Dear Editor:

Are we the only ones who are confused by all the letters and articles opposing trails at Barbour Rock? If the Barbour Rock area has so many endangered species and environmental concerns, shouldnt it be closed to everyone including ATVs, hunting, Christmas tree harvesting and rock climbing? The province hasnt identified the Barbour Rock area as a wildlife habitat area and it was assessed by a professional biologist lets call it like it is. This has nothing to do with environmental concerns; it is all about how recreation and expectations of access are changing and some people dont like it.

This is 2016 and mountain bikes are a legitimate user group. The Columbia Valley Cycling Society (CVCS) has developed some great trails that are used by walkers, runners, snowshoers, fat bikers, cross country skiers and mountain bikes. These trails are a significant asset to our community for both locals and visitors of all ages and abilities. Count the number of bikes on cars in the spring, check out the group mountain bike rides and trail runs almost every day of the week, count how many of our business owners and doctors are trail users, then tell me trails dont make our town a better place.

Right now we only have 53 kilometres of legally approved multi-use singletrack trails in the vicinity of Invermere this is nowhere near enough for the number of residents and visitors of our valley. That is only a couple days of mountain biking or a week of running for the average person. As business owners in the valley, one of the first questions many people ask us is, Where are the trails? We even had someone suggest that you had to be part of a secret society to know about trails in our area! They did not believe we had so few legal trails, they just thought we didnt want to share them. Are we going to pretend the demand isnt there and hope all the user groups that want signed, mapped and maintained trails will go away? How about some of the opponents to Barbour Rock make some suggestions about where they believe trail development should occur in the valley?

Jordie and Beva Kirk

Crazy Soles Owners

Invermere