Faye Engler is armed with an overflowing box of documents, newspaper articles and letters of support.
She rattles off names of MLAs she plans to call in her fight and recites the road trips and phone calls she has already made.
As part of an Alberta landowners group, she is railing against a national hiking trail that could infringe on land where she plans to retire.
“This is going to cause everlasting trouble,” said Engler, one of about 200 Cosway Adjacent Landowners Association members.
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She, along with the others, doesn’t want to see abandoned rail lines transformed into hiking trails adjacent to their land south of Red Deer. In February, CP Rail donated 1,600 kilometres of abandoned right-of-way to the Trans-Canada Trail Foundation. Much of it is in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Millennium project
The foundation wants the lines to form parts of a Canada-wide hiking trail for a millennium project and has provincial organizations to help with the task. A preferred trail route has been established in Alberta and the foundation’s provincial chapter, Alberta TrailNet Society, is working to get community and landowner support.
After the society gets sponsors for trail segments and garners local support, the sections go up for national approval and can be registered for the millennium project.
The Cosway group thinks landowners should have had first dibs on the abandoned lines and worries about potential problems from trail users. Engler’s concerns include trespassing, property damage and liability.
About 99 percent of affected landowners in the Acme, Alta., area have signed a petition against the trail, said Engler, adding many towns are not in favor of it either.
At its spring convention, the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties passed a motion saying landowners should have first right to buy abandoned rail line rights-of-way.
Reg Gunson, a director with the Alberta TrailNet Society that is co-ordinating the province’s proposed trail, said he’s heard concerns from the Cosway group. He acknowledges privacy is one of the big problems, but thinks landowners can benefit from the proposed trails.
Safe recreation and a centralized place for snowmobilers in approved areas are examples, he said. As well, some trail sponsors may allow advertising for businesses like rural bed and breakfasts and campgrounds.
Except for the most scenic areas, he doesn’t expect a big influx of tourists.
Local sponsor groups will determine trail uses, establish trail segments and maintain them. Local groups have to get liability insurance in case a hiker gets injured on a trail. The policy available through the Trans-Canada Trail Foundation covers adjacent landowners for liability, but not property damages.
The Alberta TrailNet Society wants the provincial Occupier’s Liability Act revised so landowners won’t be responsible for hikers who stray off the trail and injure themselves, said Gunson.
“We are hoping the landowner liability will be removed. The landowner shouldn’t be liable for somebody who is trespassing.”
However, the vast majority of hikers won’t cause problems, said Gunson.
Engler agrees, but is worried the minority could cause damage through mischief like fires and vandalism. The only way she’ll support the trail is if the association can guarantee no damage will occur, said Engler, adding that’s impossible.
“Private property is in real jeopardy.”
Danielle Smith, managing director of the Canadian Property Rights Research Institute, agrees landowners have little to gain from the proposal that would ideally be organized by September 2000. Construction on the rail lines would start after that and connect to trail segments already registered and completed.
“I think the landowners have a legitimate complaint,” said Smith, adding similar trails in the United States have meant an increase in serious crimes for those areas.
According to Smith, it’s questionable whether Canadian Pacific can donate the land to the Trans-Canada group without offering it to adjacent landowners first. Court cases in the United States have shown adjacent landowners get reversionary rights as soon as the railway line is abandoned and no other buyer steps in to continue operation.
The Alberta government needs to sort out this ownership issue and whether reversionary rights apply, said Smith.
Money from taxpayers
Taxpayers also lose from the rail-line donation, said Smith.
CP got a $13 million tax break when it donated the land valued at $40 million. Through local groups, taxpayers will contribute to develop and maintain the trails, said Smith.
Gunson said the Alberta TrailNet Society will hold informational meetings for landowners. Local trail sponsors still have to be found and some preferred trail segments may not work out if landowners don’t give support.
“In some cases majority will rule but there would have to be significant community support,” said Gunson, adding the goal is for full support.
Engler doesn’t plan to give up her fight and is angry hikers are already checking out preferred trail routes posted on the internet. She doesn’t think trail supporters understand the issues landowners face and emphasizes there are already plenty of hiking trails in Alberta.
“This will destroy the way of life or certainly encroach on it.”
