The Greater Bragg Creek Trails Association
Volunteer Ski Trail Grooming and Tracksetting
The GBCTA Ski Committee works in conjunction with K-Country to improve trail conditions and track set the West Bragg Creek Ski Trails. Our goal is to provide a quality Nordic ski experience in West Bragg Creek, for the benefit of all visitors.
Membership has its privileges
Support the GBCTA with your donation, and receive up-to-date ski-grooming reports via email, within 12 hours of grooming. Find out when and where to ski, and which trails have been groomed. Be the first to hear about Association events, volunteer opportunities, and trail closures.
Help support us by making a tax deductible charitable donation to the GBCTA Ski Committee. Every dollar contributed to the GBCTA Ski Committee is invested in operating and capital costs to help sustain the program. Go to our donations page to find out how you can support trail grooming in west Bragg Creek.
Let’s Make Tracks
The GBCTA Ski Committee, operating in co-operation with Kananaskis Country groom, track set, maintain, upgrade and develop the Nordic ski trails at West Bragg Creek in K-Country.
And there is snowshoeing, too!
CanadaHelps is a registered charity that processes secure, online donations on behalf of Canada’s 80,000+ registered charitable organizations.
GBCTA Position on west Bragg Creek Logging
Posted Feb 14, 2012
Contrary to the information provided by Spray Lakes Sawmill and Sustainable Resource Development representatives at the SLS Open House Jan. 26, 2012, the GBCTA has not had input into the SLS Final Harvest Plan (Bragg_Creek Harvest_Plan Draft(1).pdf) and have not signed off on their plan. The GBCTA started negotiations with Spray Lakes Sawmills in Nov 2011 to mitigate the damage that the proposed logging will have on recreational trails. The GBCTA provided SLS with proposed mitigations for recreational trails on Jan 11, 2012, and SLS declined to meet prior to the Open House. SLS has since requested a meeting in late Feb 2012 to restart the negotiations.
The GBCTA supports the concept of FireSmart planning for Bragg Creek, and believes that it should be done while accommodating all stakeholders including tourism, economic development and recreational uses.
As members of the West Bragg Creek Land Users Agreement (including SLS, Sustainable Resource Development, Alberta Parks and other stakeholders), the GBCTA recognizes the need to work collaboratively on the multi-use landscape in K-Country. Section 6.3 of this agreement states that, “potential conflicts or concerns will be addressed at the detailed plan stage.” This negotiation is in the early stages of discussion.
For further information, please download the GBCTA Position Paper. GBCTA position paper Feb 14.pdf
The All Season Trail Plan approved by SRD and Parks:
And the West Bragg Creek Land User’s Agreement and two appendixes:
WBCASTP landuser agreement 2011 04 18 Final.pdf
Update Mar 22, 2012
The GBCTA has meet 4 times throughout March as part of the West Bragg Creek Land Users Agreement to review the Spray Lakes Sawmills’ Final Harvest Plan and the impact on recreational trails. We have reviewed the majority of the cutblocks and related trail concerns. Some areas still require further discussion and field visits. The WBCLUG has come to a better understanding of potential steps to mitigate impacts to trails as well as maintaining the effectiveness of the proposed containment area for wildfire mitigation. The WBCLUG has discussed the concept of long term planning for all uses on the landscape. We have achieved some positive collaboration on trail and harvesting conflicts. The WBCLUG is engaging in steps toward further public consultations.
It should be noted that the GBCTA’s scope is to negotiate trail mitigations within the WBCLU group. The Association is meeting with other recreational stakeholder groups to look at the proposed mitigations to gather further feedback from the public. Some mitigations remain unresolved.
Spray Lakes Sawmills will be submitting their Annual Operating Plan to Alberta Sustainable Resources on April 1, 2012. It will include agreements from the WBCLU agreement.
If the WBCLU group cannot come to an agreement on mitigations, the disputes will be sent to Alberta Sustainable Resources (the land manager on behalf of Albertans) for arbitration.
New multi-use summer trails were built in the west Bragg Creek area of Kananaskis Country in 2011. New trails are susceptible to premature wear and erosion and need time to compact and harden.
We need your cooperation to ensure the development of a sustainable trail system.
All Users: Please do not use new trails when they are soft and wet.
Equestrian Users: Severe damage from horses has already impacted some of the trails. New trails are not yet firm enough for equestrian use. Excessive damage can occur even in dry weather. Trails may be open to all users by mid-summer 2012. Please use existing ski trails until further notice.
These trails are being built through private and public donations, and the contributions of thousands of hours of volunteer services.
Please respect the trails and the efforts of others.
Attention Trail Users