Calgary ATV Riders Association

We are pleased to share Ken Spring, Director and Stewardship Lead of Calgary ATV Riders Association received the Distinguished Service Award this past weekend. This award recognizes great service from a Board Member. Ken has been with the Board for 13+ years, in the positions of Director, President, to now Director and Stewardship Lead. His dedication, leadership, advocacy, and volunteer spirit is exemplary.

From Ride4Smiles, Margaret Lake, Stewardship, Dealer relationships he has upheld the reputation of our club and grew it. We know Stewardship does not happen in a blink from creating the work plan which is approved by Alberta Forestry and Parks and reviewed by AOHVA then quotes, budgeting, ordering, trail assessing, meetings, calls, planning, and more planning. Then follow up meetings, paperwork, more paperwork, trail assessment, more meetings, and paperwork. Just a few volunteer hours, a few.

Thank you for everything. You truly are an inspiration in leadership, advocacy, passion, and keeping the pulse going. Please join us in congratulating Ken!

Before heading onto the trail, take time to understand your vehicle.
Know how your ATV or Side-by-Side accelerates, brakes, and handles different terrain.
Familiarity improves control and helps prevent accidents.
Take time to practice, review your owner's manual, and ride within your limits.

Stay Safe. Respect the Trails.

June is Off-Road Safety Month across Canada.
ATVs and Side-by-Sides are built for adventure, but safety always comes first.
Wearing a certified helmet dramatically reduces the risk of serious head injury in the event of a crash.

Before heading out on the trails make sure you are properly equipped with:
Helmet
Gloves
Eye protection
Boots
Long Sleeve Shirt
Long Pants

Prepared riders enjoy safer rides.

Stay Safe. Respect the Trails.

Members of our club got their Chainsaw Certification or recertification over the weekend. Thank you to Alberta Off Highway Vehicle Association for providing funding for the course! And to Ralph's Motorsports for hosting the first day. Finally to the Instructor and participants! We look forward to the skills being used at Stewardship next week!

Big safe out there!

The MD of Bighorn is continuing to monitor the situation

The Bow River, from upstream of the Town of Banff to the Ghost Reservoir, continues to have a High Streamflow Advisory. The MD of Bighorn is monitoring weather conditions and water levels closely. The Emergency Services Team is ready to respond to emergencies.

The rain is expected to taper off today and end moving into tomorrow.

Residents should continue to use caution around waterways, watch for pooling water on roadways, avoid low-lying areas where water may accumulate, and never drive through flooded sections of road. Conditions can change quickly during periods of sustained rainfall.

Please stay back from the riverbank and respect the barricades and taped off areas/ trails. Stay off the river as fast-moving, muddy water is dangerous and conceals submerged logs trees and other debris.

Ensure you are signed up for Voyent Alert to receive emergency notifications. Learn more and sign up here: https://www.mdbighorn.ca/687/Voyent-Alert

For official updates, please follow the Municipal District of Bighorn on Facebook or visit our website at www.mdbighorn.ca

Rider safety is so important! Great to see the rider safety culture being promoted and a key focal point

Just a moment...

June Stewardship is coming up. We are looking for volunteers for the Calgary ATV Riders Association Stewardship Weeks, it is important that you RSVP as we need to fill out the required paperwork in advance and we need to know numbers for the Saturday BBQ. Please click below to RSVP.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeqiIOYB-GEns5KwDu4wuSDojmABYQ0QVkHct5YLQFLm0c8yA/viewform?usp=header

If Google forms does not work for you, please email at [email protected] directly.

COME FOR THE DAY, the WEEK, or the WEEKEND!! The more volunteers we get the quicker we can delegate and get the work done. There will be free camping Wednesday evening after 4pm through Sunday 2pm (June 10-14) at the Ghost Air Strip. If you are looking to help outside these days and want to camp, please contact us directly. If you would like a specific task, please identify this in the RSVP, we will do our best to accommodate. If you would like to support in other ways donations are welcome and can be done via an e-transfer to [email protected]

If you would like to volunteer, please RSVP asap using the link above to ensure the club knows how many crews, we are able to mobilize and prioritize the areas we will work on. Please make sure you pack a lunch for the day(s) with good nutrients and water, as well as dress for the weather, it can change, and we will work regardless. Parents are encouraged to bring their children; tasks will be available for children to participate and learn about the importance of sustainability. CARA follows the Alberta off highway vehicle helmet law, for more details click here.

