Galiano Trail's Society

Mt. Galiano view

Temporary Home of the Galiano Trails Society

(Click here for the Hiking Trails of South Galiano)

THE GALIANO TRAILS SOCIETY welcomes all who are interested in developing, improving, using and promoting trails on Galiano Island. The Galiano Trails Society was incorporated as a non-profit society in BC on 16 July 2010. The purposes of the Society are defined in its constitution as:

To plan, build and facilitate access to walking, equestrian and cycling trails on Galiano island.
To collaborate with and assist as volunteers other groups interested in trail building, maintenance and use.
To expand the existing trail network on Galiano as guided by the Parks and Recreation Commission Trail Network Plan.
To forge links with wider-area trail networks, e.g. the Trans-Canada Trail; CRD regional parks.

The Galiano Trails Society has been created in part to assist the Galiano Island Parks and Recreation Commission, especially in the implementation of its Trail Network Plan (http://crd.bc.ca/galianoparks/trails.htm) through privately owned lands.

Memberships are invited; dues = $10.00/year. Members will participate in the planning of the new Society’s activities, will be informed on the status and development of new and existing trails, will be offered the opportunity to work on trail improvements, including through volunteer collaboration with the Parks Commission, and will benefit from social interactions with like-minded nature enthusiasts. The Galiano Trails Society is applying to the CRA for registration as a charitable society.

Walking in the woods is healthy for body and mind. There are some wonderful trails on our island, thanks to BC Parks, the Galiano Parks and Recreation Commission and local groups such as the Galiano Club and the Conservancy that welcome the public to their lands. Public consultations carried out by the Parks Commission a few years ago, when it was formulating a Trail Network Plan, showed that people wanted to see many more trails connecting neighbourhoods or leading to areas of interest.

Property owners are often wary of having trails cross their land: there are privacy and especially liability concerns. Being sued could ruin your whole day! Current mechanisms to deal with such concerns are complicated, involving Statutory Rights of Way and heavy legal language.

The Kootenay-Columbia Trail Society (KCTS), based in Rossland, BC, provides a working example of a simpler way. Agreements with property owners are two-page plain language documents, accompanied by a map showing the trail path. A draft agreement is available here (pdf file). Insurance is provided by a commercial company. Agreements may be made for short renewable periods (e,g, a year) and the land is not fettered by an agreement on title.

A descriptive brochure is available here (.pdf, 2.1mb - suitable for printing on legal paper and folding).

Contacts (Replace "at" with @ and remove spaces when entering the email address) :

John Coulthard: retired at galiander.ca
Paul LeBlond: leblondph at rogers.com

Click here for the Hiking Trails of South Galiano

Go to the Galiander home page.

Mar 24-25/11 - Create Galiano Trails Society page - move South Galiano hiking trails page.
Apr 21 - Add Trail's Society brochure.