Cape Breton Trail Review and Inventory Draft Report Prepared for Destination Cape Breton by Cobequid Trails in association with RMA Tourism Ltd. January, 2016 CAPE BRETON TRAIL REVIEW AND INVENTORY 2 Table of Contents Page Introduction 1 Objectives of the report 2 Background 5 Study Area 5 Trail Classification 7 Trail Use for Tourism 7 Hiking and Walking Trails 8 Citations 9 1. Federal Trails 10 Cape Breton Highland National Park Louisbourg National Historic Site 2. Provincial Park Trails 12 3. Community and Municipal Trails 14 Richmond County 14 Cape Breton Regional Municipality 15 Victoria County 16 Inverness County 17 4. Planned and Proposed Hiking Trails 20 Off-road Cycling Trails 23 Mountain Bike Trails 23 Linear Cycling Trails 23 All-Season Motorized Trails 26 The ATV Market 26 ATV Trails in Cape Breton 26 Richmond Co 28 CBRM 30 Victoria County 32 Inverness County 34 Winter Trails Cross Country Ski Trails 36 Snowmobile Trails 36 Conclusion and Recommendations 38 Appendix A. Listing of non-motorized Trails B. Listing of motorized trail networks C. Citations of hiking and walking trails Cape Breton Trail Review and Inventory January 1, 2016 CAPE BRETON TRAIL REVIEW AND INVENTORY 3 Introduction This report was commissioned by Destination Cape Breton to provide an inventory of trails on Cape Breton Island. The report covers all major categories of off-road trail corridors including non-motorized and motorized recreational trails. To meet the demands of the nature inclined tourist, Cape Breton has a wide array of outstanding trails. They allow visitors to fully experience the environment. Trails may be destination products in themselves but more often they are part of a diverse product that is essentially inspired by the landscape. Some trails are local resources that may simply improve the quality of outdoor recreation in urban and rural communities. But on Cape Breton Island, with its impressive coastal landscape (both Atlantic Ocean and Bras d’Or Lake), National and Historic Parks and an active and developed tourism industry, trails are a vital tourism asset. In 2003, Enterprise Cape Breton requested the Economic Planning Group to prepare a comprehensive trails strategy for Cape Breton Island. The report, almost 200 pages long, reviewed in detail the market for various types of trail users and set priorities and plans for trail development. This report, completed thirteen years after the EPG study, is intended to be a concise summary of trail product in Cape Breton. It provides a database of trails in Cape Breton as they exist today. This database is provided both as a categorized listing and (in the case of hiking and walking trails) as a geo-referenced table. Both can be updated and expanded to include new developments and new information as it is added. We have attempted to list all existing trails that have tourism potential or value. Over 140 trails are listed in this report. Within the limited scope of this study, it was not feasible to conduct site assessments of each trail. This report therefore relied on secondary sources of information to create a composite of the trail product including a brief profile of each trail. Trail coordinators in each county were consulted to identify municipal and community trails. Where on-line data was unavailable, specifically in the case of motorized trails, a trail questionnaire was distributed and personal interviews were conducted. Cape Breton Trail Review and Inventory January 1, 2016 CAPE BRETON TRAIL REVIEW AND INVENTORY 4 We focused in this report on land-based trails. Cape Breton has an active water route network especially for cruising boats such as sailing vessels. It also has a number of staging sites for canoes and kayaks. Water routes generally consist of shore-based infrastructure such as yacht clubs and launch sites. While a case could be made that water-routes are classified as trails, this report does not take that position and water routes are not considered trails in this report. For more information on coastal waterways, sea kayak routes and canoe waterways, refer to http://www.trails.gov.ns.ca/. This report considers the concept of market readiness within the trail inventory. While it was outside the scope of the project to conduct market-readiness assessments of individual trails, the market potential and range of market readiness was generally reviewed for each trail type or grouping. This is important in the context of tourism as market-readiness is an essential condition for trails if they are to make meaningful contributions to the tourism product mix in Cape Breton. The report is organized as follows: The report begins with an overview of the study area. It then describes briefly the taxonomy of trails and trail types used in this report. We then provide a profile and description of each type of trail including all-season trails (hiking and walking trails, cycling trails and all-season off- highway vehicle (OHV) trails) and winter