In 1998 the Real Estate Foundation approved a grant of up to $30,000 to help the Trails for Rossland Society pay the legal fees involved in establishing formal legal access to trails in the Rossland area. In making the grant, the Foundation felt that the project would provide valuable guidance to other trails organizations in B.C. We hope this summary and the other documents provided on our website will assist non-profit groups that are encountering similar trail building challenges in their communities.

Please note that all documents were provided by the Society. Please address your questions to Society members via the contact information supplied on this, and other, pages.

The Project:
In 1998 the Trails for Rossland Society began a two-year process of obtaining legal access to trails in the rural areas surrounding the City of Rossland. This process is now concluding, with positive results.

Background:
Rossland is an old city in a mountainous and lightly populated area of the West Kootenays. There are approximately 300 kilometers of trails in and around the community. Many of these trails have their origin in Rossland's days as a gold and silver mining centre. All of the trails are an integral part of the community, and are used regularly by residents and visitors. During the 1990's, trails (including the Trans Canada Trail) were identified as an important asset to the community's economic and mental health, and the City invited a group of volunteers to develop the trail system in a more formal way. These volunteers formed the Trails for Rossland Society in 1996 and set to work. The first and most important job for the Society was to determine ownership status of the trails, and then to obtain legal access to those trails crossing private properties. As approximately 95% of Rossland area trails cross private property, this (obtaining access) became a critical component of developing the trail system. To accomplish this objective, a part-time staff member was hired, and the Real Estate Foundation and the City of Rossland contributed funds to pay for the costs of the land access phase.

Land and stewardship issues:
Most of the individual landowners have rural properties outside of City boundaries. Issues of concern to them include: privacy, liability, and respect for property, farm fields and livestock. Corporate owners include timber and mining companies. Their concerns include: fire, vandalism, liability and destruction of timber resources. All owners are interested in good stewardship practices. After extensive communication with the Society, many of the owners agreed to grant public access to the trails on their property, in exchange for the liability insurance, trail maintenance, signage, mapping and public education offered by the Society.

Results:
After two years of work, the Society has been able to enter into trail access agreements with 24 of 32 individual landowners, 3 of 5 corporate landowners, and 3 of 3 local governments. This has resulted in public access to 13 out of 34 known trails, and has allowed the Society to begin its next phase of installing signs, mapping and maintaining open trails. There is still one agreement pending with a large corporate landowner: when this is completed, an additional 7 trails will be added to the "open" trail system.

Acknowledgements:
Many thanks are due to the landowners who have generously agreed to grant public access to the trails crossing their property. By taking a chance on their local trail Society, they are giving a chance to the community. Thanks are also due to the Real Estate Foundation and the City of Rossland, without whose financial support this project would not have been completed.

What the Future Holds:
Access work will continue into the future. Some properties will change hands and new agreements will be required. Ongoing communication with landowners will be essential to ensure that the Society delivers the services which the owners require. The bulk of the Society's actions, however, will now be the area of operations and trail stewardship.