WHEN: Monday, June 8 to Friday June 19 but the bulk of the work is on the 11-14, you can camp starting Wednesday evening (after 4pm) to June 14 (checkout 2pm). No cost to you for camping; there is a fire pit available. Saturday evening there will be a BBQ for our volunteers and breakfast grab and go items in the mornings.

WHERE: The main location for camping Wednesday evening to Sunday is the Ghost Airstrip. Please leave your units on your trucks and or trailers as you may be driving to your work location.

TIME: Each day volunteers are to arrive no later than 8:30 am, day finishes at around 4:00 pm. Safety meeting is at 8:30am, with crews leaving at 9am. Times are approximate to best of our knowledge, depending on how work is completed throughout the weekend. Sunday should be a shorter day in the hope that most of the work is completed on Saturday. If for some reason you are arriving outside of this time, let me know so we can make arrangements to meet.

Safety meeting will begin at 8:30am on each day. All volunteers must attend, as there are forms and regulations to meet.

The work the club hopes to complete during the Stewardship Days is as follows:

1) Lesueur Trail help with Tom, he will require two people to trim willows and help with cutting( chain saw certificate) deadfall to fill in a couple low lying areas for support on Monday June the 8th and 9th.

2) Lesueur trail maintenance work wp13-wp85, transporting wood (we will have our trailer) into the section where we will be assembling Matts to be placed on the trail. This work will start Thursday June the 11th and continue until the 14th. This will be the largest area of volunteers required along with the most time consuming, so more hands lead to less work. If you have a trailer that can be pulled behind an ohv for transport, this will make the transport go quicker and easier. CARA will pay for the fuel for the back and forth on this section of the work. We need 8 volunteers.

3) Cow Lake trail maintenance work wp109-wp111-wp115, which is cleaning drain spouts, trimming willows, and cleaning up deadfall that is encroaching on the Cow Lake Trail that may be deemed not safe to users (hanging, sticking in the ground, close to trail approach) 4 people required per team, 1 team for Saturday/Sunday. We will also require at least one person with chainsaw certification.

4) Litter clean up along Transalta Road & Waiparous Valley Road. For Transalta starting at the Kiosk, just before the small bridge (river) plus wp1 to wp7. South Ghost Stage Area, Waiparous Stage Area from Friday to Sunday.

5) In addition to the above, we will require two volunteers to be safety people, require a side x side or legal two up quad. Basically, they will be bringing our Machine Operators out to site from Monday, June the 8 to Sunday June the 19, while spending the day as spotters and be able to help the operators if anything goes wrong with the equipment, chainsaw certificate is helpful; but not required as there may be down trees. You will not have to spend the whole week, great if you can, but advise what day(s) you will be available.

Items needed to bring for trail maintenance: Shovels, picks, tree pruners, hand pruners, small axes, tie downs, tow straps, work gloves. Multiple clothing layers and clothes for varying weather conditions. We will assign, at least one member of the club that has their chainsaw certificate in each group. Please note in the RSVP what you are bringing along with your work preference.

Please bring a lunch and water for the trail work each day, CARA will have extra water at the Safety meeting for those that forget.

Please bring your ATVs which will allow volunteers to get to the remote locations that vehicles cannot. If no ATVs are available there is work, like garbage clean up (vehicle only required) that do not require an ATV. You may need to leave your ATV on your truck/trailer so see Ken first before you offload.

Gloves: While the Club will have gloves; we ask folks to bring gloves the club supplied from previous years or a pair you prefer. If do not have any gloves, ensure to note this in the RSVP and include your size.

We look forward to seeing you out there and THANK YOU. Your club would also like to thank the valued volunteers and our valued partners: Environment & Parks & AOHVA. The Ghost Community, and Canlin Energy for their parts in a successful Stewardship. A special thank you to AOHVA for the grant to complete this work.

Send us a message if you have any questions.

See you on the trails!

Stewardship RSVP Stewardship RSVP