North Cowichan is considering setting up an “adopt-a-trail" program for sanctioned trails in its municipal forest reserve.
Council directed staff at its meeting on June 18 to prepare a report exploring the feasibility of allowing the Cowichan Trail Stewardship Society, which has a trail-maintenance contract with North Cowichan, to manage the program within its existing responsibilities.
The motion was put forward by Coun. Chris Istace who said the program would create an avenue to bring significant funding for trail maintenance to the region that is not reliant on the municipality’s annual budget for the sanctioned trails on Maple Mountain, Mount Tzouhalem and Mount Prevost.
He said North Cowichan's trail network has received international recognition through events, articles, photos and films resulting in companies, as well as athletes, travelling here to enjoy the trails and also use them for training or producing marketing content.
“Because of these benefits and enjoyment, many local companies and individuals, as well as notable large international bike companies, have expressed interest in supporting the local trail network by sponsoring specific trails,” Istace said.
“As the CTSS has now achieved official charitable non-profit status, they can issue charitable receipts. The timing feels appropriate for staff to explore and report back on the opportunities that exist for an adopt-a-trail or trail sponsorship.”
Coun. Tek Manhas said he would support finding any new revenue that would help pay for the trails.
“We used to have our municipal forests pay for all this stuff but, unfortunately, we don’t have that anymore, for the time being anyway,” he said.
Coun. Bruce Findlay said council has talked before about sponsoring trails, and he likes the idea of this program.
“If it’s as successful as we hope it will be, we can sanction more trails and do more upgrades with the funds that we bring in,” he said.
Mayor Rob Douglas said that as a municipality, North Cowichan is very reliant on on property taxes and user fees and several councils over the years had discussed finding alternative revenue sources.
But he said he won’t support this motion.
“We did explore this concept of corporate sponsorship a number of years ago and we did get a lot of opposition in the community and eventually abandoned it,” Douglas said.
“For me, it’s really a bigger philosophical debate about whether we want corporate logos on our civic facilities that we bought and paid for as residents and taxpayers. As well, I can’t support the idea of having corporate branding and logos on our public trails in our community forest.”
Coun. Mike Caljouw said he’ll vote for the motion.
“I’m all for anything that will supplement the residents’ contributions for our parks and recreation,” he said.
The motion for staff to prepare a report on the issue passed 5-1, with Douglas opposed.
