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rails to trails u winter.12 18
Trough its new Chapter 150 cam-
paign, TCT hopes to encourage high-
income Canadians to make donations of
$500,000 or more. Te frst donation, by
the Richardson Foundation, includes a
second $500,000 matching funds gift also
aimed at winning broader participation.
Tens of thousands of Canadians—many
of whom have never been on the trail—
have donated money for its construction
and maintenance, giving as little as $25 to
“buy” a symbolic meter of the TCT.
Rail-Trails in British Columbia
Taking the TCT across British Columbia
requires climbing three high mountain
passes, crossing hundreds of rivers and
ravines, and traversing terrain so harsh that
it was used for the frst Rambo movie.
“Fortunately, a lot of the trail in the
province is rail grade,” says Leon Lebrun,
vice president of Trails BC, which over-
sees the TCT in British Columbia. “Of
the 1,800-kilometer routing from the
Pacifc Ocean to the Alberta border,
about 40 percent is on rail corridors.”
Te Kettle Valley Rail Trail is one. Te
80-kilometer trail features dozens of long
switchbacks and 18 trestles to accommo-
date a 3,000-foot elevation change. On
Vancouver Island, Trails BC is renovating
the 90-year-old Kinsol Trestle, one of
the largest and most spectacular timber
rail trestle structures in the world. Te
national organization has committed
$250,000 to the renovation.
Trails BC has worked closely with the
two Canadian railroad companies, Canadian
Pacifc and Canadian National, to acquire
out-of-service rail corridors. “Te railroads
make a valuation, and then the federal gov-
ernment gives them a tax break in exchange
for giving them up,” says Lebrun.
Trails BC works with the provincial
and local governments to build usable
trails on these railbeds, enlisting numer-
ous local organizations to maintain them.
Trails BC coordinates its eforts with
the national TCT organization through
the Territorial and Provincial Advisory
Council, which meets regularly to address
concerns and share ideas, expertise and
solutions for completing the trail.
“We’re an all-volunteer organization,”
says Lebrun, a retired school principal
who has put 15 years into development of
the trail. “But when you challenge people
to work together on something like this,
it’s amazing what you can accomplish.”
Shared Strength
Te Central Alberta Regional Trails
Society (CARTS) is a model of the spirit
of collaboration that infuses develop-
ment of the TCT. Responsible for about
70 kilometers of the trail around the city
of Red Deer, which is halfway between
Edmonton and Calgary, CARTS has
a symbiotic relationship with the half
dozen municipalities along the way.
“We’re more than just a lobbying group
because we have councilors from the towns
and cities actually sitting on our commit-
tee,” says CARTS President Debbie Olsen.
“Te people who are responsible for build-
ing the trail are at the table with us.”
Olsen, who joined CARTS as a
city council member from the town of
Lacombe, says town and county staf
members frequently meet with her orga-
nization to ensure continuity as the trail
crosses municipal boundaries.
CARTS also fexes its political muscle
at the provincial level. “We recently
assisted the Alberta Urban Municipalities
Association in securing an additional $1
million in provincial funding for trails,”
Olsen says. “We also asked the province
about building trails in highway rights-
of-way, and the government has initiated
a study.”
In 2010 CARTS was involved in
completion of two bridges along the trail,
one costing more than $300,000 and the
other more than $500,000. Once again,
the organization’s governmental contacts
came into play.
“We were able to bring in the Canadian
military to lay the bridge decking as a
training exercise, which saved us about
$50,000 in labor,” says Olsen. “What was
even better was the publicity we got from
it, in the province and even nationally.”
Unique Imprints
“Tat’s not how they do it in other prov-
inces,” says Holly Woodill, president
One Step at a Time
Dana Miese has seen more of the Trans Canada Trail than any
started walking west from Cape Spear, Newfoundland, the eas
TCT, headed frst to the Pacifc Ocean and then to the Arctic O
of 2011, he’d walked 9,100 kilometers and made it to just out
Miese, who turned 37 this year, hikes six months out of the
as a forest technologist in British Columbia.
While hiking, he averages about 30 kilometers each day, a
to 20 kilometers. He stresses, though, that nothing about the
“I’ve been on extreme hiking trails in remote sections, whe
of me in any direction,” he says. “And I’ve been on paved bike
He’s followed straight-as-an-arrow railbeds through the d
and stopped at trailside cafés north of Montreal to pass the ti
Miese plans to write a book about his experiences and the
the TCT endpoint on the shore of the Arctic Ocean.
“The TCT has become like a highway, connecting communiti
Bill Thorpe Walking Bridge,
Fredericton, New Brunswick
Al MacPherson Carol Randall
Jeannette Klein Doug Murray
Kawartha Trans Canada
Trail, Ontario
Iron Horse Trail, Alberta Confederation Trail,
Prince Edward Island