LAKELAND - Since its opening to the public in 2003, Alberta’s Iron Horse Trail has become a year-round attraction to recreational users from far and wide who have travelled its 278 km of former railroad road bed, the longest rail to trail conversion in the province. It is also Alberta’s longest stretch of Canada’s The Great Trail and the Great Canadian Snowmobile Trail.
The Riverland Recreational Trail Society, which has operated the trail throughout those years, is proud to release the Alberta’s Iron Horse Trail 10-Year Strategic Development Plan. This project commenced in 2019 and the society is now acknowledging the support received to see it through to its completion in 2021. Ten municipalities along the trail, five snowmobile clubs and a wide variety of stakeholders and other nonprofit organizations contributed valuable input and participated in the process.
The project was funded by Riverland Recreational Trail Society, Trans Canada Trail, Alberta Snowmobile Association, and a donation from RC Strategies Inc. for a total of $118,000.
To determine the appropriate strategies, a comprehensive series of surveys took place, Marianne Janke said. “Our survey consulted many respondents through 336 online public surveys, 20 special interest surveys, including those from 18 tourism operators, 26 ideas expressed on Vertisee, 21 stakeholder group interviews including with the elected officials and staff of all 10 municipalities, the North East Muni-Corr board and five provincial bodies.”
The results of the surveys were summarized in a 46-page document that also determined the characteristics of the respondents, 64 per cent of them indicating that they were recreational users of the Iron Horse Trail, with the use of ATVs, side-by-sides and snowmobiles leading the list of preferred activities. Duration of outings, satisfaction with the trail and its amenities, such as gates, and suggestions for improvement were all part of the responses.
Stakeholder sessions discussed the value and benefits of the trail, its current state, priorities and future opportunities, while tourism operators and trail user groups also gave their opinions, before all the survey responses were summarized into key findings.
A 174-page document, entitled ‘A Master Plan to Unlock Our Potential’ explored all branches of the trail, their attractions and amenities, from the Smoky Lake pumpkins to the Heinsburg water tower to the Beaver River trestle, listing everything from signage and gazebos to the condition of outhouses and the trail surface itself before going on to discuss market potential, tourism readiness, opportunities and challenges and the path forward to the future.
That massive volume was condensed down to a 22-page executive summary of the master plan. It lists the vision, priorities and desired outcomes for the next 10 years, before outlining the implementation plan. Improved trail tread and corridor maintenance led the way on that, followed by optimizing and enhancing trail entrance points, improving signage and way finding, optimizing and enhancing comfort and convenience amenities, such as the aforementioned outhouses, animating the trail and developing new and enhancing existing visitor attractions.
Enhancing and diversifying the supply of accommodations, connecting the trail with other attractions, creating trail-friendly communities and motivating visitors to choose the Iron Horse Trail and surrounding region to support it made this list, just ahead of managing non-recreation use of the trail and minimizing impact on adjacent landowners, understanding visitors and visitation and actively managing visitation and visitor impact. Understanding and celebrating the trail’s success and ensuring long-term sustainable resourcing and capacity wound up the Riverland Recreational Trail Society’s impressive list of desired accomplishments for the coming decade.
