TORCA’s Section 56 application for trails on Eagle Mountain has been approved! We have the ministerial order in hand and will be signing a Partnership Agreement with RSTBC very soon. The trails in this agreement include Huntleys, Physiotherapy, Shock Therapy, Manhandler, Three Little Pigs, Eastbound & Down & Hammertime. Our current LOU covers the other mountain bike trails on the mountain but this will be replaced with Section 57 agreements for the remaining trails. Also, we will be receiving a Section 57 for Bloodline! This will be a new addition the the mountain bike trail network. Look for it to be opened for mountain bike use this spring!
What do these Section 56 and 57 agreements mean for us? The benefit of this process is two fold. Firstly, the trails in the Section 56 are now in the Provincial registry of trails and identified as “established” which gives them protection for the future. Secondly, this process has shown RSTBC that TORCA is a responsible association that is able to work with other stakeholders on the mountain. Because of this cooperation with RSTBC and the other user groups on the mountain, RSTBC is applying on behalf of TORCA and Eagle Mountain Moto (who also obtained a S56 for their trails) to provide us with a Section 56 Polygon. This would give our groups stewardship of all of Eagle Mountain, not just selected trails. With a S56 Polygon in place, we are then in a position to expand the trail network on the mountain.
Phase 1 of the expansion is already in the works! We are planning for a new staging area, a new climbing trail and a new machine built, blue level descending trail. These new trails would tie into the existing trail system. Other phases would look at expanding the trail network elsewhere on the mountain.