NCC gets it right on winter trail idea, gets out of of the way
Sometimes the best thing the NCC can do for use of its land is to step aside
“The National Capital Commission is launching an international design competition to reimagine Nepean Point,” the Citizen reported last week.
Of course it is. Is this not how the NCC functions — fixes things — with a focus on process, not results, hurried by nothing in particular? (The showcase Astrolabe Theatre was last used in 1995.)
Maybe not. Maybe it’s changing. The best thing the NCC has possibly done in the past two years is letting a group of energetic, well-meaning volunteers open a winter trail along the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway.
Its main contribution? Getting the hell out of the way so Dave Adams & Co. could take over.
There he was one afternoon last week, atop a snowbank in a parking lot by the Champlain Bridge, all superhero-like in fluorescent green overalls, a fluorescent orange top, tomatored gloves, a helmet, goggles and purple bandana, driving a bad-ass Ski-Doo.
Adams, 49, a stay-at-home dad, is the “winter trail manager” and “head groomer,” which is to say, with some helpers, he pretty much does everything. “A certified freak,” he calls himself.
The idea is so simple, it is to wonder why the NCC didn’t do this years ago: groom the recreation/bicycle path along its most popular section (Ottawa River), so that people can ski, walk, cycle, right near their homes, near existing parking lots, near transit.
Essentially, there is nothing to build — you just flatten the snow and let people take over.
Adams is part of the Westboro Beach Community Association and a groomer at the Nakkertok ski club in rural Gatineau. About 18 months ago, an idea arose: If the NCC gave permission, could he groom part of the trail that runs through Westboro Beach?
Well, one thing led to another to another, with Adams continually stirring the drink.
Importantly, the Dovercourt Recreation Association came on board to act as program sponsor, offering professional management and fundraising. So did seven other community associations. So did Mountain Equipment Co-op and Fresh Air Experience. So did Coun. Jeff Leiper’s office.
Before long, a crowdsourcing fundraiser — it rained fives and 10s from average Joes — had raised enough to buy an industrial-strength snowmobile and a new groomer, which was customized for the job. First tested in the winter of 2016, the program is now in its first full season.
Adams said he just had to be involved.
“I love it,” he said of the trail work. “I felt like it’s my moral obligation to do this. I have the skills, I have the know-how, I have a huge club behind me.” (Nakkertok crews helped to customize the groomer.)
The loop is 16 kilometres long, from the Canadian War Museum to Westboro, with a couple of mini-loops in between. A full groom takes six hours, as it involves about 60 km of travel on a slow-moving sled.
Adams is on the trail most weekdays, for which he is paid almost nothing.
“The priority was on buying the equipment, first and foremost. Get the program up and running and then we’ll figure out how to get paid later.” (The Ski-Doo and groomer cost about $35,000.)
Even he is amazed at how so many people, from so many different groups, have pulled together.
“Oh my God, the power of community,” he said, as skiers swished by. “It’s like the idea just released all this energy.”
He credits the NCC, too, for being a full partner. “I’m just a citizen of Ottawa. I have something to contribute. They’re not in the business of grooming. I am.”
Some infrastructure is beginning to grow up around the trail. The war museum and its restaurant are a warming station, Fresh Air has a semi-permanent steel container for rentals, and portable toilets are to be installed.
And skiers, walkers, cyclists, have come out by the thousands.
Steve Nason is the senior director at Dovercourt, which has a three-year trail agreement with the NCC. He said startup costs were about $50,000 and annual operating expenses should be in the $25,000 range. I asked him if the trail only happened because of the exuberance of one Dave Adams.
“Oh, 100 per cent. He’s the driver. This is his vision.” The hope, next year, is that he can be paid a proper salary.
Nason hopes to expand the trail, possibly eastward, so that skiers — like summer cyclists — can glide below Parliament Hill.
Brilliant idea. It needs no “international design competition” or an RFP, or a task force, or a conference on “trail animation” or 1,001 nights of consultation.
This is a public asset. Just let the people go.
I’m just a citizen of Ottawa. I have something to contribute. (The NCC are) not in the business of grooming. I am.