Cycling community looks to sanction trails at Black Oak Heritage Park
Black Oak Heritage Park is one part of what will soon make up the Ojibway National Urban Park.
But a community group of cyclists is concerned access to the park will go away when the National Park opens in about a year.
The 660-acre park, which is owned by the City of Windsor, has a vast trail system open for hikers, bird watchers, and even leisure cycling.
Advocates call it a hidden gem.
“I stumbled upon these trails and I instantly fell in love, right, and [the trails] became sort of a happy place,” said James Braakman, a director of Windsor Essex Bike Community.
“It's one of the most serene areas that I know of around here,” said Glyn Buck, a co-director for the not-for-profit advocacy group.
Black Oak Heritage Park is home to approximately 130 endangered plant and animal species, but Braakman said at one point, it was a dumping ground for old cars, trash, and illicit behaviour.
“There was illegal activity in here, drug use, off road vehicles,” Braakman said. “And it's been the cyclists and the trail users coming in here using this trail every day that has kicked all that out.”
There’s one catch; cycling on many of the trails is prohibited by the City of Windsor to protect the black oak savannah’s ecological integrity. According to the city's website, it’s open only for passive recreational activities.
That hasn’t stopped mountain bikers from using it all 12 kilometres of trails.A cyclist uses paths snaking through Black Oak Heritage Park in Windsor's west-end on Sunday Dec. 3, 2017. (Photo by AM800's Gord Bacon)
“You come out here in the middle of the summer or on a nice day, you can't even get a parking spot because there's so many people who really love these trails and it's a really special place for a lot of people,” said Braakman.
The Windsor Essex Bike Community (WEBC) is advocating for the trails to be sanctioned by the city, and eventually, Parks Canada when it becomes part of the National Urban Park.
“By sanctioning the trails, you get regulation, you can implement awareness, you can implement a framework, you can implement guidelines that are going to lead to long term environmental sustainability,” said Braakman.
Neither Parks Canada nor the City of Windsor responded to interview requests Friday, but Braakman confirmed they have met with the cycling community and their conversations have been respectful.
But cyclists warn much like today, even when the national park opens, rouge users will continue to access the trails.
“Why can't we find a solution here, under the watchful eye or guidance of Parks Canada, to create a similar trail network where trail users, environmental sustainability, Parks Canada, the city of Windsor can all work together to create something incredible,” Braakman said, noting cycling trails exist at many other national parks, including nearby Point Pelee National Park.
WEBC hopes common ground exists to both preserve trail usage and promote environmental and ecological sustainability.
“Being on the trails actually focuses the human activity in one location [and] keeps people from wandering around in the park,” said Buck. “We believe that it actually improves the environmental sustainability and viability of the area.”
The Windsor-Essex Bike Community has launched a petition to Parks Canada on its website, hoping the government will investigate sanctioning the trail network.
In just 24 hours since the launch of the petition, nearly 500 people have signed onto the cause.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Large numbers of New York City police officers begin entering Columbia University campus
Large numbers of New York City police officers began entering the Columbia University late Tuesday as dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters remained on the campus.
Poilievre kicked out of Commons after calling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau 'wacko'
Testy exchanges between the prime minister and his chief opponent ended with the Opposition leader and one of his MPs being ejected from the House of Commons on Tuesday -- and the rest of Conservative caucus walking out of the chamber in protest.
Baby, grandparents among 4 people killed in wrong-way police chase on Ontario's Hwy. 401
A police chase which started with a liquor store robbery in Bowmanville Monday night ended in tragedy some 20 minutes later when a suspect fleeing police entered Highway 401 in the wrong direction and caused a pileup which killed an infant and the child's grandparents, as well as the suspect, investigators say.
Freeland leaves capital gains tax change out of coming budget implementation bill, here's why
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will be tabling yet another omnibus bill to pass a sweeping range of measures promised in her April 16 federal budget, though left out of the legislation will be the government's proposed capital gains tax change.
Sword-wielding man attacks passersby in London, killing a 14-year-old boy and injuring 4 others
A man wielding a sword attacked members of the public and police officers in a northeast London suburb Tuesday, killing a 14-year-old boy and injuring four other people, British authorities said.
Man dies after suffering cardiac arrest while waiting in ER, widow wants investigation
When an ambulance took David Lippert to the hospital in March of 2023, the 68-year-old Kitchener, Ont., executive was hoping to find out why he was feeling weak and unable to walk. Some 24 hours later, he was found unresponsive in the ER.
CSE says it shared information on Chinese hacking of parliamentarians in 2022
While several MPs and senators say they were only recently made aware of China-backed hackers targeting them, the Communications Security Establishment, one of Canada's intelligence agencies, says it shared information about the incident with parliamentary officials in June of 2022.
WATCH Arnold Schwarzenegger spotted filming in Elora, Ont.
The name of the project has not been officially released although it’s widely believed to be the Netflix series FUBAR.
Eviction for landlord's use was legitimate, despite owners' partial move, B.C. court rules
A B.C. judge has upheld the eviction of a family from their North Vancouver townhouse, finding that the landlords did not take an unreasonable amount of time to move into the home after the tenants vacated it.