain.
So June is the best time for outdoor recreation before it gets hot (and possibly unbearable hot, thanks to a heat dome).
The Sheriff and Constant Companion Carmen took advantage of those conditions by cycling everywhere from the South to the North Okanagan, trying to fit in as many excursions as possible while the Okanagan sunflower, Saskatoon bushes and orchards are blooming, from Naramata benchlands to East Kelowna hills to Kalamalka Lake Provincial Park viewpoints.
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Volunteers have been busy this spring.
Ryan McKenna of Mountain Bikers of the Central Okanagan (MTBCO) recently organized a trail maintenance project on Hillbilly Trail in Myra-Bellevue Provincial Park.
Hillbilly was adopted by the club through the FOSS Adopt-a-Trail Program.
Friends of South Slopes’ volunteers Alan Milnes and Eric Chamberland brought the FOSS UTVs, brushers and equipment, working alongside MTBCO volunteers Edith, Jesse, Cam, Sean, Andrew, Mae, Mitchell, Bill and Ryan. “They all worked their butts
off,” said Milnes on the FOSS Facebook page.
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The numbers finally came in for Vernon after the Sheriff found Kelowna has more than 300 kilometres of bike lanes and more than 60 kilometres of separated pathways, the most extensive bicycle network in Canada for a city its size.
Christy Poirier, the City of Vernon’s manager of communications, reports the following: multiuse path/cycle track, 30.7 km; onroad bike lane, 68 km; bike route/road shoulder, 55.6 km; and unpaved trail, six km.
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Parks Canada has decided that pedal-assist (class 1) e-bikes are only permitted on designated trails but you have to check the website for each national park to figure out which trails are designated.
For example, the Banff National Park webpage stipulates e-bikes are permitted on only 12 trails in
Banff and three in Lake Louise. “Violators may be charged under the Canada National Parks Act: maximum penalty $25,000.”
“A pedal-assist e-bike, as defined by Parks Canada, must not generate more than 500W, provides power assistance only when the electric bicycle is being pedalled, and stops when speed reaches 32km/h,” says Claudia Crepeault with Parks Canada. “This definition aligns with class 1 e-bikes under the 3-class system of e-bike designation that is commonly used by the bicycle industry, and has been adopted in most European countries and U.S. states.”
Parks Canada used the National Parks Highway Traffic Regulations and Transport Canada regulation that considers pedal-assist bikes as non-motorized vehicles, she said.
“Pedal-assist e-bikes also provide greater accessibility for people who could not otherwise discover Parks Canada-administered places,” she said.
“In accordance with Parks Canada’s guidance, electric bicycles with accelerators or throttles and electric scooters that can deliver power assistance when the user is not pedalling are prohibited on trails since they are not pedalassist e-bikes, but they can be used on roads within national parks,” she says.
Between 2019 and 2022, Parks Canada tallied 21 “incidents” involving e-bikes and 397 for regular bikes. It issued 10 warnings for e-bikes, 266 for regular bikes. It didn’t issue any tickets for e-bikes and 72 for regular bikes. The number of warnings and tickets for regular bikes are not necessarily cyclingrelated, she stipulated.
“Guidelines for pedal-assist e-bikes were introduced in 2019. Most of the warnings relate to operating an electric bicycle on non-biking trails or on trails where e-bikes are prohibited. Electric bikes were also involved in four accidents between 2019 and 2022, either related to speeding, collisions or falls. It should also be noted that none of the incidents compiled specified the class of ebikes.”
This week, the Regional District of North Okanagan changed its regulations to allow Class 2 (throttle assisted) ebikes on its portion of the Okanagan Rail Trail. Pedalassist class 1 bikes were already permitted.
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The Sheriff always saw a potential conflict of interest when Recreation Sites and Trails BC was under the thumb of the Ministry of Forests.
Which had priority: outdoor recreation or timber harvesting?
Thankfully, RSTBC has now been moved to the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change.
Remember, the ministry (and RSTBC) allowed forest companies to use 12 sections of the Trans Canada Trail that were donated to the province for non-motorized use.
“This means that the Ministry of Environment will be responsible for both provincial recreation agencies: RSTBC and BC Parks (which has a dual mandate for conservation and recreation),” says Louise Peterson, executive director of the Outdoor Recreation Council of B.C.
“Having both agencies under one roof and one minister could bode very well in terms of ensuring effective and efficient coordination of outdoor recreation in B.C., and that an ambitious vision and strategy can be developed that enable all British Columbias to have quality opportunities for recreation while safeguarding the integrity of B.C.’s natural spaces.”
Friends of the South Slopes works with both BC Parks (in Myra-Bellevue and Okanagan Mountain provincial parks) and Recreation Sites and Trails BC (trails on Crown lands like the KVR). “Having them managed under one ministry should be a positive step,” says the FOSS Facebook page.