trails (Cross country ski and snowmobile). We conclude the report with brief recommendations for further action. Within the appendix of this report is a comprehensive listing of trails covered in this report. Objectives of the report: A. Identify and describe major trail types B. Report on the state each category of trail … number of trails, distance, type and range of management and factors that would determine destination appeal. C. Provide a listing of all trails identified in the study by class and management identifying parameters such as distance and user type. Cape Breton Trail Review and Inventory January 1, 2016 CAPE BRETON TRAIL REVIEW AND INVENTORY 5 Study Area Cape Breton Island is the northeastern region of Nova Scotia with a land area of 10,300 square kilometers. This island divided into four counties, Inverness on the northwest coast of the island, Victoria on the northeast, CBRM including Nova Scotia’s second largest city to the east and Richmond County at the southwest end of the Island. Cape Breton Island has at least 1500 km. of coastline. The Bras d’Or Lake adds an additional 1,234 km. of inland coastline1. In total, the island has a remarkable 2,700 km. of highly diverse coastline. Land in Cape Breton is generally divided into federal, provincial, municipal and private. Federal land is largely confined to national parks and historic sites. Cape Breton Island National Park accounts for 948 sq. km, almost 10% of the land area of the Island. The remaining 90% is divided between provincial crown land and private and municipal land. The Bras d’Or Lake and its watershed (central portion of Cape Breton Island) were designated as a Biosphere Reserve under the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Program in 2011. Provincial crown land represents the largest land classification on Cape Breton. For the purpose of this study, provincial crown land is divided into three general categories. provincial parks wilderness protected areas 1 Taylor RB, and Shaw J. 2002. Coastal character and coastal barrier evolution in the Bras d’Or Lakes, Nova Scotia in Proceeding of the Nova Scotia Institute of Science, 42: 149-181. Cape Breton Trail Review and Inventory January 1, 2016 CAPE BRETON TRAIL REVIEW AND INVENTORY 6 all other crown land Crown land that is not protected under the Parks Act or Wilderness Areas legislation is administered by the Department of Natural Resources and may have a range of uses including industrial forestry, other industrial uses, hunting and fishing and outdoor recreation. Crown land is shown in light green on the following map. Trail Classification Trails are off-road pathways developed for recreation and travel and include corridors for both non-motorized and motorized activity. In this report trails are classified based on the general type of activity. This taxonomy is a market-related classification that reflects user- patterns and relates to travel motivations and preferences. Trails generally fall into the following categories: Trails managed for multi-season use and activities including: o Non-motorized trail use . hiking (including front-country walking trails and wilderness trails) . off-road cycling Cape Breton Trail Review and Inventory January 1, 2016 CAPE BRETON TRAIL REVIEW AND INVENTORY 7 o Trails that accommodate motorized travel, specifically trails for all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) and off-road motorcycles. Trails managed for winter use including: o non-motorized winter trail activities such as cross-country skiing, snowshoeing o snowmobile trails Within the trails data sheets at the end of this report, all-season (non-motorized and motorized) trails are listed sequentially followed by winter trails. Trail classifications by NS Trails include two additional categories: Shared use, and multi-use. Shared use refers to trails than allow both motorized and non-motorized use. A number of rails-to-trails in Nova Scotia are constructed and maintained to shared-use standards. In addition, most OHV trail organizations refer to their trails as shared-use. Multi-use trails refer to trails that are managed for a mix of non-motorized users. Trail use for Tourism Trails are a recreational resource for both residents of Cape Breton Island and visitors. This report is intended to be a resource for tourism planning and therefore focuses on trails that attract and are used by tourists. The following table shows the level of participation in trail activities in Cape Breton by non- resident (out-of-province) visitors. Hiking 34% Cycling 3% Cross-country skiing 2% ATV 2% Snowmobiling 4% Hiking clearly is the most popular trail related activity by tourists (out of province) with over one third (34%) of all visitors participating. It is assumed that most hikers use designated trails. The participation rates for cycling, cross-country skiing, ATV use and snowmobiling are all at less than 5%.
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