Damage on closed trails disheartens ATV group

Despite ATVers being warned to stay off of private trails that were too wet, significant damage was found on a trail system near Borden-Carleton,P.E.I. earlier this week.

Kent Walsh, interim president of the East Prince Quad Trax ATV Club, said ruts in the trail are more than half a metre deep, and will likely take 40 to 60 hours of volunteer work to fix.

"It breaks your heart. It can make you a little upset," said Walsh.

"But being upset doesn't solve anything. We decided that the best thing to do was put as much information out there as we could to help educate people with what we're trying to do, and that we're not out there trying to destroy landowners' properties."

Over the last two years, Walsh said, the ATV club has signed agreements with landowners and purchased insurance to cover the land to offer 50 kilometres of trails on private land. The group hopes another 30 to 50 kilometres can be added this summer.

Walsh said damage like this can make reaching agreements with private landowners more difficult.

More P.E.I. news