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Land for off-road use


slade420
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I thought i would add some life to the eastern canada forum. I am from Marathon, which is in northwestern Ontario. Located on lake superior, we are surrounded by forest. According to the Ministry of Natural Resources, 95% of land in northwestern ontario is crown land. On their website they say they work with communites to designate areas of crown land for different uses including conservation and recreation like hiking, off-roading, bird watching, etc. Off-roading definately caught my interest.

 

Being surrounded by forest you would think that we wouldnt really need a designated area, but the only real places to wheel are either O.F.S.C. (Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs) trails, Privately owned gravel quarrys, Hydro lines, or land owned by forestry or mining companies. Most of which DO NOT allow use by Off-road vehicles. Also some areas are not, in my opinion, safe.

 

Getting back to the M.N.R., i recently sent them an e-mail asking them about establishing land for off-roading use. Im still waiting for their response but i personally dont see a reason not to allow it. I also wrote about using the land for Recreation/ Conservation purposes. My long-term goal is an off-road park that promotes conservation of the land aswell as promoting alternative fuels such as bio-diesel, Propane gas, and Electric.

 

I'll post when i have more information.

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  • 10 months later...

Marathon, ON, eh? Nice area. In fact, we drove through by there when driving home the R50 from Sudbury back in April '08. :D

 

Keep us posted on this. It'd be a great place to meet up and wheel! :beer:

Edited by tekazgtr1984
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Marathon, ON, eh? Nice area. In fact, we drove through by there when driving home the R50 from Sudbury back in April '08. :D

 

Keep us posted on this. It'd be a great place to meet up and wheel! :beer:

 

I actually had contact with an official with the MNR, he was happy to answer any of my questions and seemed generally interested. He was very nice to tell me to contact him any time in the future. He informed me that i could use any trails on crown land as long as it was not being actively used by a company. Access roads and whatnot. He also told me that the OFSC Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs do not own the trails on crown land, and cannot prohibit the use by others. (which they claimed they could) The mayor of Marathon suggested i start an off-road club, that way i can speak on behalf of an 'organization' rather than just myself. The MNR employee and Mayor Rick Dumas were very receptive and helpful.

 

The club idea was postponed when i fried my '93 pathy's ECU :S I now have a '93 Hard body pickup, so ill have to get back at it.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I actually had contact with an official with the MNR, he was happy to answer any of my questions and seemed generally interested. He was very nice to tell me to contact him any time in the future. He informed me that i could use any trails on crown land as long as it was not being actively used by a company. Access roads and whatnot. He also told me that the OFSC Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs do not own the trails on crown land, and cannot prohibit the use by others. (which they claimed they could) The mayor of Marathon suggested i start an off-road club, that way i can speak on behalf of an 'organization' rather than just myself. The MNR employee and Mayor Rick Dumas were very receptive and helpful.

 

The club idea was postponed when i fried my '93 pathy's ECU :S I now have a '93 Hard body pickup, so ill have to get back at it.

 

Glad to hear that went well. It's always great to see support from the higher ups in the community when it comes to stuff like that. If only I could say the same for where I live... *sigh* :rolleyes:

 

Anyhoo, should you plan on getting a a club together, I hope it'll take members from far off. I'll definitely support the cause if I can head there every now and again and rip up some trails with you! :beer:

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He also told me that the OFSC Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs do not own the trails on crown land, and cannot prohibit the use by others. (which they claimed they could)

 

Most of the trails we do are snowmobile trails. Our local club (http://www.cdn-ntc.ca) are members of the OF4WD, and they have an agreement with the OFSC to share the trails... we stay off from Nov-May, so they can maintain, fix, and use the trails. There are a couple trails we stay off by recommendation of the OFSC, as they are a bitch for them to maintain. Nothing is really stopping us from doing those trails, just respect for another group.

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Most of the trails we do are snowmobile trails. Our local club (http://www.cdn-ntc.ca) are members of the OF4WD, and they have an agreement with the OFSC to share the trails... we stay off from Nov-May, so they can maintain, fix, and use the trails. There are a couple trails we stay off by recommendation of the OFSC, as they are a bitch for them to maintain. Nothing is really stopping us from doing those trails, just respect for another group.

Umm pezzy, there is a trail here called burnt lands, also an ofsc trail during the winter. Because I'm part of cntc does that mean I'm not supposed to run it? I did it this weekend with a few npora members. Some clarification would be nice.

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That would be a question for the OF4WD... although, I would assume the snowmobile assn wouldn't appreciate you running the trails... ESPECIALLY if they groom that trail. I can only assume our trucks would make a mess of the trail for them.

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Umm pezzy, there is a trail here called burnt lands, also an ofsc trail during the winter. Because I'm part of cntc does that mean I'm not supposed to run it? I did it this weekend with a few npora members. Some clarification would be nice.

 

 

 

The trails we were on weren't groomed so no worries. I believe the "trails" were more of access roads to the Hydro line.

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The trails we were on weren't groomed so no worries. I believe the "trails" were more of access roads to the Hydro line.

 

Its all good, Just gotta avoid the ones that rut up easy. I dont go on groomed trails, plus when there is lots of snow trucks tend to get stuck easily. I find the trails get ripped up by dirt bikes. over the years the trail becomes like a woops section. There is only 3-4 inches of snow in marathon so i gotta get out for a little ride.

 

and tekazgtr1984, club or not, any one is welcome to come wheel. somebody has to pull me out when i get stuck :tongue:

Edited by slade420
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Going thru this post makes me wish I was back east. but i know my baby would never make it past emissions :angry:

 

They dont do emmission test here, probably cuz its a small town not a city. My truck isnt even insured. But there is a trail directly across the street from my house, so i dont have to drive it on public roads.

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They dont do emmission test here, probably cuz its a small town not a city. My truck isnt even insured. But there is a trail directly across the street from my house, so i dont have to drive it on public roads.

ya but i've already been to thunderbay...it kinda blows up there for city people. great town, but to slooooowwwww

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Its all good, Just gotta avoid the ones that rut up easy. I dont go on groomed trails, plus when there is lots of snow trucks tend to get stuck easily. I find the trails get ripped up by dirt bikes. over the years the trail becomes like a woops section. There is only 3-4 inches of snow in marathon so i gotta get out for a little ride.

 

and tekazgtr1984, club or not, any one is welcome to come wheel. somebody has to pull me out when i get stuck :tongue:

 

Oh, I'll be there. It may not be for some time though. I have many plans for the R50. But you can count on me visiting! :beer:

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